Coal is bad, profiting from prisoners is worse.
Prison services are profitable niche for Bridgeton company : Business
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Learning to demand rights, early: student action today re: a park in Old North
Good Morning,
Students 4 Change, the youth project of Metropolitan Congregations United, will have an action today down at City Hall. The students in the Old North neighborhood are seeking renovations to their local park (Strodtman Park) to make it a safe and dignified place to play. The Parks Department, which has been very accommodating following our widely-covered January public meeting, has offered to pay 75% of the cost of the capital cost for making the remaining fixes, if only our alderman, the venerable Mr. Bosley, pays the rest.
Mr. Bosley has refused, so the students will run an action at 4:30 at the board of aldermen (city hall rm 230). They will be asking Mr. Bosley to commit to funding making the park safe.
I am asking for adult support if you are free to join us at 4:15. Email me back or call at 314-489-8935 if you can join us!
Brittini Gray
MCU Community Organizer
314-367-3484 Office
314-489-8935 Cell
http://adarkskinnedgirlspride.weebly.com/blog.html
MCU Community Organizer
314-367-3484 Office
314-489-8935 Cell
http://adarkskinnedgirlspride.weebly.com/blog.html
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
MO Legislative Black Caucus sponsors Town Hall "State of Black Missouri" 4/18 1-3 PM
Reminder Message from Joe Adams, State Representative - District 86
Dear Friend,
I would like to remind you of the upcoming Town Hall Forum, “State Of Black Missouri”, sponsored by the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus (MLBC). The event will be held in St. Louis this Saturday, April 18th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm, at the Greater St. Mark Family Church, 9950 Glen Owen Dr., St. Louis, MO 63136. Presenters will update you on what legislation is being proposed and voted on, and how it will affect you and your community. This is a great opportunity to meet your elected officials from around the state. As always, your input and participation is appreciated as it helps us to shape the debate in Jefferson City. Please make an effort to join us and let your voice be heard.
Please feel free to contact me at my district office (314-862-7877), or my Jefferson City office (573-751-4265), with any questions or concerns you might have. You may also contact Representative Michael Butler at 573-751-6800.
As always, thank you for your friendship and support. Together, we will build a stronger Missouri.
Kind regards,
Joe Adams
Joe Adams
PS: Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Calls On Leaders To Pass Police Body Camera Bill
http://kcur.org/post/missouri-legislative-black-caucus-calls-leaders-pass-police-body-camera-bill
http://kcur.org/post/missouri-legislative-black-caucus-calls-leaders-pass-police-body-camera-bill
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This is the analysis we need - supportive, reflective, and critical, re: Fight for 15: Low-Wage Workers Struggles are About Much More Than Wages | Opinion | teleSUR
Low-Wage Workers Struggles are About Much More Than Wages | Opinion | teleSUR
Fight for 15’s approach is unorthodox, but it is constrained by organized labor’s history. Class-struggle unionism has been abandoned by labor leaders who act as junior partners to corporations, like SEIU and Kaiser Permanente, the UAW and auto companies, the machinists union and Boeing, and the building trades and real-estate developers. Many union leaders are also in the pocket of the Democratic Party despite it being in the pocket of Wall Street.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Low-Wage-Workers-Struggles-are-About-Much-More-Than-Wages-20150415-0036.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Fight for 15’s approach is unorthodox, but it is constrained by organized labor’s history. Class-struggle unionism has been abandoned by labor leaders who act as junior partners to corporations, like SEIU and Kaiser Permanente, the UAW and auto companies, the machinists union and Boeing, and the building trades and real-estate developers. Many union leaders are also in the pocket of the Democratic Party despite it being in the pocket of Wall Street.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Low-Wage-Workers-Struggles-are-About-Much-More-Than-Wages-20150415-0036.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Historians circulate petition against censorship at MO History Museum, Anthropologists should sign too, Museum director is an Anthropologist
By way of the collective (SLSProject did not initiate this petition):
Background
On March 19th , the panel discussion “Ferguson to Ayotzinapa to Palestine: Solidarity and Collaborative Action” was scheduled to take place at the Missouri History Museum. The panel discussion was intended to illuminate histories of state violence and to be a platform for connecting community activists fighting against oppression. Two days before the event, the museum contacted event organizers and demanded that the subject of Palestine be removed, or that organizers reschedule the event at a different location. This entailed not merely the removal of the mention of Palestine in the name of the event, but the removal of a representative of the local Palestinian community from the panel. As a result of the museum’s demands, all panelists and organizations involved agreed to cancel the event, stage a protest on the steps of the museum, and rescheduled the panel discussion at a different location.
In a public statement on their website, the museum shifted the blame to event organizers stating that “significant” changes had been made to the original proposed event. While the original proposal included only Ayotzinapa and Ferguson, a revision occurring shortly after added the subject of Palestine to the event. Museum staff agreed to the addition and publicized the event online. Museum staff rationalized their last minute demands to event organizers in email correspondence stating, “The conflict we are running into is the comparison between the events in Ferguson and the actions of the Palestinians. Some people see these events as comparing apples to oranges [emphasis added].” The community activist groups who were a part of the panel see commonalities across their struggles—economic injustice, state violence, and unequal access to resources.
