Revolving Door at the St. Louis Schools Superintendent’s Office
Creg Williams is out after 15 months, Diana Bourisaw is in (per St. Louis Schools Watch & the Post-Dispatch). The block of Peter Downs, Donna Jones, Bill Purdy and Veronica O’Brien has used their majority vote to make big changes, replacing the superintendent hired by the previous board majority.
O’Brien is the hardest to figure out. We had a heated email exchange after I announced ahead of time they’d have a special meeting about Cleveland. She began the exchange by typing, as she is known to do, in all caps.
So they’ve fired Williams and other key staff of his and hired Diana Bourisaw to take his place. In the coming days and weeks we will certainly here about her shortcomings in other districts where she has worked. I will take it all with a grain of salt as she faces an uphill PR battle for being this board’s choice.
What is clear is this new board majority doesn’t have a clue how to fire someone and come out the hero. I don’t necessarily regret supporting Downs & Jones because I don’t think Clinksdale & Buford and the rest of their camp would have done much better. What we do know is the old majority would not have fired Williams so abruptly.
From the St. Louis Public Schools website:
The St. Louis Board of Education is composed of members elected at large by the voters of the City of St. Louis. School Board members serve without compensation. When vacancies occur between elections, the Mayor appoints a replacement to serve until the next Board election. The Board selects a president, vice president and secretary each June.
The School Board has the legal responsibility for the education of children from ages 5 to 21 who live within the city boundaries. It is a policy-making body with the primary function of establishing and monitoring rules, plans and procedures for the school system. The Board appoints a superintendent to manage its budget, supervise the staff and students, and make recommendations for the operations of the schools and support services.
Two seats will be up for grabs in April 2007. If I am not mistaken, these are held by the current minority of Dr. Bob Archibald and Ron Jackson. The third minority member, Flint Fowler, was elected in April 2005. What this means is even if Archibald & Jackson are re-elected (or someone else of similar views in their place) this will not change the majority position. We will have this majority for a while (April 2008 or 2009???).
What is needed most at this time is for citizens to have confidence in our schools. Tonight’s actions, possibly a good decision, was timed and handled very poorly. Williams time may well have been up but there is a right way and a wrong way to fire someone and this board F’d it up big time.
Time will tell if tonight’s actions were for the best or just another step downhill.
– Steve
This display of politics is truely pathetic, childish, and irresponsible.
This is not citizen engagement at its finest nor most professional.
As I posted on a previous thread, this is a huge, huge step backward for the entire city – and those who care about the city. As someone who may someday have kids in city schools, the school board’s actions are beyond pathetic. No matter if this was the right decision or not, once again, the students are the ones impacted the most.
There’s a right way to conduct business, and the majority the school board are completely out of line. A complete kangaroo court beyond even what someone like Tom DeLay could engineer.
Do you know if the board complied with the Missouri Open Meetings Act in this action? I find it hard to believe that this meeting could be construed as an emergency when they posted news of the meeting at 3p.m. Or that the board can have an official binding vote in a closed session. How is that possible?
[REPLY Public bodies such as this are allowed to go to into executive session to deal with personnel matters. -SLP]
Time for a Metropolis-like coups.
Just like some people once supportive of Metropolis St. Louis tried to gain control over the organization, with the intention to shut it down, it’s time for St. Louis residents to recall the full scholl board, and then turn the keys over to the state of Missouri.
This latest board action will only build support for the Mayor of St. Louis.
Anyone researched how much cash has been paid out over the past 2-5 years to buy out all these contracts?
$1 million doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable number if this buyout’s costing $250,000!
According the the Missouri Sunshine law, sorry to keep harping on this, but it states that before a closed session is held, the board must first site in open session the specific statue for the closure. Did they meet in open session first do you know? And,
any vote to hire or fire must be made publically available within 72 hours of the closed vote. This must include who voted yes and who voted no. That would be Monday. I know that those who voted no gave the vote total to reporters, but will the board do so officially?
Does anyone know if the citizens have any method for recalling school board members? I think it is more than deserved at this point.
Though honestly the best thing for the schools now would be a state takeover. The board and administration is full of St. Louis politicians who are more concerned with political battles than the children. They should all be out.
Add the teacher’s union as a big part of the problem…more concerned about $$$ and power than anything else.
I think whether they followed the rules is in some ways is irrelavant. The thing I kept hearing over and over at a candidates forum was that THEY would involve the community and the Mayor’s board didn’t involve the community.
