By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, November 13 at 11:21 AM
The school board will meet Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7:00 p.m. for their monthly administration meeting.
At next week's regular meeting, Superintendent Diana Bourisaw's report to the board will include her office's evaluation of controversial contractor Sodexho.
Here is the complete agenda:
1 - Call to Order / Roll Call
2 - Placement of Items on the November 21, 2006 Regular Board Meeting Agenda
A) Call to Order/Roll Call
B) Pledge of Allegiance
C) We Are Up To Good Things
D) Public Comments
E) Approval of Minutes
F) Superintendent's Report
G) President's Report
H) New Business
I) Information Requests
J) Announcements
3 - Adjournment
21 Comments:
Is it even possible to have a less informative agenda?
Monday, November 13, 2006 3:49:56 PM
Maybe we should bring signs saying that O'Brien should not get rid of Bourisaw. She had her coup to bring her in, now she needs to live with her. The district has had WAY TOO MUCH INSTABILITY.
O'Briens should stop harassing the Superintendent. St. Louis is the laughingstock of the nation. We will never get a reasonable replacement Superintendent.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 1:46:41 PM
St. Louis's school district is no more contentious than most urban school districts. Unfortunately, it is also no more successful at educating most of its students.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 2:07:29 PM
Anon#2, I don't know which agenda you read, because I don't see a thing that even remotely looks like O'Brien is harassing or trying to get rid of the Superintendent. What on the agenda gave you that idea? Is there something in code that I'm just not getting? Are you high?
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:27:52 PM
Nothing in the agenda said that. The American's political eye column a few weeks ago brought it up. Just talk to people at 801.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:15:51 AM
Please interpret.
especially "I work for 7 board members. 4 minus O'Brien leaves three. how shaky is Bourisaw's ground?
Board challenges new schools chief
By Steve Giegerich
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/15/2006
The rift at the top of the St. Louis Public Schools broke into the open Tuesday night as School Board President Veronica O'Brien and others challenged new superintendent Diana Bourisaw on the eve of a critical meeting between Bourisaw and the State Board of Education.
In particular, city board member Robert Archibald questioned the veracity of some of the data Bourisaw plans to present to the state board in Jefferson City on Thursday afternoon.
"There is no credible evidence in the report we received tonight," Archibald said of Bourisaw's hourlong briefing at Tuesday's administrative board meeting. "To present this to the State Board is to distort what is happening in this district in terms of student achievement and fiscal responsibility."
Among the data Bourisaw plans to share with the State Board are figures that show the African-American achievement gap in the St. Louis schools is narrowing. She said the district is on sound financial footing.Advertisement
O'Brien also questioned the data, calling it poorly interpreted.
The School Board president — the key player in bringing Bourisaw to the district just four months ago — chastised Bourisaw for failing to consult with the city board before preparing her presentation to the State Board.
"We like self-starters. That's great, we need that sort of thing. But right now it can be dangerous," said O'Brien, citing the possibility of a state takeover of the city schools.
Tuesday's meeting was the public's first glimpse at a split that has been simmering behind the scenes. Bourisaw was hired at an emergency board meeting in July to replace former Superintendent Creg Williams, forced to resign by a coalition of disgruntled board members that included O'Brien. Two months ago the board removed interim from Bourisaw's title in a stormy closed meeting.
Since then, however, relations between the board president and superintendent have deteriorated.
Bourisaw brushed aside the barbs directed at her Tuesday by O'Brien, Archibald and board member Ron Jackson.
"I don't think I have a problem," she said. "I work for seven board members."
After the meeting, the superintendent was unfazed that three of those members criticized administration policies ranging from professional development to a failure to seek grants from leading educational foundations. "There was a split board when I got here," she pointed out.
Board Vice President William Purdy defended Bourisaw, calling her planned presentation to the State Board an accurate "snapshot" of the district.
But Jackson joined O'Brien in saying Bourisaw should have worked more closely with the city board before making plans to visit Jefferson City.
"In issues of this magnitude the board should have been apprised in a timely fashion — not at the last minute," Jackson said
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 4:36:06 PM
It is no small wonder that the St. Louis Public Schools cannot effectively address its instructional and academic achievement problems, when the president of the Board of Education continues to reveal her incompetence.
