Please supply a brief autobiography including relevant employment and academic degrees completed. (one paragraph)
I am a 1991 alum of SLPS, father of 11 (4 current SLPS students and 4 SLPS alumni), retired Air Force Officer, and Realtor in the St Louis area. Since I retired, I’ve spent the majority of my time working with students and schools through PTO organizations and the district Parent Action Council. I have served on district committees to select new principals, improve communication, and evaluate current school start times. I was also one of 2 parent representatives on the SAB task force on future governance of our school district. I currently hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle University.
The SLPS is currently governed by an appointed Special Administrative Board, whose current term ends June, 30 2019. The elected board has limited responsibilities. While possible, it is not guaranteed the elected board will return to power during the term for which you are running because the state board of education may extend the SAB for as many terms as they wish. Why, then, are you running? If you believe the elected board will return to power, please explain why.
I am running because I want to help ensure the transition of governance returns to the elected board. Having served on the SAB advisory committee, I saw the community support for this transition, and I want to use my drive to see it become a reality.
What is your understanding of the role of a school board member and what do you want to accomplish as a board member?
I believe a school board member’s main role is to ensure that school districts are responsive to the values, beliefs, and priorities of the local community. What I’d like to accomplish is a community run top-down review of the district. Then, with the ability to help shape the budget, be able to drive some of the large-scale changes that will best benefit our current student population.
Are you the parent or grandparent of children who currently attend or recently graduated from the SLPS? Did you attend and/or graduate from the SLPS? Have you ever worked for the SLPS or are you related to a current or former employee? Are you now or have you in the past served as a board member? If you are not an SLPS parent, graduate, former employee or relation of one, or board member, do you have any other connection to the SLPS?
I am a 1991 alumni of Central Visual and Performing Arts HS (CVPA). I have 4 children that have graduated from SLPS and 4 children still in the school district.
What are your thoughts about the Special Administrative Board which currently governs the district?
While I disagree with the tactics utilized to enable the SAB takeover of the district, I must recognize many of the improvements they have been able to implement. Yet, while it might have made sense to have an unelected entity oversee the district while it was still unaccredited, now that SLPS is fully accredited the residents of the city deserve to have the same right as every other accredited district to elect our own school board.
What is your understanding of the impact of charter schools on the SLPS? Should more charter schools open in the city?
Charter schools currently account for almost 1 out of every 3 public school students in the city. They have performed a needed function helping to retain families with children in the city while SLPS was struggling. Currently, they are a drain on the resources needed for an integrated fully functional district. I don’t think any more charters should be allowed to open in the district until there are several changes made in their certification process and I would rather see the total number decline.
The SAB is currently developing a not for profit corporation called the Consortium Partnership Network which will be governed by its own appointed board and whose purpose will be to govern the lowest performing schools. Meramec and Ashland elementary schools have been assigned to the CPN for the 2019-2020 school year. The CPN will be empowered to contract with private not-for-profit companies to manage these schools. If returned to governance, the elected school board will have an as yet undefined oversight role regarding the CPN but no direct oversight of the schools they are assigned. What are your thoughts on this?
As the parent representative sitting on the CPN board until a parent from one of the 2 schools selected can be appointed, I can say this is a misunderstanding of what the CPN is. No private not-for-profits will be allowed to manage these schools. Both Meramec and Ashland will remain SLPS schools. A group was hired to help the teacher leadership team at each school develop their vision and goals and any changes they think will best serve their students and community. The documents establishing the CPN will state that given 1 school year notice the governing body of SLPS will have the authority to move a school back out of the CPN network and into the direct control of the district. Additionally, while the elected board might not have direct oversight of the CPN schools they do have a large role in governing them. The CPN board will consist of the president of the governing body of SLPS, the superintendent of SLPS, a parent representative of a school assigned to the district and an appointee of both the mayor and the president of the board of aldermen.
Do you have any ideas to improve public confidence in SLPS and improve enrollment?
The biggest thing to improve confidence is to rebuild our neighborhood schools and get out and talk to people about improvements made. Right now, if the only talk people hear is how bad SLPS schools are then no one really goes to compare them to other choice schools.
