|
|
|
Students to Throw 1st Pitch at World Series
By Antonio D. French
Two St. Louis Public School students will take center stage at the next two World Series games as the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Detroit Tigers. Anthanisha McMiller, a 5th grader at Gateway Elementary will throw out the first pitch at tonight’s game at Busch stadium, and Donald Buckner, a junior at Gateway High School will throw out the first pitch at Thursday night’s game.
Both students were chosen by the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club of America for the positive leadership both in the classroom and at Herbert Hoover. “This is a great honor and we are very proud of Anthanisha and Donald for their hard work and commitment to the Boys & Girls Club,” said Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw.
Anthanisha has been a member of Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club for the past five years. She attends every day and participates in all programs. After school Anthanisha heads to the Learning Center to complete homework assignments or study for upcoming exams. She has been a member of two leadership programs and has participated in a variety of club and community service projects. One of her favorite players is second baseman Ronnie Belliard.
Donald has been a member of Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club for the past five years. He was selected for the positive leadership that he displays at the Club. He is Vice President of one of the four Keystone Clubs, a premier leadership program offered to boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 18. His favorite Cardinal player is first baseman Albert Pujols.
Jackson Denounces Quest for Accreditation
By Travis Reems
The following is a repost from SLSWatch by Nick Clement:
At the Parent Assembly meeting last Thursday night, St. Louis Public Schools Board Member Ron Jackson made the outrageous claim that "Accreditation is a ruse!"
According to Jackson, the district leadership should focus on the African American
Achievement Gap (the gap between white and African American achievement on state test scores), instead of accreditation. He said that the existence of achievement gaps in accredited county schools was proof that accreditation didn't matter.
There addressed his remarks not just to parents, but also to William Danforth and FrankieFreeman, co-chairs of the special advisory committee appointed by Missouri Superintendent of
Elementary and Secondary Education Kent King to recommend ways to help the St. Louis Public Schools. Danforth and Freeman attended the Parent Assembly meeting to learn the concerns of parents.
The new school board majority and Superintendent Diana Bourisaw have made district accreditation a central goal of their administration. The district, which is currently provisionally accredited, is in jeopardy of losing accreditation because of policies followed while Ron Jackson was a member of the board majority.
State accreditation now rests heavily on student achievement on state test scores. Jackson appears not to understand that raising test scores in a district that is 85% African American, as St. Louis is, is not only necessary for the district to obtain accreditation, it is also necessary for
closing the African American Achievement Gap in metro St. Louis and in Missouri. Thus, Jackson's attack on the goal of accreditation is also an attack on the goal he claims to be for: closing the achievement gap.
Losing accreditation could have grave consequences for St. Louis Public Schools and the City of St. Louis. No one knows for sure what it would mean for the school district, but it can hardly be good for the city. Would families want to stay in a city where the schools are unaccredited? Would families want to move to a city where the schools are unaccredited? The effects of losing accreditation could be disastrous for the city, for property values, and for the city's tax base.
The President of the State Board of Education, Peter Herschend, recently sent a letter to the school district stating that any decision on accreditation status will be based solely on past performance and cannot include anything happening this year. As part of the board that ran the
district for the past three years, Jackson, the person most critical of any efforts to get accreditation, is the very same person who may cost the district accreditation.
If accreditation is the state's measure of a school district's performance, opposition to focusing on achieving accreditation, in effect, puts Jackson in opposition to improving performance for district students, 85% of whom are African American. And puts him in opposition to the further existence of the school district itself.
Bourisaw has presented a detailed Corrective Action Plan (it can be viewed on the St. Louis Public School web site) to move towards full accreditation by addressing the collapse of test scores, attendance, and graduation over the three years that Jackson and his allies ran the school district.
"We have one year in which to make up for the past three," she said. While Jackson was part of the board majority, the district's accreditation score plummeted from 64 to 39, and he and the rest of the board virtually ignored the achievement gap.