Rather than attempt to show she's "the boss," by refusing to work with Dr. Bourisaw, she should be more concerned about a so-called "principal on special assignment" (before Dr. Bourisaw came to SLPS) who demonstrated her lack of knowledge (in a highly public setting), by telling people that AYP means "annually yearly progress," rather than its real meaning: Adequate Yearly Progress. With a principal like this in the system, is it a surprise that many of our students are being left behind?
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 6:59:23 PM
Archibald's television interviews have been saddening. It is a shame that he is not man enough to admit that he and the other Mayor's Office board members have a lot of responsibility for the sharp decline of the district.
O'Brien, Downs and company were wrong to get rid of Williams because he was Slay's guy, but Archibald and Jackson are wrong to try to get rid of Bourisaw because she isn't. The district needs stability.
Bourisaw should be commended for resisting some of O'Brien's wacky ideas.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 9:18:38 PM
Any chance of some coverage here of Tuesday's board meeting? In the past we've been treated to a summary and even a few video clips on occasion.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:09:56 AM
Antonio wasn't at Tuesday's board meeting. I think he's lost interest in this side project.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:35:09 PM
I was kjoe---something seems unnecessarily different about the way you post This used to be a place where you could get more insights about what was going on---No comment yet on the front page article by Gigerich in the pd, or the puff piece on charter schools a couple of weeks ago. I hate having the pd as the only source-------where else is news being posted? Here is today's fromt page article:
By Steve Giegerich
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/16/2006
Four months have passed since Diana Bourisaw became St. Louis School Board President Veronica O'Brien's handpicked choice to lead the city schools out of a morass of poor test scores, high dropout rates and violence that has plagued the district for years.
Today, the two women are barely on speaking terms.
Many believe continuing instability in a district now operating under its sixth superintendent in less than four years will convince the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education it has little choice but to take over Missouri's largest school district.
A hint of the state's intentions could come today wwhen Bourisaw appears before the State Board of Education to present a synopsis of the district, past, present and future. It is an account that at least three city School Board members, including O'Brien, maintain plays loose with some of the facts. Advertisement
Calling Bourisaw "incredibly cocky and arrogant," O'Brien on Wednesday escalated tension by hinting that Bourisaw's job may be on the line.
"You can't think that you can keep on taking on your employer on a regular basis and expect to stay employed," she said.
Bourisaw dismissed O'Brien's contention that the superintendent has pursued her own agenda to the exclusion of board members.
"I work for the board and I work for the board as a whole," she said. "Individual board members represent individual board members, not the board as a whole."
The superintendent also rejected O'Brien's claim that Bourisaw is using the city schools to position herself for the job of state education commissioner.
"Ha-ha-ha," Bourisaw said.
The give and take is reminiscent of the atmosphere at district headquarters last spring when O'Brien and other members of the board majority forced out former Superintendent Creg Williams just 15 months after he arrived in St. Louis. O'Brien was joined by Peter Downs, Donna Jones and William Purdy in that vote.
Now she is aligned with Ron Jackson and Robert Archibald, with Flint Fowler as a potential swing vote.
The rift between the board president and superintendent came to a head during a tense administrative meeting Tuesday night at which O'Brien, Jackson and Archibald called Bourisaw to task for leaving the board out of the loop while preparing the report she plans to deliver in Jefferson City this afternoon.
O'Brien said the relationship has been deteriorating from the moment the board removed "interim" from Bourisaw's title during a closed session two months ago. "There has been situation after situation where she has decided what she wants to do and forget (the board president)," said O'Brien. "And it isn't going to be that way."
The power struggle deepened when O'Brien promised to pay former National Basketball Association player Anthony Bonner $125,000 annually to take over as basketball coach at his alma mater, Vashon High School, while also serving in a public relations capacity on behalf of the district.
O'Brien's pursuit of Bonner was an outgrowth of an ongoing feud with former Vashon coach Floyd Irons, whose ouster was orchestrated by the board president in July. Irons is now suing O'Brien for defamation of character.
District officials immediately disputed the amount of Bonner's salary — which O'Brien maintains was approved by a top administration official.
Eventually, the situation was quietly resolved, Bonner is being paid $72,000 in his public relations capacity and a $4,000 stipend to coach.
Allies unite
Since the Bonner incident, Archibald and Jackson — vehement opponents of hiring Bourisaw without board or public input — burst through the fissure created by O'Brien.
Archibald, long a financial watchdog, questioned the accuracy of the budget figures Bourisaw plans to present to the state board. The figures, he reiterated in an interview Wednesday, do not take into account the balance of a $38 million bailout loan from the state, an $8 million increase in teacher salaries and the amount of money the district is losing in state aid as more city families enroll their children in charter schools.
