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

New Blog Focuses on City’s 15th Ward

A new blog called 15thwardstl.org has been started by local architect Steve Wilke-Shapiro, a resident of the 15th Ward. The blog’s subheading gives a good clue as to the focus: Politics, development, and civic life in St. Louis’ 15th ward.

Wilke-Shapiro had this to say about the blog:

“While inspired by my experience as part of the McDonald’s fight, I don’t intend for it to be a diatribe against Jennifer Florida. There are plenty of issues and opportunities in the 15th not directly related to her.”

That seems fair. I think he will bring some much needed attention and focus to all aspects of his ward. In the years I’ve known him he has always been extremely level-headed, thoughtful and passionate about the city. He has a few posts in place and promises many more from a growing list of topics.

– Steve

St. Louis Schools In the Middle of Political Infighting

Will the soap opera that is the St. Louis Board of Education ever end? We’ve basically evolved into two opposite camps that both claim to be working in the best interests of the educational system yet I find it harder and harder to believe it. Much like Republicans and Democrats on the national level that back themselves into ideological corners, our school board members as well as others such as Mayor Slay continue to fight to defend positions and political turf.

I had high hopes for the school board when the majority changed from one camp to the other. I can see now that the camp supported by Mayor Slay is still able to inflict damage on the new majority, at least from a PR standpoint. Maybe it is the fault of the new majority — might they be as cold and calculating as the majority they replaced? This may well be par for the course.

When Downs & Jones were elected to the board and power shifted I did not expect them to just give into Superintendent Creg Williams. When I voted for this pair I wanted them to challenge and push Williams, not to make him leave but to work for a better school system. We all like to be challenged in our jobs. Without a challenge we have nothing to work towards and most often, we can do better.

Some say the board majority is micro-managing. Perhaps. If so, why? When Williams submitted his budget last month it was $4 million in the red with the full expectation we’d be $50 million in the red next year. When board members, expected to vote on a budget questioned expenses, Williams was not direct but was contentious (and yes, I was there). The four members of the board majority were doing their jobs when questioning why the budget was not balanced and looking at expenses to either justify deficit spending or ways to cut since the well-compensated first-time Superintendent failed to do so on his first budget.

Williams this week submitted a balanced budget. See, it was possible. The three dissenters on the board that were willing to pass the deficit increasing budget should be a little more than embarrassed for not going along with the other four to ask for a balanced budget. I expected the board to take fiscal responsibility of our tax dollars. If they cannot do that, they should resign.

A football basketball coach was effectively fired by the board this week as his department, as I understand it, was eliminated. Some are calling this a retaliatory act against coach Irons. Others say it was simply a way to send a message to Williams at the expense of Irons. The board says it was the responsible thing to do. Frankly, I don’t know that I care anymore.

No matter what actions, good or bad, the new board majority will take to correct the schools it will be spun to be an act to run out Williams or to give in to the teacher’s union or any other thing they think of to discredit the members. I’m certainly no stranger to spinning things as I am certainly opinionated on this site. However, I like to think I take an even approach to issues while still maintaining my urbanist values. The spin around the school board, possibly from both sides, is coming from different motivation. It is about defending political turf and discrediting the actions of your enemy. That my friends will not save our school system from ruins. Children, not Williams or coach Irons, are the victims here. In the big picture, we are all victims as not educating our youth will have long lasting effects on our region.

Had Clinksdale & Buford won the election rather than Down & Jones I don’t know that we’d be in any better position than we are today. We’d most likely have an approved budget that was in the red. We’d also have political fighting and energized board meetings. Either way I don’t really see us moving forward. I’m losing all confidence in Williams to show leadership in the face of adversity. If he cannot handle questions about a budget now how will he be next year when we face a $50 million deficit. If he is our best hope, we are in worse shape than I thought.

The best thing might be for the state to take over our schools. I don’t know the implications of that statement but I don’t see the new majority being able to accomplish anything if the mayor and Post-Dispatch are going to turn on them for every decision, regardless of merit.

The system is seriously broke. Financially and otherwise.

Our buildings are crumbling, our students population is decreasing and our costs seem to escalate. We do have some bright spots. Some of our schools have very high ratings in the region, state and nation. All those responsible should be pleased with their work. I’m not sure any credit should be given to this board, prior board or the current superintendent for these successes as this may have been coalescing for some time.

It would not surprise me if the teachers union was acting in their own interests, possibly protecting teachers and positions that should be eliminated. Nor would not surprise me if the Slay-board would have done things for political gain. We’ve gotten ourselves into this us vs. them situation and I don’t see a good solution to move past the political fights into thoughtful and reasoned solutions to the challenges facing our educational system.

Although the short-term embarrassment of having the state come in and take over the schools might painful it may well be the best long-term solution. If it were to happen, Williams should go out with the board. Start fresh all around. Leave none of the political fighters in place. Then, and only then, can we set about creating a sound educational system for the City of St. Louis.

– Steve