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St. Louis Schools Watch
Susan Turk Editor,
Alternative Governance Studies Update -- And The Committee Is….
November 5, 2017—St. Louis—So on Friday, November 27th at 7:30 a.m., the SAB met to decide who would populate their Special Task Force on Alternative Forms of Governance for the SLPS. At this hastily called meeting, they finally approved the $80k they planned to spend on the alternative governance study. SAB Member Richard Gaines, who has been chosen by his fellow SAB members to chair the task force, reported that DESE had given them the authority to indicate what form the future governance of the SLPS should take. They want the process completed before the start of the 2018 legislative session in January. Gaines spoke about the elected board of education’s suggestion that a presentation on the history behind the state takeover of the SLPS and institution of the SAB be presented at the task force meetings. The SAB decided that they did not think such a presentation was necessary. The SAB did take into consideration the elected board’s concerns about the speed with which the SAB was moving forward and so they decided to change the date of the first meeting from October 30th to November 6th.
Richard Gaines also reported that elected Board Member Bill Haas had phoned him and offered to serve as the task force’s vice chair. Gaines declined Haas’ offer. The SAB had written to the elected board on August 26th offering the EB the opportunity to select one of their members to serve as vice chair of the task force but not allowing that EB member to have a say in the planning for the task force. So the EB decided at their September 26th work session that they would not appoint a vice chair from among themselves. Haas was the only EB member who disagreed with that decision. They reported their decision to the SAB and at their October work session, the EB decided to recommend to the SAB that Board of Education Member Charli Cooksey be selected to be a task force member, not a vice chair. They thought it important to be represented on the task force but not to give the idea that they had anything to do with the formation and planning for the task force. Haas had asked to be selected to represent the EB on the task force but he had left the meeting before the time when selection of the EB rep was addressed on their agenda. Cooksey also volunteered and being the only member present at the time of discussion, was selected.
For better or worse, Haas, who is currently running for congress in the second congressional district, does not take “No” for an answer when he disagrees with a decision made by his fellow EB members. In declining Haas’ offer to serve as vice chair of the task force, which would have given the SAB’s project the appearance of EB approval, and the community the impression of EB complicity, it appears that the SAB thought it more important to limit EB involvement to one of its members than having the appearance of their approval of the proceedings.
Names that were suggested but did not make the final cut were John Moten, former EB Member and Editor Emeritus of the Watch Peter Downs, Alexis Bates, Jamala Rogers, U City Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Ian Buchanan, SLPS Principal Brenda Smith, Kwame Building Group CEO Tony Thompson, Attorney Bill Douthit, St. Louis City License Collector Mavis Thompson and James Treadwell.
These are the people who were selected to serve on the task force.
Adolphus Pruitt, chairman of the St. Louis City chapter of the NAACP
Addie Bond, in-coming president of the SLPS Parent Advisory Council
Ray Cummings, AFT Local 420
James Clark, Better Family Life VP for Community Outreach
Charli Cooksey, SLPS Board of Education Member
Rich McClure Ferguson Commission Co-Chair and a St. Louis Chamber of Commerce member
David Merideth, SLPS Parent Advisory Council member
Rev. Michael Jones, Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church
An SLPS teacher not yet named and of course, SAB Member Richard Gaines as chair.
These are all reasonable choices.
But it is noteworthy that neither of the parents who were chosen are African American. In a school district whose student body is 88% African American this is a remarkable oversight. The Watch polled throughout the community after this information was announced and found universal dismay that African American parents are not represented on the task force. Moreover, this is unprecedented. Whenever a task force or committee has been appointed in the past there was always equal representation by black and white parents. There are African American parents who participate on the Parent Advisory Council so it is difficult to account for their omission. But there it is.
The SAB had publicized that the public could comment on the district website at https://www.slps.org/governance. There had been a comments box on the page but it has been removed. Now there is a link on the left hand menu to a Public Survey but if you click on it there is only message saying that the survey will be available after all three task force meetings occur. Survey questions can be skewed to achieve particular answers so it will be interesting to see how this one is designed. We will have to wait until after the November 13th task force meeting to see it. Meanwhile, the meetings begin tonight at 6:30 at Vashon HS, focusing on elected boards. Please plan to attend. If you can’t make it, they have said video will be available on slps.org.
Let us all be reminded that The Danforth Freeman Special Advisory Committee on the SLPS concluded after a comprehensive study of the extensive research that has been done on alternative school district governance across the country in 2010, that no type of school board is more successful than any other type of school board. The defining factor that contributes to a school district’s success is community engagement. Danforth Freeman recognized that in St. Louis an elected board is what would be accepted and supported by the community. The SAB is hoping that community opinion has changed in seven years. For those of us who wish to see the democratically elected board of education returned to governance of the SLPS, let’s hope it hasn’t
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The editor encourages readers to forward The Watch to anyone you think would be interested. Our city and our schools need as much public awareness and public engagement as we can muster at this time.
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Questions for the Watch? Letters to the Editor? Stories to contribute? News tips? Send them to SLS_Watch@yahoo.com
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Calendar
November 6, 2017, Monday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, elected boards, 6:30 pm, Vashon HS, 3035 Cass Ave., St. Louis, 63106
November 9, 2017, Thursday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, appointed boards, 6:30 pm, Central VPA HS, 3125 S. Kingshighway, St. Louis, 63139
November 13, 2017, Monday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, hybrid boards, 6:30 pm, Northwest HS, at 5140 Riverview Blvd, St. Louis, 63120.
November 14, 2017, Tuesday, Board of Education regular monthly meeting, 6:30 p.m., Mann Elementary School, 4047 Juniata St., St. Louis, 63116
November 20, 2017, Monday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, 6:30 pm, location yet to be determined
November, 21, 2017, Tuesday, Special Administrative Board meeting, 6:00 p.m., 801 N. 11th Street, room 108
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