"The numbers are just a reflection of the way people want things to be," he said. "If we're going to the state board , then let's be straight with them about what is going on here."
O'Brien and Jackson claimed that in preparing the report to the state Bourisaw and her staff selectively interpreted test scores and other academic data.
Jackson was particularly critical of the administration's campaign to denigrate charter schools. "What does that have to do with how our children in the city are doing?" he asked.
Robbyn Wahby, education liaison for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, also questioned Bourisaw's interpretation of the data comparing St. Louis students to other districts and the state.
"It doesn't matter to me what the state performance is. It bothers me that the district is not focused on the fact children in this district are not performing," said Wahby.
Personality conflicts
Push aside the data, and the predicament in the city schools comes down to what has always ailed the beleaguered district: personality conflicts that pit board members against the superintendent and one another.
O'Brien once enjoyed a working relationship with current Vice President Purdy. She now contends that Bourisaw is doing Purdy's bidding and that Purdy, in turn, is beholden to unions representing the teachers and maintenance workers, as well as past administrators, notably former Superintendent Cleveland Hammonds.
"Purdy needs to give it up," she said. "He's been around 30 years too long. The institution he knew doesn't exist anymore. He needs to quit throwing the rock and hiding the hand."
Said Purdy: "I think it sends the wrong message. I really thought Veronica O'Brien wanted a quality school system supervised by a competent superintendent with the help of a stable school board. All of this flies in the face of stability."
And that, along with the district's failure to move toward state accreditation, Purdy and others contend, could lead to either a total state takeover or the appointment of a transitional school board. So, too, would the departure of a second superintendent in less than six months.
The swing vote on Bourisaw — who has 60-day buyout in her contract — is now held by Fowler. He opposed Bourisaw's hiring last summer because he said he wasn't given the opportunity to review her credentials.
Although he believes Bourisaw "deserves a chance," he declined Wednesday to tip his hand. "I don't know how I would vote," said Fowler. "I would have to be part of the process before I could say."
Thursday, November 16, 2006 3:16:10 PM
Granted, between the World Series run and the election, the media barely had time to run all of the political ads, much less local news. (well, except for the crime stories since its so prevalent here)
Has the rift between Bourisaw and Veronica along with the Veronica-Purdy split been reported and I've just missed it?
Its surprising how rapidly the situation deteriorated. It appears that over a 2 month period Bourisaw and Veronica, her once staunch supporter, are deeply divided. The Veronica-Purdy partnership appears to have gone south as well. Even at the Jeff City presentation today it appeared as if Purdy found a chair back in ther corner, away from Veronica.
Veronica is quoted by Steve Giegerich as saying:
"There has been situation after situation where she has decided what she wants to do and forget (the board president)," said O'Brien."
Anyone know examples of the "situation after situation" that Veronica is referring to?
Thursday, November 16, 2006 8:38:05 PM
I was at the State Board meeting today and it was comical. The board recognized the crap that she was trying to present and in a subtle way called her on it. There was no hard data and no real goals for the district. It was also reported that the average high school class size was 33 students while middle school was 30 and elementary was 25. This is way too high for any effective learning.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:11:07 PM
Anon at 10:11:07 says, "There was no hard data and no real goals for the district. It was also reported that the average high school class size was 33 students while middle school was 30 and elementary was 25. This is way too high for any effective learning."
I'm confused. Either there was no hard data or she reported class sizes (that is hard data, in case you were at a different meeting than I was). You literally refute your own claim in your very next sentence. You almost sound like one of Slay's spinners. Who sent you to that meeting?
Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:37:40 PM
I am confused as to what we want for our children? Do we want a competent superintendent who has the best interest of the children or do we want a superintendent that cannot perform without the Board overseeing every detail?
As a parent that realizes this situation cannot get any worse I am hopeful that Diana Bourisaw can improve the SLPS. I have seen improvement in my child's school, and though we are far from being out of the woods, baby steps are all we can ask for at this time. Our school system has been in turmoil far too long for anyone to expect recovery in 4 months time.
I was skeptical of Mrs. Bourisaw merely because of the antics in which she was hired. I now have confidence in Mrs. Bourisaw, I do not have confidence in the Board. I continue to believe the Board is more geared for political notoriety than the education of our children. I believe Mrs. O'Brien is unstable and should not be holding the position of Board President. The constant turnover of superintendents will not allow us to achieve results of any kind.
