By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, May 24 at 8:36 AM
By Helen Louise Herndon
St. Louis Schools Watch Contributor
A special board meeting took place Tuesday evening at Cleveland Naval Junior ROTC to allow community input relating to the closing of the school. Unfortunately, only three board members were in attendance: Board President Veronica O'Brien, Peter Downs, and Donna Jones. Superintendent Creg Williams and Kenneth Brostron, board attorney, also attended.
Though well-attended, several expressed the auditorium would have been packed had there been more than 24 hours notice. Some very angry people contained and restrained their anger at such short notice. Three alderpersons addressed the board: Dorothy Kirner, Craig Schmid, and Ken Ortmann.
Mrs. O'Brien politely announced they were there to listen and proceeded by opening up the meeting to public comments. Parents, school staff, a student, community leaders, business men and women, and local neighbors paraded one after another in disciplined manner to the microphone.
The first speaker, Sheryl Davenport, a teacher at Cleveland spoke directly to the present problems that make the school an unhealthy and untenable environment for students and staff. Other staff members reiterated her concerns while admitting to the shame that maintenance negligence was to blame.
A student spoke intimating that, as one who had been homeless, Cleveland was to her a home. She repeated: "This run-down building is home."
She wants it to continue to be home but also recognizes how unhealthy it is. She said students can't stand to attention because their chests hurt, referring to a serious problem of mold.
Addressing board members and the superintendent, she said, "If you are not here everyday, then you will not know what it feels like to be at Cleveland. This neighborhood has been a beacon to us."
Parents of children attending McKinley Classical Jr. Academy also spoke. They heard rumors their children would be moved out of McKinley and replaced by the Cleveland student body and staff. They couldn't understand why Cleveland had not been kept up and was allowed to deteriorate so badly. They communicated it was wrong to make a successful school like McKinley move to make room for another school.
Several neighbors spoke noting the school was one reason they moved into the neighborhood, and one eloquently pleaded: "Take care of our children and the architecture of the neighborhood."
Perhaps the most startling speech came from a man identifying himself as once president of the Cleveland Parent Congress. His talk was animated. He asked if the mayor or any of his associates were in the audience. No, they weren't.
He rhetorically and sarcastically demanded why the building wasn't kept up. He chastised the school district officials for not standing up and applauding the student who spoke so eloquently, saying her speech brought tears to his eyes.
He held up a recently-released book, "Recipe for Failure: One year of reform and chaos in the St. Louis Public Schools" by Marilyn Ayres-Salamon, a teacher at Carnahan Middle School who lived through and survived one of the worst years in the history of the Saint Louis Public Schools, the year of the turnaround management team. (My comment: A must-read for everyone.)
And then he made the most remarkable statement that brought a round of applause and laughter: "Father Biondi must want this building."
The meeting ended peacefully. School district officers appeared to listen attentively. More importantly, it showed how much a community can care not just about its self-interests, but about the problems faced by others. Personally, I came away thinking and feeling, "This is how communities should solve their problems and differences-directly, truthfully, and respectfully."
The school district has a powerful friend in the community if it is willing to treat it with respect and work with it.
Tuesday night at Cleveland, the proof was in the pudding, as offers of volunteerism and readiness to help were voiced. I hope the school board heard such voices clearly and profited from Community Relations 101.
1 Comments:
Thanks Helen Louise! I've summarized this meeting several times in the last two days. But I certainly didn't capture the spirit our community showed Tuesday night the way that you have done here.
Thursday, May 25, 2006 1:20:00 PM
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