Contrary to the museum’s statements, a Freedom of Information Act Sunshine request revealed that the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) emailed the museum president two days before the panel discussion expressing dismay at the event’s content. Within 90 minutes the museum president responded, thanking the JCRC director for bringing the issue to her attention and stated that the museum was contacting event organizers to deliver an ultimatum. The museum, in an effort to placate its critics, is now proposing to organize a moderated panel on Israel and Palestine. They have contacted the JCRC and Anti-Defamation League to assist in planning; they have not contacted the Palestine Solidarity Committee, which was a part of the original panel.
This petition will be delivered to the Missouri History Museum and released to the press during the Organization of American Historians annual meeting, which will be held in St. Louis from April 16th-19th. Please sign the petition to protest the Missouri History Museum’s actions and distribute to your colleagues.
Resources for more information:
Cancellation of panel:
Museum Statement: http://mohistory.
LINK TO PETITION:
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Talk on Race and Radicalism in the US and Latin America @wustl, Wednesday at 5 PM
After you show up for the @ShowMe15 rally, here's a talk you can go to:
For those who didn't know Eduardo Galeano's work, you might want to
Tribute from Ben Dangl:
Eduardo Galeano’s Words Walk the Streets of a Continent
By Benjamin Dangl
The world lost one of its great writers today. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano died at age 74 in Montevideo. He left a magical body of work behind him, and his reach is as wide as his continent.
During Argentina's 2001-2002 economic crisis, Galeano’s words walked down the streets with a life of their own, accompanying every protest and activist meeting. Factories were occupied by workers, neighborhood assemblies rose up, and, for a time, revolutionary talk and action replaced a rotten neoliberal system. Galeano’s upside-down view of the world blew fresh dreams into the tear gas-filled air.
In the streets of La Paz, Bolivia, pirated copies of Galeano’s classic Open Veins of Latin America are still sold at nearly every book stall. There too, Galeano’s historical alchemy added to the fire of many movements and uprisings, where miners of the country’s open veins tossed dynamite at right-wing politicians, and the 500-year-old memory of colonialism lives on.
Up the windy mountain roads of Chiapas, past Mexican state military checkpoints, lies the autonomous Zapatista community of Oventic. One day a few years ago, Galeano’s familiar voice floated over the foggy, autonomous land, reciting children’s stories over stereo speakers.
At a World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Galeano entered a steaming hot tent where hundreds had gathered to hear him speak about the Uruguayan water rights movement in which the people had “voted against fear” to stop privatization. What I remembered most about the talk is how much he made the crowd laugh.
And one night in Paraguay, with the smell of cow manure and pesticides lingering in the air, small farmers besieged by toxic soy crops gathered tell stories of resistance, stories they linked to Galeano’s accounts of the looting of Latin America and struggles against greed and empire that were centuries in the making.
With the small mountain of books and articles he left behind, Galeano gives us a language of hope, a way feel to feel rage toward the world while also loving it, a way to understand the past while carving out a better possible future.
“She’s on the horizon,” he once wrote of utopia. “I go two steps, she moves two steps away. I walk ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps ahead. No matter how much I walk, I’ll never reach her. What good is utopia? That’s what: it’s good for walking.”
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
Planning Ethnographic Fieldwork/St Louis Schools Project work for next fall, preview of a book we'll read
Jay Gillen. 2014. Educating for Insurgency: The Roles of Young People in Schools of Poverty. AK Press.
Here's Jay Gillen speaking on the book at Red Emma's in Baltimore:
Here's Jay Gillen speaking on the book at Red Emma's in Baltimore:
Thursday, April 9, 2015
How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money | BillMoyers.com
Not only should we speak against big money, we need to indict the corrupt practices of (criminal) big money. This is why I'll never be a dean.
How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money | BillMoyers.com
How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money | BillMoyers.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
We will see what comes of this SLPS School Board election.
All respect to #Ferguson protestors, but Charters, TFA, Non-Profits, and Corporate Reform Agenda are not going to lead to what the #Ferguson protestors are (or seem to be) demanding.
With this corporate reform/non-profit agenda you may get some individual mobility, the symbolic achiever to show that the system still works for some people. And that symbolic body of color can be held up, and pointed to, mostly by white folks, to say look, it works. (I'm thinking of KIPP's so-called "success" stories).
But you are moving further away from deep commitments to broad-based support for high quality public education for all children. You deepen the existing system of economic and racial segregation, by solidifying the hierarchy between private, public, and pseudo-private charters. You deepen your dependence on corporate philanthropy, fickle and self-interested as it is. You weaken the possibility of demanding accountability from the state for all of its children.
For the corporate education reform movement, black lives don't matter that much, but black bodies are a good way to make money, take tax breaks, and carry on with the system. Kind of like prison. Think about it. Follow the money.