I am also deeply disturbed by the fact that Mrs. O'Brien's decisions are not personally affecting her children, they are personally affecting mine.
Mrs. O'Brien's public behavior draws attention to herself and only herself, this is not reality TV and we do not have the room or the time for her personal antics.
If a state takeover is the only way to improve than I am for a state takeover, however, I believe we need to allow Mrs. Bourisaw to do her job without constant interference from the Board.
Allow me to add, the morale of the faculty at my child's school has improved greatly under the direction of Diana Bourisaw.
Friday, November 17, 2006 2:09:22 PM
I think Ms. Bourisaw is a tough cookie, who has maneuvered very well, while simultaneously dealing with the huge problems.
She is in a strong position---does the state really want to take over and name their own temporary superintendent after their main criticism has been the instability of the board naming six different superintendents? Even if they do take over, they are not going to find anyone better than Bourisaw to deal with the day to day stuff that has to be done.
Her presentation showed she was in the ballpark when it comes to dealing with their concerns. It was almost a subtle way of warning the board that they could be fired (state takeover), especially if they change superintendents again) and warning the state to be careful what they ask for.
I think Bourisaw is a leader. Necessarily ruthless at times.
Friday, November 17, 2006 4:53:43 PM
I agree, Bourisaw may be the best thing that has happened to SLPS in a very long time.
Friday, November 17, 2006 10:46:02 PM
I commend Mrs.Bourisaw for the job that she is doing,the schools certainly can't be fixed in just 4 months.She seems to be very open and is making change,something that doesnt just happen overnight.She brings a wealth of knowledge to her possition.
I now must say that my support for Veronica has drastically changed due to her wanting to micro manage the supt.This isnt playboy/dumbass Craig W. hidding behind the office door,this lady knows her shit!!!So how do we elect a new president???
Off on another rant:
For KMOX GM Dave Ervin to call on Blunt to take over the schools and give Slay control is CRAZY!(I really wanted to use other words here but I'll keep my profanity to myself)WE HAVE ALLREADY BEEN DOWN THAT ROAD OF FAILURE!!!SLAY IS NOT GOD!!
And to Slay who I'm sure either reads these blogs or someone does for him,CHARTER SCHOOLS are not the cure all,if all city schools became charter schools starting Monday with the same kids that act out,disrupt class,dont show up,dont have homework done,dont care about thier education,would the school system all of the sudden be a great district????TEACHERS EDUCATE,IF CHILDREN DONT WANT TO LEARN,THEN IT'S THE PARENTS FAULT FOR NOT PARENTING....
Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:04:25 AM
Just for the record...as a teacher in the SLPS, I am definitely opposed to replacing Dr. Bourisaw, at this time, as well.
Saturday, November 18, 2006 4:11:22 PM
There are two possible ways for tension to resolve itself:pull
reality toward the vision or pull
the vision toward the reality. Which occurs will depend on whether
we hold steady to the vision. Veronica O'brien has no clue of the vision or the reality. Get rid of the entire board, so that The supt can have someone to support the vision and the reality.
Now if her numbers are right then no one in the last 10yrs should have been removed. Right?
Monday, November 20, 2006 12:19:22 PM
I am also opposed to removing Diana Bourisaw, I truly believe she can pull this off this effort! I have seen improvements in my child's school largely due to the improved morale of the faculty members.
As parent that was extremely dissatisfied and bitter over the events of the last several years I have regained a glimmer of hope under the direction of Mrs. Bourisaw.
Veronica O'Brien you must go, reality TV is abundant and ready to accommodate your need for theatrics.
Mayor Slay, your endeavors were not successful.
I beg Mrs. O'Brien and Mayor Slay to take a step back, look what you have created. Humble yourselves, admit your mistakes, walk a day in a SLPS student's or parent's shoes.
I have no confidence in your abilities, you have not made the best decisions for my child's education. This is personally affecting my child, not yours.
You have not made progress, you have greatly hindered it. A great education is the key to my child's success, you have not offered it. Why? Because you are self serving? Because you enjoy the continuous chaos that is not personally affecting your children?
We are all capable of mistakes, some can be recovered, Mrs. O'Brien and Mayor Slay, your's cannot, the damage is irreversable.... We need a clean slate to get past all of this. I vote to hand that slate to Mrs. Bourisaw.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 1:03:50 PM
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