More shame on STL School Reformers: Community Schools to Close

Dear member of the community,

Your support is needed to save community education in St. Louis Public Schools.

All 10 community education centers are slated to close permanently as of May 30, 2014.

I believe in community education and will take a stand at the next Special Administrative Board (SAB) meeting, to be held on Thursday, May 29, 2014 at 6:00 pm at 801 N. 11th.  Please join me in supporting the young people in our city by advocating for our community education centers to remain open.

Here’s what you can do to help: 

1.       Plan to attend the SAB meeting on Thursday, May 29 and take a stand with me.

Literally, I will ask audience members who support community education to stand in a show of support – the more people we have present the more influence we will have as a community.

2.       Invite others who believe in community education to the SAB meeting, where they too can make their voice heard.

Let’s achieve standing room only at this meeting!

3.       If you, or a student or parent who you know has been directly impacted through the community education centers in SLPS, please attend, 

share your experience and voice your support. You may also contact the superintendent (345-2500) and SAB directly (345-2304) to express your support of community education in SLPS.

Thank you in advance for taking action!

In solidarity,

Rachel Delcau

Co-Chair, Bevo-Long Community Education Center/Full Service School

Parents in Normandy, Riverview Gardens in limbo over changes to student transfers : News

Parents in Normandy, Riverview Gardens in limbo over changes to student transfers : News

Editorial: Lawmakers abandon Normandy kids again; veto voucher bill : Stltoday

Editorial: Lawmakers abandon Normandy kids again; veto voucher bill : Stltoday

Group Calls For 'Community Learning Centers'

In response, corporate controlled school system, legislature, and city push privatization, vouchers, the underfunding of struggling schools, forced bankruptcy of the hardest-hit district, prison-style charter schools for some, gentrification charters (public $ to privately controlled schools in 'revitalized' neighborhoods) for others, and no vision for addressing structural poverty and underemployment.  

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/group-calls-community-learning-centers

On the 60th anniversary of the historic Brown vs. Board of Education decision Saturday, a small group rallied in front of City Hall to call on elected officials to improve St. Louis’ schools.

The students, parents, members of Metropolitan Congregations United and representatives from the American Federation of Teachers St. Louis want schools turned into “community learning centers.” 

Leader of first St. Louis teachers strike dies : News

Leader of first St. Louis teachers strike dies : News

Normandy schools task force would remake the district : News

Normandy schools task force would remake the district : News

St. Louis area schools: How poverty relates to performance : stltoday.com

St. Louis area schools: How poverty relates to performance : stltoday.com

Plan allowing for non-profit operators, shifting of resources in St. Louis schools approved : News

Plan allowing for non-profit operators, shifting of resources in St. Louis schools approved : News

Poverty and academic struggle go hand-in-hand : News

Poverty and academic struggle go hand-in-hand : News

Show Me the Money: Meet the Multimillionaire Squeezing Missouri's Schools

Brendan Fischer and Lisa Graves, The Progressive
April 29, 2014

"By examining what Sinquefield is up to in Missouri, you get a sobering glimpse of how the wealthiest conservatives are conducting a low-profile campaign to destroy civil society."

Show Me the Money: Meet the Multimillionaire Squeezing Missouri's Schools

by Brendan Fischer and Lisa Graves, The Progressive

Unlike the Koch Brothers, who made their money the old-fashioned way, by inheriting it, Sinquefield is a self-made man, who earned a fortune in the stock market by investing in index funds.

He's a major funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and he has also bankrolled the Club for Growth.

Though he was born in Missouri, he didn't move back there until 2005, after being away nearly four decades.

Now he claims to know how to "fix" the state. To an astonishing degree, over the last few years, Missouri's political landscape has been dominated by the wish list of just this one man.

Sinquefield is doing to Missouri what the Koch Brothers are doing to the entire country. For the Koch Brothers and Sinquefield, a lot of the action these days is not at the national but at the state level.

By examining what Sinquefield is up to in Missouri, you get a sobering glimpse of how the wealthiest conservatives are conducting a low-profile campaign to destroy civil society."  READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE