"The
St. Louis Schools Watch was founded on the premises that parental
and community involvement are needed for good schools to flourish,
and that public participation is a cornerstone of democracy. The
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."
After one year and one month, it came down to there being just too few hours in the day. That's why this blog is being replaced by a new forum.
I just couldn't give the schools beat as much attention as it deserved without dropping the ball on providing the quality political coverage that readers of Pub Def have grown used to.
I asked for help but none came. So I had to make a decision.
With the new STLSchools.org forum I hope I've made it easy for everyone to share information and opinions about the happenings of St. Louis Public Schools. You are all citizen journalists and many of you know much more about what's going on in the classrooms and offices of SLPS than I ever could.
Despite repeated assertions by the school board president, St. Louis Public Schools maintains that Vashon's new basketball coach does not make a $125,000 per year salary.
As late as yesterday in a "You Paid for It" segment on KTVI Channel 2, Board Pres. Veronica O'Brien repeated her claims that Anthony Bonner, the former NBA star who was recently hired to replace legendary and controversial coach Floyd Irons at Vashon High School, is receiving a salary that dwarfs that of many principals and teachers in the district.
"Anthony Bonner makes $125,000 and the man is doing three and four jobs. That will not change. So that is your answer for the public," O'Brien told investigative reporter Elliot Davis. But according to SLPS officials, that's not what district records show.
According to SLPS Communications Director Tony Sanders, Bonner, who officially started with the district on Oct. 17, earns an annual salary of $72,000 plus standard employee benefits in his position as Executive Director of Community Outreach, a position that did not previously exist and some believe was created just for Bonner.
Bonner also receives an annual stipend of $4,084 for coaching varsity basketball at Vashon, the same stipend paid to every boys basketball coach in the district.
Click here to watch Elliot Davis' report featuring a revealing ambush interview of O'Brien.
While other urban mayors are fighting to take the reigns of their city's failing school districts, Mayor Francis Slay continues to push instead for the state's Republican governor to take over St. Louis Public Schools. And he's finding an ally in the woman he first appointed to the school board.
After denials four months ago by his aides, Robin Wahby and Ed Rhode, of secret conversations first reported by PUB DEF in July in which the mayor's office called on the state to intervene following the defeat of his hand-picked school board candidates, Mayor Slay, a Democrat, has grown more and more vocal about his desire for Gov. Matt Blunt to take control over St. Louis' beleaguered schools.
"A State takeover of the district is a needed first step," the mayor wrote on his website Saturday.
"If legislation is needed to make the law clear and to protect a takeover from legal challenge, the Missouri General Assembly should pass a bill the first month it is in session -- and the Governor should sign it."
The current school board president, who Slay appointed to the board in 2004 after former member Rochelle Moore was removed because of her erratic behavior, has joined Slay in calling for state intervention.
Veronica O'Brien said that while she doesn't yet support an all-out "takeover," she does think the state should do away with the superintendent's office.
"A state takeover in the truest sense would be disastrous and it would not help the children," O'Brien told KSDK this week. But she said she wants to see the position of superintendent completely eliminated and replaced by two positions; a chief operating officer and a chief academic officer.
O'Brien also has begun to undermine the credibility of the very woman she abruptly introduced as superintendent just four months ago.
"Dr. [Diana] Bourisaw does not have the experience to handle some things in this district," O'Brien told Channel 5. She said she once believed Bourisaw had the "potential to grow," but no longer.
O'Brien said she doesn't believe she personally deserves any of the blame for the current state of the district. "I don't think I bear the burden of many years of the district falling apart," she said.
In that regard, she and the mayor are again on the same page.
For three years, between April 2003 and April 2006, Mayor Slay enjoyed unprecedented influence over St. Louis Public Schools. Under the direction of his original slate of candidates -- Vince Schoemehl, Bob Archibald, Ronald Jackson and Darnetta Clinkscale, who later became the heavy-handed board majority -- the district embarked on an expensive experiment, overseen and co-directed from the mayor's own office, that turned control of the district over to a New York City-based corporate turnaround firm and a superintendent that had absolutely no prior experience in education.
When the dust settled, the district was left in debt, the community was even more divided, and the New Yorkers where back in New York preparing for their next adventure in New Orleans.
But Slay, like O'Brien, accepts no blame for his role in today's mess.
"It would be controversial to give up local control of the St. Louis Public Schools, but it would be plain wrong to allow the district to continue to betray the futures of thousands of students," Slay wrote today on his website. "It's past time for a state takeover. Why not just say that?"
