SLS Project is an info space for courses taught in the Anthropology Dept. at Washington U. in St Louis (Prof. Bret Gustafson). Confronting St. Louis and MO politics has made me a bit outspoken. Opinions are my own, not the university, not the students, not the department. On St. Louis: @slsproject On energy politics: @energy_politics
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Monday, December 11, 2017
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Susan Turk Reports on 2nd Meeting of SAB Task Force: dismantling democracy (even more) in St Louis Public Education
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Monday, November 13, 2017
Susan Turk Reports on the unfolding fiasco organized by the SAB to undercut democratic governance of St Louis Public School System - unparalleled reporting because Susan has lived and struggled this entire history.
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St. Louis Schools Watch
The First Alternative Forms of Governance Task Force Meeting Was a Night to Remember
By Susan Turk
November 6, 2017—St. Louis—Approximately 300 people attended the first meeting of the SAB’s task force on alternative forms of governance meeting tonight. The crowd was diverse but there was a large contingent of SLPS principals and senior staff for whom attendance was mandatory. All seven elected board of education members were also in attendance. There was a change of personnel on the task force from what had been published in the Post Dispatch. Better Family Life’s James Clark declined his appointment due to being appointed to another board that would take up a considerable amount of time. He was replaced by SLU and Lindenwood Law School Professor Stephanie Hudson. After the meeting we learned that Rolanda Gladden, the teacher who had been appointed to the board and attended the first meeting resigned due to the level of controversy involving the task force. Another teacher, Kaylan Holloway, was appointed to take her place. The haste with which the SAB put this together has not worked so well. The three experts who presented at the meeting were Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, Esq., Executive Strategic Advisor in Equity Programming for the National School Boards Association, Melissa K. Randol, Esq., Executive Director, Missouri School Boards Association and a former school board member from Prince George County in Maryland and Janet Tilley, Director of Board Development at Missouri School Boards Association. Tilley presented the background information on elected boards. In summary, elected schools boards are the most common form of school district governance in the country. They represent democracy in its purest form because they are non-partisan and their members are not paid to serve. They work for the children and are directly accountable to the community at the ballot box. In our 40 largest cities 82% of the school boards are locally elected, 15% are appointed and 3% are hybrids with both elected and appointed members. Nationally school boards were originally appointed but 100 years ago during the Progressive Era there was a movement to transform them to democratically elected boards. They were meant to provide local control and to be insulated from political influence by having their elections off cycle and by being non-partisan. They are models of democratic process. They increase stakeholder and community engagement in schools by being directly accessible and offering greater independence from political influence. There has been criticism that there is low voter turnout for school board elections. The national average is 7% turnout. St. Louis is different. Our most recent school board election had a 30% voter turnout, the same percentage as voted for our mayor. Even though our school board is not governing the district, the voters are committed to the board. Elected school boards represent the entire community and serve as gateways for minorities to enter elected public service. Direct election ensures the public in public education. They are the most accountable form of governance to stakeholders. Four key studies which showing a positive correlation between academic performance under elected boards were referenced. The ability of the board to work as a team with the superintendent and staff contributed to that success. Other factors were communication with all stakeholders and continuous training. A conclusion of the 2010 Danforth Freeman committee’s report was repeated that there is no perfect or proven board model. The model that best reflects the values of your community should be implemented. Task force members asked questions for about half an hour. During that time, former elected school board member Bill Monroe disrupted the meeting. He attacked SAB member Richard Gaines by name stating that Gaines was doing a disservice to the community by not allowing the audience to speak. Then he stormed out. Since time was allotted for the audience to speak, Monroe’s brief melodramatic interruption served no purpose other than to remind people about a deficiency of elected boards, sometimes demagogues like Monroe succeed in getting elected. But then the electorate corrects that mistake at the next opportunity. Monroe, after all , was the reason the state board of education terminated the transition planning discussion last year. He crashed a meeting forcing its abrupt cancellation. It would not be unreasonable to surmise that his behavior was scripted then and now to handicap the elected board. His many performances during public comments at SAB meetings over the years always seemed designed to embarrass the elected board. But he lost his re-election bid earlier this