With this corporate reform/non-profit agenda you may get some individual mobility, the symbolic achiever to show that the system still works for some people. And that symbolic body of color can be held up, and pointed to, mostly by white folks, to say look, it works. (I'm thinking of KIPP's so-called "success" stories).
But you are moving further away from deep commitments to broad-based support for high quality public education for all children. You deepen the existing system of economic and racial segregation, by solidifying the hierarchy between private, public, and pseudo-private charters. You deepen your dependence on corporate philanthropy, fickle and self-interested as it is. You weaken the possibility of demanding accountability from the state for all of its children.
For the corporate education reform movement, black lives don't matter that much, but black bodies are a good way to make money, take tax breaks, and carry on with the system. Kind of like prison. Think about it. Follow the money.
St Louis Public Schools Elected Board Results: Lesson: Outside money can get you elected, quick, from nowhere.
And, against what Slay's folks always say, pretty high turnout.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
We need to be viruses of intersectionality: Ramon Grosfoguel on Decolonial Strategies and the Limitations of the White Left: must listen
Today Vitamin D welcomes for a second time Dr. Ramon Grosfoguel with whom we recently caught up at a function he was attending in London. Following from our last chat with Ramon he speaks to the contemporary political applications of decolonial thought this time around. What does decoloniality demand of the traditional white left? What is the role of the 'nation-state' in the global project of decolonization? How have our politics of liberation been historically co-opted to reproduce the same colonial logic they set out to thwart? In his usual gracious spirit and dedication towards the decolonial project Ramon tackles these and other topics including the necessity of disenchantment with the white man for any decolonial politics to bear fruit, the importance of having a critique of the state from an indigenous perspective giving the examples of Ecuador and Venezuela, the colonial relationship that connects police brutality in the U.S.A to the occupation of Palestine and much more.
Monday, April 6, 2015
More info on Show_Me15 event at WUSTL Danforth University Center-- yes paradox paradox…union meeting in the heart of the DUC? but Pres of SEIU is coming
By way of one of our network, the bees never stop buzzing:
It is my great pleasure to cordially invite you to a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 7th, featuring Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union, the largest union in the US, and champion of the global Fight For $15 movement. The panel will take place at 6:30 pm in Washington University’s Danforth University Center’s Tisch Commons. Space is limited, so come early to get a seat.
Of the 188 universities participating in the global day of action on April 15th, Mary Kay Henry has chosen to speak at Washington University in St. Louis and only five other schools.
Just about three years ago, St. Louis became the third city to join the Fight For $15 when fast food workers stood up and said enough was enough. Today, 190 US cities and 40 countries have chapters all with one purpose: to win a living wage and union protection for all low wage workers. The movement has grown beyond just fast food workers to include adjunct professors, retail employees, home health care workers, and airport workers.
The panel will kick off with performances by WUSLAM and will be emceed by three student leaders in the Fight for 15. After the panel there will be a Q&A period.
Ultimately the goal is to turn out and turn up for a living wage and a union on Wednesday, April 15th. Over 1000 people will rally in St. Louis as part of a global day of action that will include 230 cities around the world and an estimated 60,000 people. There will be a barbecue in Forest Park at the World’s Fair Pavilion from 12-4 pm, a community rally at 4:30 pm on the steps of Brookings followed by a march to the Delmar Loop and actions throughout the city. Members of the WashU community will meet at Brookings at 4:30 pm on 4/15 to participate in this historic rally.
Event on 'The Delmar Divide' at WUSTL Law School
the Wash U Law School is hosting an event, The Delmar Divide, on Tuesday April 7th from 6:00pm-7:30pm in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in AB Hall.
Please join us on Tuesday, April 7, 6:00-7:30pm, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom for “The Delmar Divide: St. Louis in Black and White.” The event will feature a screening and panel discussion of the BBC film The Delmar Divide, which documents racial and economic segregation in St. Louis. This event is part of the Ferguson-related programming that grew out of the Law School’s Ad Hoc Committee on Community Affairs. Panelists for the event will include:
- Clarissa Rile Hayward, WUSTL Associate Professor of Political Science and author of How Americans Make Race: Stories, Institutions, Spaces (Cambridge University Press, 2013);
- Chris Krehmeyer, WUSTL alum and President & CEO of Beyond Housing;
- Sandra M. Moore, WashULaw alum and President of Urban Strategies;
- Ryan Rippel, Senior Officer for CEO Initiatives at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and teacher of the WashULaw course, The Lawyer’s Role in Urban Revitalization: St. Louis as a Case Study; and
- Romona Taylor Williams, Executive Director of Metro St. Louis Coalition for Inclusion and Equity (M-SLICE).
Organized by Susan Appleton, Laura Rosenbury, and Fajer Saeed; sponsored by SBA, PSAB, BLSA, LSRJ, MELSA, WoC Law Society, OUTlaw, AILSA, ACS, EELS, NDRS, SALSA, Christian Legal Society, Immigration Law Society, International Law Society, WLC, SLAMSL, JD/MSW Society, and the Family Law Society. Food (but not pizza!) will be served.