If Slay and O'Brien get their way, it would put St. Louis City residents in the very unique position of being perhaps the only city population in America with no control over either its own police force or its own public schools.
Now the commentary:
It is not leadership to jump to the front of a steady march and join in the chorus. Indeed, it is cowardice for elected leaders to abandon their mission and turn over the power voters invested in them to outsiders -- whether they be from New York City or Jefferson City.
If Mayor Slay wants to be a good leader and if he truly wants someone to have the authority to "put the district in the hands of a strong administrator with a mandate to stabilize the district and start it on the long road to recovery," as he says, then he should ask for that power, not pass the buck to a governor who has repeatedly voiced his own insensitivity to this state's urban people.
Instead of giving our power over to the state, the mayor should ask for control over his city's schools -- as mayors have done in Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles, and as is currently being considered in Seattle and Washington D.C.
It would be controversial, but no more so than if a governor who is not directly accountable to St. Louisans was given control.
And at least there would finally be one person the voters of this city could hold accountable for the future of our public schools.
Jeanne Weber, president of the Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) at Metro High School, told the members of the St. Louis School Board that they are not being very good role models for SLPS students.
She also said they should support Superintendent Diana Bourisaw's efforts, as she and her family does.
VIDEO: Board Hears Report on Sodexho, O'Brien Refuses to Hear Public Comments
By Antonio D. French
The St. Louis City School Board heard a report tonight by Chief Operating Officer Deanna Anderson on the costs and benefits of ending the district's contract with Sodexho and bringing back in-house many of the maintenance operations that the contractor oversees.
The following report is by Nick Clement of the St. Louis Schools Watch:
St. Louis School Board President Veronica O'Brien again has found a way to divert attention from students and teachers to herself. In a bizarre performance before the Desegregation Monitoring Task Force, O'Brien called on the state to intervene in the school district to remove the superintendent.
Only two months ago, O'Brien engineered the removal of the word "interim" from Diana Bourisaw's title, making her "superintendent" instead of "interim superintendent." Now she is relentless in her attacks on the superintendent. The reason for the attacks lies in a disagreement over O'Brien's role.
In recent weeks, O'Brien has been telling anyone who will listen that administrators in St. Louis Public Schools do not respect her authority as president. She complains that administrators are holding meetings without inviting her and making decisions without running them by her first. In short, she is confirming the truth of board member Bill Purdy's claim that she is trying to micromanage the district.
Sources familiar with O'Brien say Bourisaw's reluctance to let O'Brien make up jobs and salaries precipitated split. The disagreement between the two came to a head over the hiring of Anthony Bonner.
Sources say O'Brien promised Bonner's family, with whom she is close, that she would give Bonner a job and pay him $125,000 a year. She ordered Bourisaw to hire Bonner as a "special assistant" and pay him $125,000. Bourisaw reportedly refused. She is said to have told O'Brien that Bonner could apply for whatever openings were advertised and if he was qualified, she would hire him at the advertised salary. He qualified for a job in the community information office and was hired at a salary of $72,000 a year.
Many people in the school district were outraged that someone with just a bachelor's degree could come off the street and waltz into a $72,000 a year gig to make more than many principals with doctorate degrees are making, but O'Brien was outraged that her order to pay him $125,000 was ignored. She reportedly ran around school board headquarters ordering one person after another to code Bonner in the payroll system for $125,000. Person after person refused, and her grudge against Bourisaw grew.
People who know O'Brien say she has become obsessed with getting rid of Bourisaw, to the point where nothing else in the school district matters to her. That obsession has led to the strange speech reported in the Post-Dispatch yesterday.
As upsetting as her speech is to supporters of St. Louis public schools, it at least indicates that she does not have the support of the majority of the board. She would not be calling on the state to remove the superintendent if she had the votes on the board to do it.