year. Democracy took care of the problem he presented. Twenty-five audience members were able to address the task force. Each was allotted 3 minutes. Among them were retired SLPS teacher and Local 420 Vice President Byron Clemens, Twenty-second Ward Republican Committeeman Robert Vroman, Board of Education Member Donna Jones, Board of Education Member Dorothy Rohde Collins, Board of Education President Susan Jones, UMSL Professor of Education and former Board Of Education Member Rebecca Rogers, Daryl Smith, SLPS teacher Nick Metropolis, Fifteenth Ward Democrats Chairman Richard Buthod, Bill Reardon, Jessica Payne, Fifth Ward Committeeman Rasheen Aldridge, State Representative Michael Butler, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists former President Lew Moye, SLPS students Jane and John Gillespie, Board of Education Member Bill Haas, SLPS parent Katie Berry, State Representative Bruce Franks, Bill Gruhn, SLPS parent Megan Betts and SLPS parent Clara Holmes. The speakers consistently expressed support for the return of the elected board of education to governance. Some of the highlights of their remarks were Donna Jones’ mention of the ambition of the business community to control the millions of dollars in the SLPS general operating budget and how money has not been spent wisely to renovate and resource our schools. She called it “stealing”. Dorothy Rohde Collins mentioned that our city is hurting because people’s voices are not being heard. “We need more democracy, not less.” Rebecca Rogers pointed out the accumulation of white privilege and white supremacy by denying the citizens the right to elect their school board. Darryl Smith’s emphasis was on the importance of the children in the city and that the best way to help the children and hold the school board accountable was the elected board. Nick Metropolis spoke about modeling democracy for his students. High school teachers are trying to teach students about civic engagement. Richard Buthod said the disenfranchisement of the citizens of St. Louis was paternalistic. Bill Reardon questioned how we could call this a democracy id we don’t have the right to vote and elect our leaders. He also objected to asking the legislature to change the law about SLPS governance because they had taken our minimum wage increase away from the city and showed they did not have our best interests at heart. Rasheen Aldridge said that trying to take away our right to vote for our school board is beyond disrespectful. He further criticized the SAB for their disrespectful behavior at the October elected school board meeting. Michael Butler said that the law is clear that since the district is fully accredited the elected board should be returned to governance. He asked whether if the citizens make their support for the elected board clear would the task force recommend the return of the elected board to governance. Richard Gaines combatively responded that the task force and SAB could not tell the state board what to do (which is laughable) and would not commit to what they would recommend. Lew Moye said we should not be debating giving up our right to vote. He was followed by a teacher named Evelyn who emphatically stated that you shouldn’t have the right to take my vote away. Glenda Thornton asked Gaines why there were no black parents on the task force. Bill has erroneously stated that having served for 15 years, he was the longest serving board member since Dan Schafly when John Mahoney served for 24 years, reiterated the history that lef us to this moment, the repeated misinformation in the Post-Dispatch, Haas called it a canard that the excuses that have been put forth for the installation of the SAB, the unstable leadership and low academic achievement was caused by Mayor Slay’s slate and the financial problems were caused by the state. Haas continued that the appointed board is not the solution. They are the problem because test scores have been flat for the ten years they have been in power. Haas concluded that it is a disgrace. SLPS parent Katie Berry expressed fatigue about Jefferson city’s overreach. “They’ve taken away our pay increase and women’s rights. I’m not ready to give them my schools too. These people are taking away my voice about the things that most impact me.” she said. Bruce Franks expressed support for the elected board. He said if it is not returned there will be issues oin our city and promised to protest for the children. SLPS parent Megan betts asked how much this process cost. Ricard gaines told her $75-80,000. He insisted that no one on stage was being paid. But he declined to tell her what the money was being spent on. He then went on to say that, “We, (meaning the task force and the SAB) don’t make decisions, we make recommendations. He told her that you can make recommendations yourselves”. While that may be technically true, the recommendation that the SAB sends to DESE will carry weight that our recommendations not have. Nevetheless, everyone who is concerned about the future governance of the SLPS, should endeavor to contact DESE Commissioner Vandeven and the state board of education to express your opinion. It is worth a try. The state board can be reached at 573-751-4212 sbe@dese.mo.gov The commissioner can be reached at 573-751-4446 margie.vandeven@dese.mo.gov commissioner@dese.mo.gov If you do send emails, please copy them to sls_watch@yahoo.com so that we can tally communications. The survey the SAB is hosting will be available on slps.org from November 14-28 and there is also a link for public comments on https://www.slps.org/governance now. Voice mail comments can be left at 314-435-5755. There will be one public forum on hybrid boards, Monday, November 13 at 6:30 pm at Northwest Academy of Law HS. Public comments can be on other types of board. Almost all speakers thusfar have emphasized support for the elected board of education and the right to vote for them. Democracy matters. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Correction: The date of the meeting where the task force members were chosen was misprinted in the last issue of the Watch. It was October 27, 2017 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 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. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Questions for the Watch? Letters to the Editor? Stories to contribute? News tips? Send them to SLS_Watch@yahoo.com …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Calendar November 13, 2017, Monday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, 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 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Please Subscribe to the SLS Watch. If you have never subscribed because friends have forwarded The Watch to you, please consider subscribing now. Internet newsletter mailing and management services are not free. The Watch has always concentrated its efforts on getting you the news and analysis of the SLPS that you value rather than on keeping itself in the black. But in order to pay our bills, we do need your subscription. For a dollar a month, you will get news, opinion, and analysis that you won't see elsewhere in the media. Please write a check today. __________________________________________________________ Subscribe to the St. Louis Schools Watch. Name:____________________________________________ Street No.:________________________________________ City:_____________________________________________ State/Zip:________________________________________ Telephone:_______________________________________ Email:___________________________________________ I am enclosing:_____$12 for a 1-year subscription (make checks payable to Commonsense Publishing, and mail to P.O. Box 1983, St. Louis, MO 63118.) __________________________________________________________ The St. Louis Schools Watch was founded on the premises that parental and community involvement is needed for good schools to flourish, and that public participation is a cornerstone of democracy. St. Louis Schools Watch offers information and analysis that we hope contributes to a public debate over what changes are necessary to improve St. Louis public schools and what works. Our mailing address is: Common Sense Publishing P.O. Box 1983 St Louis, MO 63118 |
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Editorial: State-appointed leadership works best for St. Louis Public Schools
This is disappointing, basically makes the Post-Dispatch the mouthpiece of the white corporate class. Hopefully they get some advertising revenue out of selling out democracy in the name of questionable "progress.".:
Editorial: State-appointed leadership works best for St. Louis Public Schools
Editorial: State-appointed leadership works best for St. Louis Public Schools
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Monday, November 6, 2017
Update on St Louis Public School System: The 'Task Force' to decide whether or not democracy will return has been named
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Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Susan Turk/St Louis Schools Watch: Update on the SAB and the highly managed 'return' to local control
Updated 10/26 at 5 PM:
St. Louis Schools Watch
The SAB has changed the meeting date for its first meeting on alternative forms of governance. The meeting focused on elected boards is now scheduled for Monday, November 6th, 6:30pm at Vashon HS, 3035 Cass Ave, St. Louis, MO 63106, which is a bout three blocks east of Grand. There is ample parking in the school lot right in front.
Subsequent meetings on appointed boards and hybrid boards will be on Thursday, November 9th, 6:30 pm at Central VPA HS
3125 S. Kingshighway located at the corner of Kingshighway and Arsenal. But the school parking lot is entered off Kemper Avenue, the street one block south of Arsenal and Monday, November 13th, 6:30 pm at Northwest HS, at 5140 Riverview Blvd, St. Louis, 63120.
There will be a fourth meeting where the SAB task force on alternative forms of governance will deliberate in public on the report and recommendation they will make to the SAB. That meeting will be held Monday, November 20th, 6:30pm at a location yet to be determined.
Susan Turk
St. Louis Schools Watch
Things Are Speeding Up
Susan Turk, Editor
Meeting Mon., Oct.30, 6:30 pm on SLPS Elected Board Governance
October 25, 2017, St. Louis-- The SAB is holding the first of 4 meetings by a special task force it is rushing into being to study alternative forms of governance for the SLPS. Each meeting will be on a different form of governance, elected boards, appointed boards and hybrid boards which are part appointed and part elected. The first meeting will be on elected boards and will be held this coming Monday at 6:30 pm at Vashon HS, 3035 Cass Ave, St. Louis, 63106.
This meeting has not been posted on SLPS.org yet. SAB member Richard Gaines mentioned it tonight at the Board of Education's meeting for the first time. It is part of an expedited process the SAB has cooked up to study alternative forms of governance for the SLPS. It will result in the SAB sending a recommendation to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on the future of governance for the SLPS that will be made before the end of December so that if any legislation has to be submitted to the Missouri General Assembly, DESE will have the time to do so for the 2018 session.