Back in 2001, before he was elected to the school board, Jackson, as chairman of the Black
Leadership Roundtable's Education Committee, spearheaded an effort to eradicate the achievement gap in every school district in the St. Louis metropolitan area by 2005. At the time, Jackson said that they wanted to eradicate the achievement gap by raising academic achievement for all students. When the Black Leadership Roundtable subsequently published their 2005 Regional Report Card: Eliminating the African American Achievement Gap, Mayde Henson, then chairwoman of the BLR Education Committee, admitted that where there was improvement in reducing the gap, it was done at the expense of white achievement. In other words, the gap improved not because black students performed better but because white
student achievement dropped. "That is not what we intended," she said.
During the three years that Jackson was part of the ruling majority on the school board, he was in a position to implement policies that would reduce the gap. Instead, the policies he implemented had the opposite effect. The achievement gap, defined as the gap in the average of math and communication arts scores, actually increased in St. Louis Public Schools. According to
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics, the achievement gap was 12.6% in 2003, the last school year before Jackson was on the board. In 2004, the first full year Jackson was on the board basically remained steady, climbing a fraction to 12.8 %. The next year, 2005, the gap grew to 13.4%. And in 2006, the third year of Jackson's majority on the school board, the gap jumped to 21.3%.
Over the three years that Jackson and his allies directed the school district, the African American Achievement Gap increased by 69%!
Spampinato Booted in Pittsburgh?
By Antonio D. French
The controversial former chief academic officer for the St. Louis Public Schools has made a sudden departure from her current post in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
 The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports today that Lynn Spampinato has taken "an abrupt leave, and some district officials said they doubted she would return."
Dr. Spampinato, a Lawrenceville native, gave up a top position in the St. Louis Public Schools to return to Pittsburgh in December. She played a leading role in the establishment of eight new schools called accelerated learning academies, in the selection of a new elementary reading program and in the development of a curriculum for middle-grade and high school students. Her departure comes while those initiatives, described as critical to the district's academic turnaround, remain in their infancy.
Click here to read the full story.
Roosevelt High Gets a New Principal
By Antonio D. French
Dr. Diana Bourisaw, Superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools, today announced the appointment of Terry Houston as the new principal at Roosevelt High School.
"Mr. Houston is the right person to lead Roosevelt High. He is enthusiastic about making a difference in the lives of our students," Dr. Bourisaw said.
Houston has worked at Soldan International Studies since 2001, most recently serving as that school's assistant principal. He holds his Master’s degree in educational leadership from St. Louis University.
Roosevelt is St. Louis' largest high school with more than 1,100 students.
Bonner New Vashon Coach
By Antonio D. French
 St. Louis Public Schools will be holding a press conference today announcing former NBA star Anthony Bonner as Executive Director of Community Outreach and new head basketball coach at Vashon High School.
The press conference will be held at 3:00 p.m. at the district's downtown headquarters, 801 North 11th Street.
UPDATE: According to SLPS, Bonner's salary is $72,000 annually in his position of Executive Director for Community Outreach. He will also receive, like all other head basketball coaches, an annual stipend of $4,084.
Major Holes in Williams' Budget
By Travis Reems
Last night at the school board meeting, the board was presented an updated general operating budget for the current school year to adjust to actual expenditures the budget that was proposed by the Creg Williams' administration. The adjustments take into account, among other expenditures, shortfalls of $11 million in transportation and $2 million in utility costs. The transportation was under budgeted last year, as well, by over $6 million, and the same budgetary numbers were re-used for this year's budget, which has lead to the shortfall.
Among the miscalculations in transportation was the lack of any funding for mandated transportation of homeless students, which some estimate comprise as much as 20% of the student population at some schools in the district. The under budgeting has created a $3 million hole in the district's budget that takes the already $23 million deficit to $27 million. While there will be a depletion of cash reserves by $754,000, district interim CFO Enos Moss said, "[the district has] plenty of cash to get through the year without taking out a loan."