The Saint Louis Board of Education will hold a Special Board Meeting Work Session and a Board Meeting on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at Carr Lane VPA Middle School. The Special Board Meeting Work Session will begin at 5:30 p.m. and is open to the public. The Regular Monthly Board Meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and is also open to the public. The executive session will be held at the end of the Regular Board Meeting and is closed to the public. The agenda is as follows:
WORK SESSION AGENDA 5:30 P.M. 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Sodexho Presentation 4. Discussion 5. Adjournment
REGULAR MEETING AGENDA 7:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Pledge of Allegiance 4. We Are Up To Good Things 5. Public Comments 6. Approval of Minutes a) Regular Board Meeting October 10, 2006 b) Special Board Meeting October 16, 2006 7. Superintendent’s Report a) Business Items – Information Only i) Financial Reports ii) Superintendent’s Goals and Objectives b) Consent Agenda 8. President’s Report a) Report on Council of Great City Schools Fall Conference b) Board Committees 9. New Business a) Resolution to authorize inclusion of Saint Louis Board of Education in MSBA Intensive Assistance to Districts Program. b) Resolution to authorize the Board’s adoption of the MSBA Superintendent Evaluation Form and Process for Evaluating School District Superintendents. 10. Information Requests a) Dr. Fowler: Update on air conditioning projects. b) Mr. Jackson: Update on transportation. 11. Announcements 12. Motion to go into closed session 13. Adjournment
EXECUTIVE SESSION AGENDA 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Legal Matters 4. Personnel Matters 5. Adjournment
Kristen Hinman has a very good article on Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw's new directive to her staff to ensure that all participants in the district's basketball program are eligible to play according to the state's guidelines.
From the article:
"I believe they'll do an excellent job checking into that," Bourisaw says. "If [the students] are not eligible, whether it's because of grade-point average or residency, they will not be allowed to participate."
The following is by Nick Clement from the most recent SLS Watch e-newsletter:
At the St. Louis School Board administrative meeting Tuesday night, Bob Archibald and Ron Jackson objected to Diana Bourisaw's plans to make a presentation to the Missouri State Education Board on Thursday November 16. They were joined in their opposition by board president Veronica O'Brien.
Bourisaw intended her presentation as a snapshot of the district at present. (You can get a copy of the presentation through the St. Louis Public Schools home page, www.slps.org.) She said it was important to dispel the myths and misconceptions state board members may have and to present factual information about the reality of the district so that the state board could make an objective decision about what actions, if any, to take regarding the St. Louis Public Schools. She also said she hoped her presentation would encourage a dialogue with the state about further improvements to the St. Louis Public Schools. Archibald, Jackson and Mayor Slay have been demanding since July that the state take over the public schools.
Archibald came close to calling Bourisaw a liar, saying he didn't believe parts of the presentation were accurate, such as the balanced budget. Bourisaw referred Archibald to Leonard Westbrook who is a state education employee working closely with district treasurer Enos Moss. Westbrook reports directly to the Danforth Advisory committee about the financial condition of the district. The implication was that if the budget were not accurate, Westbrook, who was in the audience, would have brought it to the attention of the Advisory Commission.
Both Archibald and Jackson protested that they were given no advance notice of the presentation. Bourisaw told me after the meeting that she routinely makes presentations to groups of all kinds (as have all district superintendents) and does not provide notice to board members because it is not an issue of policy. In fact, she was making a presentation to the Clergy Coalition the next day. No one objected to that presentation. She said this is the first time she had ever had board members object to her making a presentation in support of the St. Louis Public Schools.
Bourisaw readily acknowledged that student test scores were not where they need to be, but her presentation included stunning statistics which showed the St. Louis Public Schools were outperforming Charter Schools, and since 2001, SLPS African American students have consistently outperformed their counterparts in county schools on the MAP. For some reason, no one seems to be calling for a state takeover of the charter schools, however.
Archibald's and Jackson's real objections have nothing to do with being notified of Bourisaw's speaking engagements. They object to the superintendent making the case before the State board that the district is stabilizing and improving in spite of 3 years of destruction; and there is support among the stakeholders for Bourisaw and the new school board because of that stability. If the district is improving, then there is no pretext for a state takeover.
Here's the upshot: If some of you don't step up, this website will shut down.
Can you help?
CONTRIBUTOR F.A.Q.
How do I become a contributor? Call Antonio French at (314) 518-2364.
I work for the district. Do I have to use my real name? No, you can have a pseudonym.
Do I have to write something everyday? No. Hopefully several people will step up, thereby spreading the workload. Antonio French will still be the editor and will sometimes ask you to cover a particular event.
I'm not the best writer, but I know a lot about what's going on in SLPS. How can I help? Contact Antonio French (use the number above). You feed him the info, he'll write the stories. He might even give you a cool code name.
I have a video camera but I have no idea how to edit videos or post them to the Internet. How can I contribute videos of school board meetings and school events? If you're willing and able to record an event all you have to do is get us the DV tape. We'll copy it and return the tape when we're done.