Experts from the Missouri School Boards Association will present information about elected boards to a special task force that the SAB is forming this Friday to evaluate the information provided and ask questions of the experts. SAB Member Gaines said the public will also be able to ask questions.
There will be opportunities for the public to make their opinions known via the SLPS website and other means.
PLEASE participate.and spread the word. Please attend Monday.
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The SAB’s Plan
The October 10th St. Louis City Board of Education meeting was unusual. All three members of the Special Administrative Board attended. The Board of Education had invited them. After the Missouri State Board of Education decided on August 15th to remove themselves from involvement in the transition planning process, the SAB sent the BOE a letter on August 30th which restated the content of their June 26th letter. The SAB again invited the BOE to send 2 members to SAB meetings to sit with them, provide input and ask questions but not to vote on matters before the SAB starting with the SAB’s September 28th meeting. The letter also invited the BOE to participate in public forums which would be held to study alternative forms of governance for the SLPS but have no role in their planning.
The BOE replied by declining to send only 2 members to the SAB meeting on the 28th because it would look as if they were participating in a hybrid board. The BOE also determined that they had no interest in studying alternative forms of governance for the SLPS. The BOE was only interested in planning for their transition back to governance of the SLPS, so they invited the SAB to discuss transition planning October 10th.
The SAB did not inform the BOE that they had accepted the invitation to appear at their monthly public board meeting until the day before, October 9th. The three SAB members did not, however, intend to discuss transitioning governance with the BOE, nor did they think it necessary to inform the BOE of this prior to the meeting. Rather they attended to present the BOE with copies of a letter which they had sent to DESE Commissioner Margie Vandeven earlier in the day. The SAB blindsided the BOE. They refused to sit at the three seats set up for them at the front of the room next to the BOE. Rick Sullivan and Richard Gaines addressed the BOE from the podium used for public comments while Darnetta Clinkscale sat in the audience. It was spectacularly disrespectful.
The letter to Commissioner Vandeven the SAB presented to the BOE stated that the SAB “is obligated by law to explore alternative governance structures for the St. Louis Public Schools. That duty was clearly established by the Missouri General Assembly in 1998 through the passage of Senate Bill 781, which was codified at Mo. Rev. Stat.S162.1100.4(2)…. The SAB takes this obligation seriously and realizes it is one of the last major responsibilities that must be accomplished in completing its service to the children, families and community of the SLPS. To that end, the SAB will soon consider a formal resolution establishing a “Special Committee” under Mo Rev. Stat. S162.621.1(3) that will lead a research and outreach effort to explore alternative governance structures for the school district. This Special Committee will include a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure full consideration of the issues and opportunities associated with this important matter. In fact, the SAB has asked a member of the Elected Board to serve as Vice Chair of the Committee, and it will solicit recommendations from the Elected Board for qualified individuals willing to serve on the Committee. Thereafter the SAB will populate the Committee with community leaders that place the best interest of the SLPS at the forefront of the deliberations.”
"While the Special Committee will certainly consider the opinions of all interested parties—including the Elected Board—in performing its research and investigation, its ultimate responsibility will be to develop an informed comprehensive report and governance recommendation to the SAB by year-end or early 2018. Hearings to receive advice from noted experts on the subject will be held over the coming weeks, and respectful public comment will always be welcomed and valued. We recognize that many individuals and groups may possess a sincere and honest desire to advance transitional and future governance structures for the district, but the SAB is sincerely duty-bound under Missouri law to do so. Accordingly the SAB is prepared to discharge that duty with the help of the Special Committee and the continued support of the State Board.”
So that is the SAB’s plan. SAB Member Richard Gaines explained that before the end of the year there would be three public hearings. There will be one each dedicated the elected boards, appointed boards and hybrid boards. The hearings will be held at different locations around the city. The SAB will contact the Council of Great City Schools for the names of experts to invite and the Special Committee and the public will be able to ask questions of the experts at the hearings. The public will also be able to leave comments on SLPS.org.