More news on St Louis School Board Elections (Vote tomorrow April 7; be informed; take back democracy)
SLS Project does not endorse candidates. Passing on information here via longtime SLPS observer and public reporter Susan Turk.
St. Louis Schools Watch
_________________________________________________________________________
By Susan Turk
Tuesday’s Election
April 4, 2015—St. Louis--All 5 of the candidates who are actively running for school board are aware of the challenges the SLPS faces trying to educate predominantly disadvantaged urban students and regain full accreditation. All of them sound good in their public appearances. Areas of emphasis distinguish them.
Charli Cooksey’s war chest has had a considerable impact on this election. The sheer volume of out of town money, especially that $30,000 check from LEE is unprecedented. Election Board staff related that not even aldermanic candidates see such large checks. Only the mayor and president of the board of aldermen have attracted such deep pockets. The half a million Civic Progress raised in their effort to control the school board 10 years ago was local corporate money after all and that money was contributed to a PAC which independently spent money on all of their candidates.
This unparalleled situation has required the Watch to carefully consider its recommendations for this election, because we believe it would be deeply unfortunate for Charli Cooksey to win a seat on the board of education. It would be unfortunate for several reasons. She is pro- charter schools, pro-SAB, pro-Teach for America and anti-raising public revenue. Plus, the unnamed in her campaign literature not-for-profit which she executive directs, inspireSTL, has recruited high performing students to leave the district for high school, lowering our graduation rates, persistence to college MAP points and end of course MAP scores, and thereby increasing the SLPS’s difficulty in regaining full accreditation. She has been working against the best interests of district for the past 5 years.
A memorandum of understanding she signed with the SLPS in December may refocus inspireSTL’s efforts to keeping those students in high performing SLPS high schools. But since its inception, inspireSTL has drained high achievers from SLPS. Half of the students inspireSTL recruited left the SLPS for schools such as Affton High School, Bayless High School, Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School, Christian Brothers College High School, De Smet Jesuit High School, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, Mehlville High School, Notre Dame High School, St. John Vianney High School, St. Louis University High School, Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School and Whitfield School. “Half of our Scholars attend public schools within St. Louis city, and half attend private and parochial institutions in the area.” From http://inspirestl.org/placements
The 15th ward Democrats survey school board candidates. In response to one of their questions, Cooksey wrote, “I am deeply committed to protecting and preserving the sustainability of SLPS as long as it continues to improve and educate students. I believe more quality schools should open and more existing schools should continue to improve. Ideally, that would be through SLPS, but good charter schools are not the enemy, but instead, partners.” At the League of Women Voters/Local 420 candidate forum April 1 she said it was not clear charter school funding hurt the SLPS.
She predicates her continued support of the SLPS on its continuing to improve and educate students. We of the Watch believe school board candidate support for the SLPS should be unqualified. We consider charter schools to be competitors, not partners. They are draining resources from the SLPS and do not do a better job of educating comparable students.
Answering a 15th ward question about how she would promote the SLPS as a viable choice to parents, she responded, “The best tool to promote SLPS as a viable choice for parents is results.” If you drain the district of its better students, as she has been doing through her work for inspireSTL, you will have much more difficulty improving results.
In her own words from the Watch candidate survey, “I respect and admire the service of the SAB”
Cooksey appears to be an advocate for corporate school reform. The financial support she has received from Washington D.C. and New York demonstrates that outside forces with a national school reform agenda are bankrolling her. If she wins, we can expect more candidates of this nature in the next few elections until the community most invested in our schools again loses influence over the governance of the SLPS. If the elected board regains its authority to govern our schools but it is peopled with candidates like Cooksey, we will be back where we were before parents began running for and winning board elections a decade ago.
Moving on to Natalie Vowell, in her campaign literature she states, “Since moving to St. Louis in 2010, I have worked on the front lines of education and poverty issues in our City,…”
When Vowell was running for 78th district state representative in May, 2014 I attempted to engage her in a discussion of education issues. She did not have opinions or an understanding of major issues facing our public schools last May. I tried to engage her in conversation about education issues again in January 2015 after learning that she had filed to run for school board. In January, she could not answer questions about charter schools, accreditation or the SAB. I came to the conclusion that wherever she had been on education issues during the past 4 years, it was not the front lines.
Since that time, she has been doing her homework and can now speak convincingly about education issues. She understands the challenges. She is appalled by the social injustice that has created the problems in our schools. However, she is new to the battlefield and she misunderstands some things.
