By Anonymous
Filed Monday, February 20 at 10:23 AM
A recent wave of high-fives and hearts fluttering greeted news from Dr.Creg Williams that he was initiating some bold moves to address the age-old problem of school achievement.
We should congratulate, commend and support Dr. Creg Williams for his leadership in reaffirming or returning successful programs that were discontinued by the board majority. Why it has taken the board majority light years to understand that “big box” high schools are basically warehouses for students is astonishing. While these elements play well in the media and seem to be new, they have been around for a long, long time.
Programs like:
• Voluntary school uniform policy established in 1994 will continue;
• K-8 Schools will return;
• Ninth grade centers like those of the years past at Beaumont, Northwest and Roosevelt will return;
• Smaller size specialty schools will return like the old Management Center, Health Careers High, Metro, Lincoln Opportunity etc.;
• Reconfiguration of middle and high schools to create smaller learning environments exactly like programs already at Beaumont and Roosevelt;
• In-school suspension centers first established in the mid-70's that were discontinued will be reinstated;
• District operated alternative schools like King Tri A for difficult students that were closed by the board majority will be reinstated;
• Reinstated the highly successful MSIP office started by superintendent Dr. Cleveland Hammonds, Jr. and administered by Dr. Charlene Jones;
• Extended summer school opportunities for 7th through 12th grade that existed last year;
• Expanding single-gender academies patterned after the existing Meda P Washington School for girls and adding one for boys;
• Leadership Academy for principals and teachers will continue;
• Reestablishing a Professional Development Center which previously existed at the Lindenwood school site, which was closed and sold by the board majority;
• Continuation of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs at Cleveland, Roosevelt, Soldan, Gateway High and other high schools;
• Athletic programming will continue in the high schools and hopefully with a privately built stadium for use by city students;
• A renewed focus on and investment in ACT preparation that was discontinued three years ago;
• Return of the successful partnership program with St. Louis businesses to assist students in gaining access to clinical experiences, internships, and mentoring;
• Preschool capacity will increase to include three year olds who were denied admission in 2005-2006; and the
• Community volunteer placement system that was discontinued three years ago will be restarted.
Most of the "bold initiatives”of the strategic plan are not new. I hope that this plan is simply not a PR election move to distract attention from other major problems that continue to cripple the system resulting from decisions made by the board majority and their battalion of highly paid con$ultants.
During the five years before Clinkscale the district was moving upward reaching 64 points. However, since Clinkscale, the district is moving downward and at the current rate, in just two more years (3 with Clinkscale and 2 more at the current rate) the district will most certainly be unaccredited. We are now moving in the wrong direction after moving up for the five years before Clinkscale. In almost every major area of school operations, things have gone from bad to worse. Fiscal operations, building maintenance, food service, discipline, teacher morale, public trust, parental involvement, and public support----all have suffered greatly.
I hope that these initiatives will bring about the return of the 25 accreditation points that were lost while Clinkscale and the current board majority have been in charge of the district.
Dr. John Patrick Mahoney, Past President of the St. Louis Board of Education (1984—1986)
Board Member (1983-2001)
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