Having participated in good faith in many of what were advertised as public processes regarding the SLPS for twenty years only to discover that the outcome was predetermined and the public was included only to create the appearance of a legitimate consideration their input, it is difficult for this writer not to be cynical about this one process. The SAB was instated after all, despite the overwhelming objections of SLPS parents and city residents. However, and as usual, we have no choice but to participate. And try, once again to impress the powers that be that while democracy may be the worst form of governance, it is so with the exception of all the others.
Where to begin with explaining that there is so much wrong with their plan?
By implying the need to explore alternative forms of governance for the district, they are explicitly undermining the elected board of education which has patiently been waiting in the wings for ten years expecting to be returned to governance once the district regained accreditation. Although Gaines denied that was the SAB’s intent and stated that the SAB could decide to recommend returning the BOE to governance, they could do so without wasting time and resources studying alternative board structure. The Danforth Freeman Special Advisory committee studied alternative forms of governance in 2010 and concluded that there was no evidence that any form of governance was more successful than any other. Ignoring that report’s conclusion and retracing those steps is very suspicious and worthy of distrust. It is widely known in the education world that there is ample research on district governance which demonstrates that appointed boards and hybrid boards are not more successful at governing districts than democratically elected boards. There is no need to do this unless the SAB wants cover for a recommendation that will not be returning governance to the elected BOE.
But this is St. Louis and the heavy hand of systemic, institutionalized oppression will not easily relinquish power over our public schools. Our business leaders want to ensure their continued domination over our public schools and their more than $200 million per year general operating budget. Losing control of the voters after the 2003 slate fiasco spooked them. They do not want to risk that happening in the future. This is a town where if you are not a member of the St. Louis Regional Chamber , the Regional Business Council or the Black Leadership Roundtable, you are not considered to be worthy of sitting on the Board of Education by our self-selected community leaders. The business community wants to ensure that only members of those exclusive organizations run things.
From their paternalistic point of view, no one else need apply. Nor would they consider working with anyone who is not a member of their class and caste. Richard Gaines insisted that the SAB members want to cede power and leave governance. He said he would not serve beyond their current term which ends in June 2019. But that does not mean that the SAB would be willing to see the district governed by people not of their caste and class. It may not be about them individually. But it is definitely about people of their caliber and they reserve judgment about whom people of their caliber are.
It should be noted that they are offering the BOE a position as vice chair, not co-chair. That makes the BOE member subordinate. It is also notable that while they will entertain recommendation from the BOE about committee members, they will reserve to themselves the ultimate decision about who will constitute the committee meaning the BOE’s recommendations might now make it on. If the SAB truly wanted to partner with the BOE on this they could offer to split decisions about the composition of the committee by giving the BOE say so about half of the members and reserve half of the choices to themselves. But they have no intention of partnering with the BOE. They have always treated the elected board as subordinates and continue to treat them as such. That’s how power is exerted in St. Louis by our ruling class. It has always been about them and their exercise of power and what little they are willing to trickle down has to satisfy the mere underlings who are the rest of us. We must accept what little we are allotted. Systemic institutionalized oppression of the general population must be maintained at all costs after all.
The problem with this form of governance should be apparent. As was pointed out by Board Member Bill Haas has last night, achievement scores are essentially flat. The SAB has had no success improving district achievement over their ten years and for good reason. You can render authority to one’s small group but you cannot force the group you are oppressing to excel for you. You cannot force children to learn. You cannot force parents to believe in your good intentions and encourage their children to excel. When you are oppressing aspirations you cannot expect excellence as a result. Oppression begets mediocrity, people simply struggling to barely comply with conditions. The excellent leaders of our fair city do not respect and cannot connect with the parents of the students in our schools. As successful accomplished people themselves, they do not understand people who have not succeeded, nor can they truly empathize with them, nor do they respect them or their elected representatives. They think themselves superior and entitled to make decisions for their inferiors. And so achievement has been flat.
Ten years have been wasted by the appointed board. They congratulate themselves for improving business practices for the district. But the district is not a business. It is a school district. It took the SAB nine years to figure out that they could not cut contracts enough to eke out enough extra money to pay the teachers adequately. Nine years!
And after ten years they still refuse to treat the elected board as equal partners. As they plan their egress they do the only thing they know how to do, subordinate and oppress.
Gaines insisted there is a chance they SAB will recommend that governance be returned to the elected board. Their actions thus far make that very difficult to believe.
