Thoughts and Photos from Schools Press Conference

Today four of the seven members of the St. Louis School Board welcomed Dr. Diana Bourisaw to the job as interim superintendent. We got the usual students at the start saying how excited they were about the school system and one introduced the “best board president we’ve ever had.” Give a break! I supported these folks yet I still don’t need to hear such orchestrated praise.

I have to say I liked Dr. Bourisaw, she seemed genuine and personable. I could see a glimpse of hard-assed administrator as well. All good qualities. Despite the PR blunder that was last week I do think having a board and superintendent on the same wave length is beneficial regardless of ideology. Without cooperation nothing gets done at all.

Blame for past non-cooperation can be spread to all seven members of the board, former Superintendent Creg Williams and probably a host of other players, including Mayor Slay. Singling out the four: O’Brien, Purdy, Downs and Jones is unfair and unproductive. Can we single them out for a botched firing? Oh yeah!

Nothing much was learned from Bourisaw’s presentation. However, one part jumped out at me. She was talking about being prepared for the beginning of school on August 28th and said what a great staff we have at 801 (headquarters). That to question the ability of the schools to open on the 28th was to question the staff & teachers of the St. Louis Public Schools. That is when my ‘wait a minute’ trigger in my brain went off. Didn’t the board last Friday say they had to get rid of Williams now because the beginning of the school year was going to be a disaster? Well, which is it?

The fairest criticism of Williams’ performance is that in his 15 months on the job, 12 of which with a rubber stamp board, has failed to address the looming $50 million budget shortfall that we’ll face in roughly 18 months.

Following the press conference things got more interesting. Reports rushed past Bourisaw to get to Veronica O’Brien. I couldn’t get close enough to hear the questions or the answers but the look on O’Brien’s face told me she was not to pleased with the line of questions. If she is going to survive in this job she is going to have to learn to do a better job answering the tough questions.

The other thing is all the comments of late about the teachers union taking back control of the school board. Were they ever in control? Are they in control now? And for all the talk of this being a union town I’m certainly hearing a lot of anti-union commentary, reminding me of Oklahoma.

A very well spoken and very angry parent had a few words for school board member Donna Jones (O’Brien listened in for part of the time). This time Jones didn’t run, she stayed and listed to this concerned (and did I mention very angry) parent. Meanwhile, Peter Downs was no 10 feet away by himself, somehow managing to avoid the angry sentiment.

I don’t like how all this went down last Friday. I don’t like how a lot of things go down in this city. Still, I think we owe Dr. Bourisaw some leeway if only for a few months. I want to see how the school season starts, what will she keep from Dr. Williams’ strategic plan and what will the accreditation scores from this past school year be when released in September.

The school board meets tomorrow night, should be a full house with lots to say. Teachers will be there in full force applauding while I think we’ll see a strong contingent of parents and politicos showing their displeasure. The drama continues.

Look for video on St. Louis Schools Watch soon.

– Steve

More on Williams and the School Board

From MayorSlay.com yesterday:

Creg Williams gave St. Louis hope and a plan — and he takes those things with him. What is left in the wake of his departure is administrative chaos, mass defections, no real budget, a new (and largely unknown) superintendent, and dramatically lowered enrollment — with school to open in six weeks.

Wow, in 24 hours since his departure “administrative chaos, mass defections, no real budget… and dramatically lowered enrollment” have befallen the St. Louis Public Schools. Nice spin Richard Francis. And false.

The truth of the matter is the school system has been in chaos for years, perhaps decades. Just as in city planning & development, politics has been more important than the actual issues. In one day the board did not lower enrollment or create mass defections. The prior board and several before them along with many other factors created the situation we are in now.

I am not at all pleased with the erratic behavior of board President Veronica O’Brien nor do I like the way this new majority handled themselves and their business this week. But, I’ve not been happy with the other side(s) in the past few years either.

The Mayor and others claims Williams was our last hope and then says Bourisaw is largely unknown. It would seem many are jumping the gun a bit to assume she cannot come into the system and do as well or better than Williams may have. We do know, barring state takeover, that we’ll have this board majority for at least four years. Whether Williams went now or sometime in that four year period it was bound to happen as is usually the case when you have a change of power. The same thing happens in city government when we get a new mayor. Having a superintendent hired by the current majority is most likely the best way to get anything done. Williams and the board would have continued to butt heads.

Over the last few years I’ve given each board and superintendent the benefit of the doubt with regard to their intentions and plans. I ask that everyone take a deep breath and give the board and our new superintendent the same benefit for at least six months to a year. Without doing so we will only be condemning them to certain failure. No one, no matter how upset about this past week, should hope this board and superintendent fails — especially those who may benefit politically.