There were plenty of questions of the district’s staff from the board members, and the outrage came with unanimous support from both the board majority and minority member Ron Jackson. Board member Peter Downs made the observation that, "we have to balance the budget, but we are balancing it on the backs of children," which was received with the rousing support of those in attendance to the meeting. In a bi-lateral move, board members Downs and Jackson made an inquiry for a report from the districts administration for supporting documentation for the new budget. In a comment directed to Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw, member Jackson said, "we got to know the plan."
To ensure that the plan did not include the hiring of an outside consultant, Percy Green was heard to say from the audience several times, "Roberti's not coming back!"
Even though the board had many questions about why the original budget did not include many necessary expenditures and under calculated many others, the updated budget was passed unanimously, with the exception of member Bob Archibald, who was not in attendance at the meeting.
Mark Your Calendars...Upcoming Events
By Travis Reems
The following events will be going on in the St. Louis area on topics surrounding public education:
October 14
The St. Louis Public School District will hold an open house for its 20 magnet schools on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Parents who are interested in sending their child to a magnet school will have an opportunity to talk to administrators, ask questions regarding the specialty programs, and receive informational materials and applications.
Elementary Schools
Ames Visual and Performing Arts
Dewey International Studies
Gateway Math & Science Elem.
Kennard Classical and Junior Academy
Kottmeyer Early Childhood Center
Lyon Academy of Basic Instruction
Mallinckrodt Academy of Basic Instruction
Mullanphy ILC
Shaw Visual and Performing Arts @ Roe
Simmons-Marshall MEGA
Stix Early Childhood Center
Euclid/Washington Montessori
Wilkinson Early Childhood Center
Middle Schools
Bunche Int. Studies @ Southwest Complex
Busch AAA
Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts
Compton Drew ILC
McKinley Classical and Junior Academy
Gateway Math & Science Peparatory
High Schools
Cleveland NJROTC @ Pruitt
Central Visual and Performing Arts @ Southwest Complex
Gateway Institute of Technology
Metro Academic & Classical
Soldan International Studies
For more information about the magnet school program, call Recruitment and Counseling Center at 314-633-5200.
October 19
The Parent Assembly meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 19, 2006, 6:30 pm Metro High School, 4017 McPherson Avenue. Opening Remarks by Dorris J. Walker-McGahee with an introduction of Parent Assembly Board of Directors, Principals, School Board Members. Guest Speakers will feature , from the Special Advisory Committee on St. Louis Public Schools, Dr. William H. Danforth and Attorney Frankie M. Freeman, and Laidlaw Bus Company Area Manager Will Rosa.
October 21
10 am to 1 pm, Paying for College Forum, University ofMissouri St. Louis Millennium Student Center, Century Room A
October 19-November 30
St. Louis Children's Agenda will host a "Public Dialogue on Public Education Community Forums to Promote Constructive Dialogue and Develop Effective Strategies for Public Education." The St. Louis Metropolitan Children's Agenda, a broad-based coalition of 300 children's advocates and children's services agencies, is initiating a year-long series of forums focused on public education in the City of St. Louis. The series was organized because of the belief of coalition partners that access to a quality education is central to the life-long well-being of the City's children.
October 19 - SLPS Plans and Goals for 2006 - 2007: Views of the School Board, Superintendent, and Teachers
November 2 - Perspectives of Community Stakeholders: Business and Philanthropy
November 16 - Perspectives of Community Stakeholders: Government & Community Organizations
November 30 - Serving the Customers: What Students Need and Parents Want from Public Education, Plus Perspectives of City Residents
We advise that you register for the forum series by sending an e-mail to vcr@visionforchildren.org.
Cleveland Reunion a Huge Success
By Travis Reems
Yesterday the festivities marking the 90th anniversary reunion at Cleveland Highschool were held at the school, at which over an estimated 700 alumni, current and former faculty, and community members celebrated. The presentation, which lasted just under two hours featured speaches by Richard Simpson, the Alumni Association President; Alliance to Save Cleveland High steering committee members Debbie Irwin, Ald. Dorothy Kirner, and Ald. Craig Schmid; Coach Ray Cliff; and the color guard of Cleveland at Pruitt NJROTC cadets.