Update from the October 24, Elected Board Work Session Meeting
The Special Committee being set up to study alternative forms of governance will consist of seven to nine members all selected by the SAB. It is now being called a Task Force. The members will be chosen by Friday. October 27 and their first meeting will be Monday, October 30 at 6:30 pm at Vashon HS to hear from experts on elected boards. Five days from now. The SAB is in a hurry. This is not yet posted on the slps.org website. They apparently do not want there to be much of a turn out for the meeting regarding elected boards which makes things look all the more like a set up.
The meetings on appointed boards and hybrid boards will occur on the following subsequent Mondays. Locations have not yet been finalized. When they are, the Watch will publish them.
The elected board has decided not to send a member to serve as vice chair of the special committee. Vice chairs usually have some say in the planning and execution of meeting agendas and committee activities. The SAB is not allowing the EB to have any input on planning. The EB does not want to give the mis-impression that they have any responsibility for what is being done. But they do think they need to be represented on the committee so they selected Charli Cooksey to participate as one of the 7-9 members of the committee.
In addition to bringing in out of town experts from the Council of Great City Schools, Richard Gaines reported that the experts on elected boards would come from the Missouri School Boards Assn. and that other experts would also come from Chicago University (?) perhaps he meant the University of Chicago. The SAB has approved spending between $75,000 to $80,000 of SLPS funds for this endeavor. The funds were not approved publicly on a consent agenda at one of their public meetings. They have been discussing these plans in closed sessions under legislative matters. They are doing that because changing SLPS governance will require changing state law.
The SAB is also going to mail surveys to over 10,000 households in the city to solicit opinions on alternative governance. They will be using a data collection consultant, Vector Communications in this effort.
Richard Gaines expressed pride that this will be the largest data gathering effort ever attempted by the district. But it looks like they will be mining low information folks who have largely been influenced by all of the negative reports about the SLPS and the elected board that have been fed repeatedly and consistently to the public over the past 11 years by all of the major media outlets in town to validate their decision about governance, whatever it may be.
This will have the appearance of being a democratic process without the fair and balanced presentation of information needed for people to make informed decisions which is just the way our leaders like things to be done in St. Louis.
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What MRS 162.1100 Actually Says
4. The special administrative board's powers and duties shall include:
(1) Creating an academic accountability plan, taking corrective action in under performing schools, and seeking relief from state-mandated programs;
(2) Exploration of alternative forms of governance for the district;
(3) Authority to contract with nonprofit corporations to provide for the operation of schools;
(4) Oversight of facility planning, construction, improvement, repair, maintenance and rehabilitation;
(5) Authority to establish school site councils to facilitate site-based school management and to improve the responsiveness of the schools to the needs of the local geographic attendance region of the school;
(6) Authority to submit a proposal to district voters pursuant to section 162.666 regarding establishment of neighborhood schools.
The SAB has not exercised its authority under provisions (3) or (6).
The SAB and other governmental entities mentioned in MRS 162.1100 such as the state board of education have chosen not to exercise other provisions of the statute.
For instance, 162.1100.2(2) says that the chief executive officer, who is Rick Sullivan, “shall be paid in whole or in part with funds from the district, and shall have all other powers and duties of any other general superintendent of schools,” and “His salary shall be set by the state board of education.”
When the SAB was instated Sullivan decided not to accept a salary and the SAB chose to keep the superintendent at that time, Dr. Diana Bourisaw and to eventually hire Dr. Kelvin Adams to serve as superintendent.
So they have been selective about following 162.1100. Insisting that they are obligated to study alternative forms of governance stipulated in 162.110.4(2) because it says, "4. The special administrative board's powers and duties shall include: (2) Exploration of alternative forms of governance for the district;" When they have ignored another “shalls” in its provisions that reeks of hypocrisy.
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The Skinny on the Council of Great City Schools
The SLPS has relied on the advice of the Council of Great City Schools before, especially during the three years when SAB Member Darnetta Clinkscale served as president of the elected Board of Education. That board, which along with Clinkscale included Ronald Jackson, Vincent Schoehmehl and Robert Archibald who voted in unison, were intent on outsourcing as many district services as possible. They consulted with The Council about outsourcing, which resulted in contracts with corporations like Aramark and Sodexho whose service was judged to be wanting by the SAB when they took over in 2007.