In her response to a question on the 15th ward website on charter schools she writes,
“Perhaps it is time for SLPS administration to reach out to the charter school community and adopt some of the policies and practices that seem to be most pertinent to charter school success—particularly those charters who are able to serve our impoverished population”
Vowel does not know that students in charters and students who applied to charters but did not get in demonstrate the same level of academic performance. Charters do not improve academic performance. Very few charters out-perform public schools. The ones that do tend to have more affluent students or get signed agreements from parents and students to commit to longer schools hours and days which public schools cannot require of their students and parents. Most charter schools serving high poverty populations are performing at the same or worse levels than public schools. Also, she seems unaware that charters do not serve as many children with disabilities and especially severe disabilities so their classrooms are not as affected by legally required mainstreaming as is the SLPS, nor are there as many ESOL or homeless children in charters. She does not understand that the KIPP schools cream students by requiring them and their parents to sign contracts. The SLPS cannot require contracts from all of their students. The field of competition between the SLPS and the charters is not level. She also did not understand that charter schools are entitled to a portion of all funding received by the SLPS, including local sales tax and property taxes.
Vowel is one of those who does not understand what tenure means and does not support it. Tenure provides teachers with due process to prevent arbitrary terminations. It does not ensure perpetual employment.
At the LWV/Local420 sponsored forum Vowell said that most of public schools funding came from state and federal government and that this should stop. This is neither true nor wise. The SLPS budgets from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal years show that federal and state funding amounted to only about a third of the district’s revenue. Most of city public school revenue comes from property taxes. She misunderstands school funding. Her understanding may have been affected by her political views. She attributes the loss of population and home ownership in the city to high property tax rates. That is an extremely simplistic explanation for a complex problem.
Vowell also thinks there is money to be saved from cutting administrative bloat in the SLPS. She is ignorant of the way the administration has been cut to the bone during the past 10 years of the SLPS being run like a business. Were the SLPS to stop accepting funding from the state and federal government, it would have to raise property tax rates to make up for the loss just to get to current inadequate levels of funding. Moreover, Vowell appears to be unaware that it is our reliance on property taxes to fund public education that is the chief cause of inequity in our public schools. Vowell’s dream of lower property tax rates is not only impractical, it is impossible.
It is possible that at some point in the future, Vowell might be an asset to the elected board. At this time, she is the least experienced and the least qualified candidate running. She would benefit from more than a few months study of the issues. That she ran for state rep last year and is currently running for school board demonstrates that she has political ambitions. Running will build her name recognition. It would not be surprising were we to find her running for office again in the near future.
Joey Hollins is a retired firefighter currently working in License Collector Mavis Thompson’s office. Shortly after filing to run in this election, he decided to pull out and remove his name from the ballot. He did not follow through however and decided to re-enter the race in early March. Although he has made some campaign appearances and gained a few endorsements, he has declined to respond to the 15th ward candidate survey, the Post-Dispatch Voter Guide or the Watch candidate survey. He did request that the Watch survey be resent to him last weekend because he had lost it among his emails. The editor, however, felt it was unfair to the other candidates for him to be given the extra time and be able to respond to the questions after having seen how they responded, so we did not comply with his request.
As an alumnus of the SLPS who went on to a successful career and whose children graduated from the SLPS, Hollins understands the district. He emphasizes the need for early childhood education and concentration on literacy. He has devoted volunteer time to working with at risk youth and has been active in a community based committee which has been successful in advocating for the re-opening of L’Ouverture Middle School. However, his lackadaisical attitude towards campaigning has made it extremely unlikely that he could win a seat on the board in this election. He could, however, take votes away from the people who should win, making it possible others, who shouldn’t, to prevail. It is our hope that Hollins will run for the board in the future and devote time to a campaign that would result in victory. He has missed too many campaign opportunities to be successful this time.
That leaves incumbents, David Jackson and Katie Wessling, both of whom still have children attending SLPS.
On the 15th ward’s questionnaire Jackson wrote,
“As it stands now, I believe the District needs time and resources to continue in educating its children to the best of its ability. Adding more Charter Schools in the City really diminishes these efforts.” Jackson made a forceful statement opposing charter at the LWV/Local 420 forum Wednesday night. He has evolved on this issue. Jackson also bravely defended the importance of property tax revenue to the district against Natalie Vowell’s advocacy for lowering the tax rate. Jackson even suggested putting an increase in the rate to a public vote because city voters have always voted to support the SLPS’s financial needs. He has been a problematic board member at times. The Watch has been deeply concerned about his leadership of the board at times. But Jackson has gained the respect of a majority of board members. He should be re-elected.
Katie Wessling , quoted from the 15th ward questionnaire wrote,
“None of the non-incumbent candidates in this election have been involved in SLPS affairs over these last years. I have not seen any of them at our Board meetings, ever. I have not heard their names in connection with SLPS. They do not, to my knowledge, have children in SLPS. I think at this crucial time, as the time to transition back to the Elected Board is hopefully coming, it would be unfortunate to lose Board Members who have been active members preparing for transition and have had leadership roles in doing so and to replace them with people who, while having the best of intentions I am sure, are not “up to speed” with the current state of the Board, the history that got us to this place, or transition plans which have been carefully honed over the past few years. They may someday make wonderful board members, but right now, none of them are ready.”
“Though we cannot govern, we can still advocate, and we can prepare for transition. In other cities where citizens have been disenfranchised by removal of an elected board, and then it is returned to them, the ability of the Board to effectively return to governance correlates with the fact that a Board continued to exist and remain engaged in district affairs throughout the period of disenfranchisement. A sudden transition to a group of people who have not been involved and are not “up to speed” is a recipe for failure.”