The Missouri legislature usually considers bills that would expand school choice by expanding charter schools, using vouchers, education savings accounts or tuition tax credits making it possible for students to attend private schools using public money or depriving the state of general revenue so parents could use their own money for private tuition without suffering tax penalties. The Trump administration promotes school choice and may re-allocate Title I funding away from providing low income children with extra resources to master reading and math toward expanding school choice options. School board members will be faced with an uphill battle in a struggle to attract and retain students to our school district. How will you respond to these challenging developments?
This will be a constant fight and we will have to take a hard look at our budget and find ways to deal with these issues. We need to find new and creative ways to utilize the large amount of empty space in some of our buildings to give us the increased funding to simply address the infrastructure issues many of our older buildings face. Rebuilding neighborhood schools can also help in that it will cut down on the bussing costs needed for the vast number of magnet schools the district operates.
What are your thoughts on the following legislation being considered by the Missouri Legislature this year?
HB130 Sponsor: Carter
This bill specifies that the State Board of Education shall terminate the St. Louis City transitional school district if the district is classified as provisionally or fully accredited. Terminating the transitional school district shall return governance to the elected board of the school district. Since the SLPS is fully accredited this bill would have the effect of immediately returning the elected board to governance.
I fully support this bill and would change the language to apply this statewide. I believe a trigger for return of district control was intentional left out of the original legislation to make it harder for the city of St. Louis to regain governance of its schools.
HB629 Sponsor: Quade
Beginning with the 2020-21 school year, this bill requires specified charter school applications that are approved by the State Board of Education (SBE) to not become effective until approved by the voters of the district in which the charter school is located. The bill requires that the charter approval be submitted to the voters of the district at the next municipal election or, if the next annual school election is more than 60 days away, at a special election. A majority vote is required for approval of the charter school application.
This is another bill I fully support and have spoken to Rep Quade about. Since charters have no oversight from the local communities there needs to be some way to gage need. Many times, if the effort to start a charter were put towards local school improvement it would have a greater impact for the entire community as a whole.
What are your thoughts on SLPS magnet schools?
The magnet school program is a hidden gem in the city. It has really kept the district afloat during tough times. That said I think we have reached a point where we have too many choices. Additionally, the added costs for busing to magnets (both in the need for 3 bell times and bussing city-wide for each school) has impacted the district’s ability to made other upgrades and changes.
What are your thoughts on neighborhood schools?
Rebuilding neighborhood schools should be the future focus of SLPS. They can be the lifeblood of a neighborhood and are the foundation upon which the rest of the district can build. We have some neighborhood schools that are already showing tremendous success that I think we should strive to duplicate at all the others.
What ideas do you have to help students learn?
1 way to help students increase learning is to allow teachers to focus on teaching. With the most vulnerable student population in the region we must ensure we have specialists at every school to deal with non-educational needs. This would include a social worker and a nurse in every building. Additionally, we must maintain the extensive student meal plan currently in use. If our children are hungry they will not be able to learn.
What do you think about the MAP tests and standardized tests in general?
While testing in general is good to help us evaluate where are students are currently at educationally, too much emphasis is put on them. With funding and accreditation directly tied to scores, we end up with cases where teachers simply teach to the test instead of being able to modify their lessons to best impact their students.
Approximately 70% of SLPS high school graduates who enroll in college must take remedial courses. What policies would you promote to lower this statistic?
Many of these remedial courses are the result of years of neglect. We must focus on these basics at a younger age and promote policies and efforts to improve basic reading, writing and math skills. If a child enters HS and can only read at a 5th grade level it is unfair to our HS teachers who must then try and catch them up enough to even qualify for college. There are many non-profits and universities I feel we could partner with towards this goal.
In the past the elected school board has been criticized as dysfunctional. Local media have unfairly perpetuated this impression. How would your election to the board help to dispel this inaccurate perception.
I spent 20 years in the military dealing with people with diverse backgrounds and beliefs and finding compromises. Additionally, as a parent of numerous SLPS students I’m deeply invested and committed to ensuring the board’s success.