The Alliance was on-hand before and after the presentation with information about the effort to restore the historic school, and to sign-up new members. Many of the alumni joined the Alliance at the event, and at the private dinner the previous night.
Only a portion of the first floor was open to the general public. But, during a private tour, the building showed little more visible damage than neglect to tuck-pointing, roofing and leaky pipes, which of course caused environmental concerns as well. The up-coming walk-through being conducted by volunteer organizations on behalf of the Alliance will be able to provide expert opinions, however.
Steve Giegerich covered the event for the Post-Dispatch.
An Answer to Questions about Irons' Future
By Travis Reems
In another sign of having moved on, the district is about to replace the fired Floyd Irons as head coach of Vashon basketball. Read more here.
Cleveland Reunion Open to All Today
By Travis Reems
Cleveland Highschool on S. Grand will be holding its 90th anniversary reunion today on the school grounds with a presentation in the auditorium. Richard Simpson, President of the alumni association, is expecting a croud in excess of 300 people, many of whom have ties to Cleveland and the community surrounding it, but not all. The event is open to the public free of charge. For those that have wondered about the condition of the school with the recent stories about saving Cleveland and the associated disrepair, this would be a wonderful opportunity to personally review the school's state. The doors open at noon, and the presentation starts at 1 PM.
SPECIAL CLOSED MEETING TODAY
By Antonio D. French
The St. Louis City School Board will hold a special closed-door meeting today at 1:00 p.m at the Administrative Building, 801 N. 11th Street. The following agenda was released yesterday:
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Motion to move into Executive Session for Legal Matters
4. Motion to move into Open Session
5. Resolution on Benefits
6. Motion to adjourn
Magnet School Application Period Begins
By Travis Reems
The following is a reprint from SLSWatch:
by The Watch Committee
According to school board member Peter Downs, St. Louis Public Schools are now accepting applications for admission to magnet schools.
The district moved up the application period for magnet schools so that families will know if they are accepted before they have to make a commitment to a private school. The district previously was losing students, who wanted to attend magnet schools, because the district was not accepting students until after the deadlines passed for committing to a private school. Superintendent Diana Bourisaw ordered the change.
SLPS began accepting applications today for the 2007-2008 school year.
The deadline for applications from magnet continuity students, and for students applying for Kennard, McKinley, Metro, Central, Cleveland, Gateway, and Soldan will be Friday, December 15. All of these schools have entrance requirements. Students will be a evaluated after they apply to determine if they are eligible for the lottery, that includes the evaluations for giftedness for students wishing to attend Kennard or McKinley.
December 29 is the application deadline for all other magnet schools. The lottery will take place on January 15 and the first placement notices will be mailed on February 2, two months ahead of last year's pace. Second round placement notices will be send March 2, and third round placement notices will be sent March 30.
It is nice to see district officials actually trying to build up our schools again.
Unprinted Letter to the Editor
By Travis Reems
The following letter from school board Vice President Bill Purdy was sent to the Post-Dispatch as a letter to the editor in response to an earlier editorial. The editors of the Post chose not to publish it.
Re: "Chaos Continues" (September 28). Let me assure your readers that any chaos exists primarily in your editorials. The St. Louis Public Schools are on a sound road to recovery after three years of plummeting performance that began in 2003. Further, the system is now firmly embarked on a plan to regain full accreditation.
My first suggestion would be for your editorial writers to take an arithmetic tutorial. Diana Bourisaw is the first superintendent hired by the current board majority, after four superintendents put in place since June 2003 by the former majority. To get to the six referred to in your editorial you have to go back to 1996 when Cleveland Hammonds, Jr. was hired and whose retirement created the 2003 opening. In just two years the old board majority first hired Bill Roberti who was neither certified nor experienced as an educator and next Floyd Crews for a few months, followed by Pamela Hughes and then Creg Williams. (Now that wasn't too difficult, was it?)
In 2003 the schools were on a steady path toward full accreditation. Since then, the path has been downhill toward total loss of accreditation. Further, there was no plan in place to regain accreditation. Missouri State Achievement scores are falling. The high school graduation rate is dropping, reaching a modern record low of 55.1 percent in June.