Katie Wessling succinctly makes the case for her and David Jackson’s re-election. The Watch endorses them.
Please vote Tuesday and please ask everyone you know to vote. This is a crucial election for the SLPS.
About Cooksey’s Finance Reports.
April 4, 2015—St. Louis--I returned to the Board of Election Commissioners April 2nd. Cooksey had filed an amended report earlier in the day. The 8 day report she filed on March 30th was full of mistakes. She did not file a statement of committee organization until March 6 so she did not have to file a 40 day before the election report. However on the 8 day before the election report she filed on March 30 she reports $24,907.82 in receipts on line 1 as having been previously reported. In the amended report she filed on April 2 that line correctly reports zeros. The $24,907 was the total of her incurred debt and her disbursements. She mistakenly added her receipts and her debts and disbursements and reported that as total receipts of $63,104.82 on line 9. Her total receipts are actually $38,197.00.
She is acting as her own treasurer. This is highly unusual in a campaign. Given the mistakes she has made in reporting one can see that it was not the best use of her talents. At the April 1st candidate forum, she claimed to be an expert on finances. Her difficulties filling out campaign finance reports calls that expertise into question.
She has a total of 12 itemized donors listed providing checks of over $50 which must be itemized including that $30,000 check from Leadership for Educational Equity. The 4 out of town donors, including LEE and Bloomberg contributed $31,400 of the total. Eight checks from in town donors added up to $3,525.00. The difference of $3,272 is probably small donation which need not be itemized.
Her report summaries are in the attachments below.
_________________________________________________________________________
By Susan Turk
Tuesday’s Election
April 4, 2015—St. Louis--All 5 of the candidates who are actively running for school board are aware of the challenges the SLPS faces trying to educate predominantly disadvantaged urban students and regain full accreditation. All of them sound good in their public appearances. Areas of emphasis distinguish them.
Charli Cooksey’s war chest has had a considerable impact on this election. The sheer volume of out of town money, especially that $30,000 check from LEE is unprecedented. Election Board staff related that not even aldermanic candidates see such large checks. Only the mayor and president of the board of aldermen have attracted such deep pockets. The half a million Civic Progress raised in their effort to control the school board 10 years ago was local corporate money after all and that money was contributed to a PAC which independently spent money on all of their candidates.
This unparalleled situation has required the Watch to carefully consider its recommendations for this election, because we believe it would be deeply unfortunate for Charli Cooksey to win a seat on the board of education. It would be unfortunate for several reasons. She is pro- charter schools, pro-SAB, pro-Teach for America and anti-raising public revenue. Plus, the unnamed in her campaign literature not-for-profit which she executive directs, inspireSTL, has recruited high performing students to leave the district for high school, lowering our graduation rates, persistence to college MAP points and end of course MAP scores, and thereby increasing the SLPS’s difficulty in regaining full accreditation. She has been working against the best interests of district for the past 5 years.
A memorandum of understanding she signed with the SLPS in December may refocus inspireSTL’s efforts to keeping those students in high performing SLPS high schools. But since its inception, inspireSTL has drained high achievers from SLPS. Half of the students inspireSTL recruited left the SLPS for schools such as Affton High School, Bayless High School, Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory High School, Christian Brothers College High School, De Smet Jesuit High School, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, Mehlville High School, Notre Dame High School, St. John Vianney High School, St. Louis University High School, Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School and Whitfield School. “Half of our Scholars attend public schools within St. Louis city, and half attend private and parochial institutions in the area.” From http://inspirestl.org/placements
The 15th ward Democrats survey school board candidates. In response to one of their questions, Cooksey wrote, “I am deeply committed to protecting and preserving the sustainability of SLPS as long as it continues to improve and educate students. I believe more quality schools should open and more existing schools should continue to improve. Ideally, that would be through SLPS, but good charter schools are not the enemy, but instead, partners.” At the League of Women Voters/Local 420 candidate forum April 1 she said it was not clear charter school funding hurt the SLPS.
She predicates her continued support of the SLPS on its continuing to improve and educate students. We of the Watch believe school board candidate support for the SLPS should be unqualified. We consider charter schools to be competitors, not partners. They are draining resources from the SLPS and do not do a better job of educating comparable students.
Answering a 15th ward question about how she would promote the SLPS as a viable choice to parents, she responded, “The best tool to promote SLPS as a viable choice for parents is results.” If you drain the district of its better students, as she has been doing through her work for inspireSTL, you will have much more difficulty improving results.
In her own words from the Watch candidate survey, “I respect and admire the service of the SAB”
Cooksey appears to be an advocate for corporate school reform. The financial support she has received from Washington D.C. and New York demonstrates that outside forces with a national school reform agenda are bankrolling her. If she wins, we can expect more candidates of this nature in the next few elections until the community most invested in our schools again loses influence over the governance of the SLPS. If the elected board regains its authority to govern our schools but it is peopled with candidates like Cooksey, we will be back where we were before parents began running for and winning board elections a decade ago.