– Steve

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

Sign the Wall to Let the City & BJC Know We Want to Keep Forest Park Intact

It looks like many groups are organizing in opposition to the city’s deal to lease part of Forest Park to BJC, allowing for construction above ground. One group is planning a demonstration each weekend:

PRESS RELEASE

‘The Signing Wall’ will be here every week-end for people to come and sign, until a final decision is made by the Protectors of Forest Park and the Mayor, Darlene Green and Jim Shrewsbury.

We hope the number of participants will grow, as more people gather, who are opposed to any loss of Forest Park. We hope you will come and sign ‘The Wall’.

Across from Barnes Hospital, above the underground garage. 3:00pm til 6:00pm

The silent protest; with yard signs, letters to the Editor, blog comments, websites and news articles by the media have done a great job exposing the proposal..

It is time to be seen and heard.

Vocal demonstration at 5:00pm

‘The Wall’ is a gathering place to conjoin resources and energy. To unite enmasse, on common ground.

There will be a vocal demonstration at 5:00pm; all are invited to join in.

We hope, publicity will be the key the opposition needs, to trash this proposal and agree, collectively,

Forest Park will be Forever, Always.

Never an amputation.

Sincerely,

The Neighbors of BJC

Indeed it is Mayor Slay, Comptroller Darlene Green and Board President Jim Shrewsbury that will make the final decision. To date both Green and Shrewsbury have been vocal in their questioning the deal while not outright rejecting the concept. If you haven’t told each of them yet how you feel, now is the time to act. Below are links to their email forms as well as their office phone numbers.

Mayor Slay, (314) 622-3201
Comptroller Darlene Green, (314) 622-4389
President Jim Shrewsbury, (314) 622-3287

It wouldn’t hurt to contact the folks over at Forest Park Forever to let them know you want to keep the park intact as well.

Another group out there is the Citizens to Protect Forest Park. You’ve probably seen their green & white yard signs saying in bold letters, “Our park is NOT for sale.” Their website is protectforestpark.org. Another website on the topic is CWE Greenspace.

We do have an issue with how to fund the on-going maintenance of Forest Park. The last thing we want to do is have gone through 10+ years of work and planning and millions of dollars just to see it deteriorate in the same amount of time. The solution is not a secret deal to lease well-used park land for construction, at least not until alternatives have been publicly discussed and ruled out. Leasing this land to BJC should be a last resort measure, not a first step.

– Steve

Why Is the Mayor Driven Around in a Canadian-built Car?

Many of us have seen Mayor Slay and other officials in the typical “American” car, the Mercury Grand Marquis or its near twin, the Ford Crown Victoria. We look at these cars and think, “oh a big American rear wheel drive car.” Well, think again. The Grand Marquis & Crown Vic are assembled in Canada, not the U.S.

And what about the trendy new Chrysler 300? Is that anymore American than a Toyota Camry? The 300, along with related vehicles the Dodge Charger and Magnum, are also assembled in Canada. And Chrysler is a division of the German firm, DaimlerChrysler AG. This makes Chrysler and Doge products no more American than Mercedes, Toyota or Honda — all of which are foreign companies with assembly plants in the U.S.

Honda, for example, recently announced plans to open its sixth plant here. A primary difference between foreign companies DaimlerChrysler and Honda is the latter is not unionized whereas the former employees members of the UAW, the United Auto Workers. Reports indicate the non-union assembly plants generally keep pace with prevailing wages & benefits from those represented by unions, if anything just to keep the employees happy and the unions out.

I am a strong believer in buying local yet I bought a car with 100% Japanese content. This was not on purpose, I have no problems with many cars assembled by American workers. The problem is what we are being offered in this country. If you want a small & efficient 4-door hatchback you will not find one assembled on these shores. The one new exception is the Dodge Caliber although it is a good 700lbs heavier than my Scion xA and less fuel efficient as a result.

General Motors is in big trouble. Their market capitalization this morning was just over $16 billion, a third the value of relatively small Apple Computer. Ford is not doing too much better. Both offer some great cars, in other countries. In Toronto this week I saw a great looking Chevy hatchback that is not available in the U.S. (Chevy Optra). Before I bought my Scion I considered a Chevy Aveo — a small car built in Korea.

I understand the mayor of Denver has a Ford Escape hybrid for transportation, a far cry from the former mayor’s Town Car. Perhaps Slay should look at getting something a bit more American (or locally assembled) and a bit more fuel efficient.

– Steve