The Council largely fronts for corporate interests who want to develop profitable relationships with public school districts. It is notable that Darnetta Clinkscale is currently the St. Louis Board Representative on the Council of Great City Schools Board of Directors.
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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
October 30, 2017, Monday, Special Task Force on Alternative Governance for SLPS Meeting, 6:30 pm, Vashon HS, 3035 Cass Ave., St. Louis, 63106
November 14, 2017, Tuesday, Board of Education regular monthly meeting, 6:30 p.m., Mann Elementary School, 4047 Juniata St., St. Louis, 63116
November, 21, 2017, Tuesday, Special Administrative Board meeting, 6:00 p.m., 801 N. 11th Street, room 108
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Please Subscribe to the SLS Watch.
If you have never subscribed because friends have forwarded The Watch to you, please consider subscribing now. Internet newsletter mailing and management services are not free. The Watch has always concentrated its efforts on getting you the news and analysis of the SLPS that you value rather than on keeping itself in the black. But in order to pay our bills, we do need your subscription. For a dollar a month, you will get news, opinion, and analysis that you won't see elsewhere in the media. Please write a check today.
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The St. Louis Schools Watch was founded on the premises that parental and community involvement is needed for good schools to flourish, and that public participation is a cornerstone of democracy. St. Louis Schools Watch offers information and analysis that we hope contributes to a public debate over what changes are necessary to improve St. Louis public schools and what works.
Our mailing address is:
Common Sense Publishing
P.O. Box 1983
St Louis, MO 63118
Monday, September 25, 2017
On STL Retired Teachers: The Injustice of the Teachers' Pension Board -- via Delores Mills
This post shared from Delores Mills' list serve. I neither endorse, nor do I not endorse, these positions. - BG
Re: Our upcoming Retirement Board election:
Re: Our upcoming Retirement Board election:
Joe Clark is again a candidate for trustee of our pension board. In his biographical statement that we recently received, he stated that he had been on the pension board for 18 years-- a long time. Yet, we have not had a COLA in eleven years with no talk of receiving one. In fact, I understand that recently, the SAB persuaded the Missouri Legislature to pass a bill which requires that our fund be
100% funded before a COLA can be approved for SLPS retirees. I understand also that the pension board (trustees-- there are eleven) and the former union president, Mary Armstrong testified in favor of this awful bill which basically will prevent us from ever receiving a COLA.That 100% funding is practically an impossibility, This stipulation only applies to us, not to the other pension fund, PSRS of Missouri, which represents all other school districts in Missouri, except St. Louis and Kansas City.
As our advocate, why didn't Joe Clark, the president/chairperson of our pension board make certain that we were notified of these negative changes? He has been chairperson for at least 5-10 years.
Now, let's take a look at his attitude, since he has been negligent in making certain that we received important communication.
When the few of us attend the pension board meetings, which Erma Nevels and I have been faithfully attending for at least 12 years, here are some of the insults that we have to endure in the hostile climate which Joe Clark presides over:
They refuse to turn on the microphone so that we can hear the discussions. During the last meeting when we complained, Joe Clark looked at us, did not acknowledge our complaint, ; he rolled his eyes, and ignored us. The 10-11 trustees also ignored us.
As they talked about increasing the insurance premiums and insurance subsidy, it was difficult to hear; Erma raised her hand and asked if they would speak louder; Joe Clark paused, gave her a hostile look, and he and the group continued to ignore us.
They refused to introduce us to the insurance vendor/consultant who was making a presentation and discussing the $80 insurance supplement which they claim that retirees receive-- they placed the literature on the overhead projector so that the trustees could follow the discussion, although they had the literature before them. Because we could not see very well and did not have the literature, Erma asked for a copy; they ignored her and continued with the discussion.
Led by the president/chairperson of the pension boaard, Joe Clark, they maintained the usual hostile climate as we sat there trying to learn about the decisions that they were making about our financial fate.
Lastly, they went into closed session without giving a reason, so we had to leave.
Delores
P.S Darnetta Clinkscale has recently been appointed by CEO, Rick Sullivan to sit on our pension board--she ran with three others, Ron Jackson, Robert Archibald, Vince Schoemehl as a slate in about 2004 o 2005.. The St, Louis voters rejected the entire slate. Now she has been appointed by CEO
to sit on both boards-- pension board and the school board.