Moving on to Natalie Vowell, in her campaign literature she states, “Since moving to St. Louis in 2010, I have worked on the front lines of education and poverty issues in our City,…”
When Vowell was running for 78th district state representative in May, 2014 I attempted to engage her in a discussion of education issues. She did not have opinions or an understanding of major issues facing our public schools last May. I tried to engage her in conversation about education issues again in January 2015 after learning that she had filed to run for school board. In January, she could not answer questions about charter schools, accreditation or the SAB. I came to the conclusion that wherever she had been on education issues during the past 4 years, it was not the front lines.
Since that time, she has been doing her homework and can now speak convincingly about education issues. She understands the challenges. She is appalled by the social injustice that has created the problems in our schools. However, she is new to the battlefield and she misunderstands some things.
In her response to a question on the 15th ward website on charter schools she writes,
“Perhaps it is time for SLPS administration to reach out to the charter school community and adopt some of the policies and practices that seem to be most pertinent to charter school success—particularly those charters who are able to serve our impoverished population”
Vowel does not know that students in charters and students who applied to charters but did not get in demonstrate the same level of academic performance. Charters do not improve academic performance. Very few charters out-perform public schools. The ones that do tend to have more affluent students or get signed agreements from parents and students to commit to longer schools hours and days which public schools cannot require of their students and parents. Most charter schools serving high poverty populations are performing at the same or worse levels than public schools. Also, she seems unaware that charters do not serve as many children with disabilities and especially severe disabilities so their classrooms are not as affected by legally required mainstreaming as is the SLPS, nor are there as many ESOL or homeless children in charters. She does not understand that the KIPP schools cream students by requiring them and their parents to sign contracts. The SLPS cannot require contracts from all of their students. The field of competition between the SLPS and the charters is not level. She also did not understand that charter schools are entitled to a portion of all funding received by the SLPS, including local sales tax and property taxes.
Vowel is one of those who does not understand what tenure means and does not support it. Tenure provides teachers with due process to prevent arbitrary terminations. It does not ensure perpetual employment.
At the LWV/Local420 sponsored forum Vowell said that most of public schools funding came from state and federal government and that this should stop. This is neither true nor wise. The SLPS budgets from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal years show that federal and state funding amounted to only about a third of the district’s revenue. Most of city public school revenue comes from property taxes. She misunderstands school funding. Her understanding may have been affected by her political views. She attributes the loss of population and home ownership in the city to high property tax rates. That is an extremely simplistic explanation for a complex problem.
Vowell also thinks there is money to be saved from cutting administrative bloat in the SLPS. She is ignorant of the way the administration has been cut to the bone during the past 10 years of the SLPS being run like a business. Were the SLPS to stop accepting funding from the state and federal government, it would have to raise property tax rates to make up for the loss just to get to current inadequate levels of funding. Moreover, Vowell appears to be unaware that it is our reliance on property taxes to fund public education that is the chief cause of inequity in our public schools. Vowell’s dream of lower property tax rates is not only impractical, it is impossible.
It is possible that at some point in the future, Vowell might be an asset to the elected board. At this time, she is the least experienced and the least qualified candidate running. She would benefit from more than a few months study of the issues. That she ran for state rep last year and is currently running for school board demonstrates that she has political ambitions. Running will build her name recognition. It would not be surprising were we to find her running for office again in the near future.
Joey Hollins is a retired firefighter currently working in License Collector Mavis Thompson’s office. Shortly after filing to run in this election, he decided to pull out and remove his name from the ballot. He did not follow through however and decided to re-enter the race in early March. Although he has made some campaign appearances and gained a few endorsements, he has declined to respond to the 15th ward candidate survey, the Post-Dispatch Voter Guide or the Watch candidate survey. He did request that the Watch survey be resent to him last weekend because he had lost it among his emails. The editor, however, felt it was unfair to the other candidates for him to be given the extra time and be able to respond to the questions after having seen how they responded, so we did not comply with his request.
As an alumnus of the SLPS who went on to a successful career and whose children graduated from the SLPS, Hollins understands the district. He emphasizes the need for early childhood education and concentration on literacy. He has devoted volunteer time to working with at risk youth and has been active in a community based committee which has been successful in advocating for the re-opening of L’Ouverture Middle School. However, his lackadaisical attitude towards campaigning has made it extremely unlikely that he could win a seat on the board in this election. He could, however, take votes away from the people who should win, making it possible others, who shouldn’t, to prevail. It is our hope that Hollins will run for the board in the future and devote time to a campaign that would result in victory. He has missed too many campaign opportunities to be successful this time.
That leaves incumbents, David Jackson and Katie Wessling, both of whom still have children attending SLPS.