Where was the promised community involvement in this process?
If this is what a citizen driven grass roots movement looks like, I think I will stick with the machine.
With all the talk of having the state take over, I haven’t seen any discourse on what we could expect from such an eventuality.
Ideally, I’d like to see the city-wide Board’s power wane in favor of decentralized, local control and parent choice as seen in San Francisco, Seattle, and Oakland. Along with shifting the transit system to Metro, again as in Seattle.
Unfortunately, what I can find of Bourisaw’s record implies she’s prone to the inertia of the status quo and telling boards what they like to hear. In any event, she’s no Arlene Ackerman, who would likely have some harsh words for her hometown right now.
Guess this is a case of “be careful what you ask for” in terms of the supporters of the “reform” candidates. What qualified canndidate in their right mind would even think about coming to St. Louis now, with the situation with the board, Mary Armstrong and her mafia, etc…
Diana:
If you review the agenda/minutes for any closed session meeting, the 2nd item, after rollcall is to entertain a motion to go into closed session. So they are in open session for maybe 3 minutes while they do rollcall then take the vote to go into closed session. This is not unusual.
Becker:
My understanding is that there is no mechanism to recall School Board members.
Stlterp:
The following is from http://www.dhrinternational.com/bios/biosadobe/101.pdf:
“Dr. Bourisaw brings 27 years of diverse experience in the public and private sector. Many of those years were spent as a practicing educator and executive, including service as a school system superintendent. She also brings practical experience to
governing boards through her expertise as a board member and board consultant. Dr. Bourisaw currently serves as a GovernorÂ’s appointee to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education. She has also served as state supervisor providing technical assistance to 37 districts assisting them through accreditation reviews. Additionally Dr. Bourisaw teaches graduate-level classes at several universities.
Dr. Bourisaw has won many awards for exemplary leadership and is a recognized speaker and facilitator addressing such topics as “Ethical Leadership” and “Closing the Achievement Gap”.
Dr. BourisawÂ’s husband, Steve Cantonwine, is an attorney. They have two school age children, Molly and Sara. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Special Education, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Master of Arts in Special Education at Truman State University and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration at Iowa State University. Dr. Bourisaw has also authored a book, Judgment, and several educational articles.”
Far better than what we had before. It is unfortunate that the Fox School District didn’t see Dr. Bourisaw’s value, which is why they ultimately paid in the end.
I personally appreciated what Mayor Slay had to say on his blog today:
What really angers me is how much of the on-going debate about the school district continues to focus on “adult” issues. This district does not exist for adults. It exists for children. For decades, it has let those children down.
I truly believe that those who are the most vocal members on the Board do not have the children’s best interest at hand and feel that even the Teachers’ Union fails to see the kids as the primary focus. I think Williams demanded such and for that he was punished by being ousted. Shame on the current board and shame on us for being so compliant to such behavior.
Not sure what I think about what transpired last night, but the Mayor was one of the adults taking petty cheap shots and being part of the adult circus. He is not without blame for everything that has gone on over the last few years. Sure, he was making an effort to improve the district, but just because he is mayor doesn’t necessarilly make everything he says right. Maybe this is just my frustrated opinion, but Slay, Callow, Rainford, and the rest seem to be taking way too much joy in this boards unpopular (wrong?) decisions, even though they like to express somewhat legit outrage.
Travis,
How come you started showing up at some board meetings a couple of months ago and now you’re such an expert on this district and what is right and wrong with it. You keep alluding to all the behind the scenes knowledge you have of “O’Brien’s plan” and of what Williams was doing wrong. Why don’t you enlighten us to exactly what your connection is to this board?
Cletus:
My interest in the Board meetings and the District in general arose out of the former Superintendent’s misguided attempt to permanently close Cleveland NJROTC Academy. I’ve continued to join the meetings when issues of high interest (budget, school closures, etc.) were being discussed. So, I have no official connection to the Board, other than that of a concerned and engaged resident. Finally, I’ve made no comment about Mr. William’s wrongdoings, other than his public policies and actions.
Clearly the unions and teachers led this revolt. Ten days of sick leave in a 180 day work year? 195 temporary teachers on opening day of school? Top heavy with administrators who couldn’t ever find a job in the private sector? HELP. Gov. Blunt needs to rescue the kids with a state takeover. I don’t think a homeless bum would take the superintendent’s job after this episode. We’re the laughing stock this morning in the national education field.
SIXTY MINUTES, COME ON IN FOR A GREAT SEGMENT.