Let's review the facts. Six weeks ago when Dr. Diana Bourisaw was appointed Superintendent after the sudden resignation of the previous superintendent, very little had been done to prepare Missouri's largest public school system for the first day of school, August, 28. The new board majority and its new superintendent and staff had a lot of work to do that had not been started.
Many major improvements are already in place. The heavy reliance on substitute teachers has been virtually eliminated. Schools opened on time and smoothly, and student attendance rates are excellent (92% attendance rates for the first four weeks among all enrolled students.) There are more certified teachers in classrooms this school year. The central office has been streamlined with more money going into classrooms. New principals and assistant principals were hired for vacancies the previous administration failed to fill. Textbooks were ordered and delivered ensuring they were in the classroom on day one.
Parents were notified regarding where their child would be attending school and buildings were prepared for the opening of school. Our facilities required a lot of work that had not yet begun on July 17, including general maintenance and construction work on reconfigured schools. To add insults to injury, several buildings were severely damaged by the July storms.
We are pleased that our newest major corporate citizen, Macy's, chose the schools for its special week of employee service, deploying hundreds of employees to schools across the city.
Could your view of the schools be jaundiced by the fact that only one of the candidates your page endorsed for the four vacancies since 2003 was elected in fiercely competitive and highly funded elections?
William Purdy
Vice-president, St. Louis Board of Education
Cleveland Students Unhappy with Attempts
By Travis Reems
Last Thursday, district officials met with the community in a townhall meeting to discuss the future of Cleveland Highschool. This past summer, the school was temporarily closed due to health concerns, and the Junior Naval ROTC program housed at Cleveland was moved to Pruitt Middle School, which at the time housed a middle school ROTC program that has since been disbanded to make space for the highschool students.
The district's Deana Anderson, Building Commissioner and Interim Assistant Superintendent for Operations, along with a staff of three from her office explained to those in attendance the processes for determining the long-term needs of the structure and then setting about to make repairs. After the district's presentation, questions were fielded, not by the district staff, but by members of the Steering Committee for the Alliance to Save Cleveland High, a Missouri non-profit corporation whose goal it is to work with the district to pursue avenues for preserving the historic structure as a functioning school in the community. The Steering Committee members answering questions included Alderwoman Dorothy Kirner, Alderman Craig Schmid, local businessman John Chen, Dutchtown South Community Corporation Executive Director Debbie Irwin, neighborhood resident Dr. Elaine Mahood, Landmark's Association member Matt Ghio, and community advocate Travis Reems.
After the district's staff had yielded the floor to the Alliance's members, hostility was expressed by the attendees toward rumored potential uses of the structure as a holding facility for students while their home schools are outfitted with airconditioning. The comments by cadets of the Cleveland at Pruitt NJROTC program, and their parents, were focused on the inequity of facilities they had been given at Pruitt, while students from other highschools in the district might be using their school.
Even with the somewhat hostile environment, the Alliance was able to raise from those in attendance nearly $300 to cover operating costs of the group. $2 of which came from cadets, the rest was from parents, current and former teachers, and other concerned neighborhood residents.
---
Disclosure: Travis Reems is a member of the Alliance to Save Cleveland High and its Steering Committee.
UCC to Host Dialog on Public Education
By Travis Reems
On Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006, from 2:30 to 4:45 pm, the Epiphany United Church of Christ will host a panel discussion on public education. The panel will feature Lynette White, public school parent and member at Pilgrim Congregational UCC; Peter Franzen, former Executive Director of Mentor St. Louis; and Carol Hall-Whittier, principal of Shepard eMints Academy, a Gold Star elementary school near Epiphany.
The special guest for the event will be Jan Resseger, Minister for Public Education and Witness at UCC Justice and Witness Ministries, Cleveland OH. Moderating the panel will be state Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford, member of the Missouri House Committee on Children and Families, and a member of Epiphany UCC. The event is open to all regardless of faith.
|
|
|