On the 15th ward’s questionnaire Jackson wrote,
“As it stands now, I believe the District needs time and resources to continue in educating its children to the best of its ability. Adding more Charter Schools in the City really diminishes these efforts.” Jackson made a forceful statement opposing charter at the LWV/Local 420 forum Wednesday night. He has evolved on this issue. Jackson also bravely defended the importance of property tax revenue to the district against Natalie Vowell’s advocacy for lowering the tax rate. Jackson even suggested putting an increase in the rate to a public vote because city voters have always voted to support the SLPS’s financial needs. He has been a problematic board member at times. The Watch has been deeply concerned about his leadership of the board at times. But Jackson has gained the respect of a majority of board members. He should be re-elected.
Katie Wessling , quoted from the 15th ward questionnaire wrote,
“None of the non-incumbent candidates in this election have been involved in SLPS affairs over these last years. I have not seen any of them at our Board meetings, ever. I have not heard their names in connection with SLPS. They do not, to my knowledge, have children in SLPS. I think at this crucial time, as the time to transition back to the Elected Board is hopefully coming, it would be unfortunate to lose Board Members who have been active members preparing for transition and have had leadership roles in doing so and to replace them with people who, while having the best of intentions I am sure, are not “up to speed” with the current state of the Board, the history that got us to this place, or transition plans which have been carefully honed over the past few years. They may someday make wonderful board members, but right now, none of them are ready.”
“Though we cannot govern, we can still advocate, and we can prepare for transition. In other cities where citizens have been disenfranchised by removal of an elected board, and then it is returned to them, the ability of the Board to effectively return to governance correlates with the fact that a Board continued to exist and remain engaged in district affairs throughout the period of disenfranchisement. A sudden transition to a group of people who have not been involved and are not “up to speed” is a recipe for failure.”
Katie Wessling succinctly makes the case for her and David Jackson’s re-election. The Watch endorses them.
Please vote Tuesday and please ask everyone you know to vote. This is a crucial election for the SLPS.
About Cooksey’s Finance Reports.
April 4, 2015—St. Louis--I returned to the Board of Election Commissioners April 2nd. Cooksey had filed an amended report earlier in the day. The 8 day report she filed on March 30th was full of mistakes. She did not file a statement of committee organization until March 6 so she did not have to file a 40 day before the election report. However on the 8 day before the election report she filed on March 30 she reports $24,907.82 in receipts on line 1 as having been previously reported. In the amended report she filed on April 2 that line correctly reports zeros. The $24,907 was the total of her incurred debt and her disbursements. She mistakenly added her receipts and her debts and disbursements and reported that as total receipts of $63,104.82 on line 9. Her total receipts are actually $38,197.00.
She is acting as her own treasurer. This is highly unusual in a campaign. Given the mistakes she has made in reporting one can see that it was not the best use of her talents. At the April 1st candidate forum, she claimed to be an expert on finances. Her difficulties filling out campaign finance reports calls that expertise into question.
She has a total of 12 itemized donors listed providing checks of over $50 which must be itemized including that $30,000 check from Leadership for Educational Equity. The 4 out of town donors, including LEE and Bloomberg contributed $31,400 of the total. Eight checks from in town donors added up to $3,525.00. The difference of $3,272 is probably small donation which need not be itemized.
Her report summaries are in the attachments below.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
The Jewish establishment has banned these four valiant Jews. Why?
Lots of lessons here --
This is an excellent description of one subset of the broader actors and forces who are trying to contain and divide Ferguson and other solidarity movements in St. Louis.
This is a good background for understanding why the Museum, pressured by the JCRC and the ADL, censored the Ayotzinapa-Palestine-Ferguson event.
This also why Washington University engaged in a serious breach of academic freedom when it censored an open academic debate on the BDS movement last year.
This also details why, following these courageous figures, we must resist censorship and racism in all their forms. Definitely worth reading...
From Mondoweiss:
The Jewish establishment has banned these four valiant Jews. Why?
"Levy said the demand is something out of the Spanish Inquisition. “There’s a single definition of being Jewish: I have to be a Zionist, 110 percent uncritical of Israel, otherwise I can’t call myself a Jew. And I think there’s something wrong with that.”
Rubin said the thought control reminds him of Communist days, when friends said he should never criticize the Soviet Union because Russia was the savior of the working class, and criticism would hurt the movement.
“Now Israel is the savior of the Jewish community so don’t say anything. Israel is supposed to be a Jewish country–and they don’t want Jews to argue? This is not the way that Jews do business.”
Zellner said Israel is not a Jewish country, any more than the U.S. was a white country when 12 percent of the country was back. But she said the demands of Jewish nationalism have made Jews sick.
“What’s happening now in the Jewish community, the enforced loyalty to the state of Israel, has made us sick. We are a sick population, we are under such extreme tension. We have people storming out of seder meals, and we in Jews Say No, when we’re out on the street. I have seen normal people who you would not look at twice go from zero to 60 in a second and become raving maniacs. Calling us everything that you can possibly say. We are in a situation where people can’t ask the questions and they can’t talk. “
She said the young Jews in the room were the “prize” that the older Jews are fighting over, and the Fingerhuts will lose. READ THE REST OF THE STORY
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