The parents with children in the St. Louis Public Schools District who fear the district is up for sale to charter schools and school-voucher proponents will be relieved to hear from Richard K. Gaines.
Gaines, an insurance executive, was appointed to the district’s Special Administrative Board by Aldermanic President Lewis Reed. He is well aware that Mayor Francis G. Slay is aggressively promoting the expansion of charter schools in the city, but he vowed, “We’re going to fight that. This plan will enable us to see how.”
The “plan” in question is the district’s Comprehensive Long Rang Plan. Rick Sullivan, CEO of the Special Administrative Board, credited Gaines with “doing a great job” to include the public in the planning process.
On Saturday, the SAB held the first of two public sessions to document public opinion on how to improve the district, drawing an active crowd of more than 500 citizens to Vashon High School.
The board is seeking input specifically on 30 quality standards for public education, 14 set forth by the State of Missouri and 16 developed by the SAB through focus groups.
Of those 16, Gaines said, seven were provided by several members of the elected school board, who were included in the focus groups. The elected board has ceded management of the district to the SAB under the authority of the State. Gaines himself has previously been elected to the SLPS board.
Gaines said the SAB is asking the public, “What strategies should we employ to make these standards a reality?”
The next public planning session will be held from 9 a.m to noon Saturday, April 12 at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass.
As a successful insurer, Gaines deals as a specialist on a daily basis with risk management and the formulation of alternatives, according to his firm’s website. The public input into the district’s Comprehensive Long Rang Plan fits that mindset of formulating creative alternatives – in this case, alternatives to solving the chronic problems of an urban school district.
Gaines said everyone on the three-person SAB (which also includes Melanie Adams, Slay’s appointee) agreed that the solutions set forth in the long-range plan previously filed by the district “were not good enough,” nor was another plan developed by consultants previously hired by the district. Ultimately, Gaines said, the planning process “is designed to help the district regain accreditation” by the State.
In doing so, the SAB must do something very familiar to an insurance broker: assess and manage risk. As an unpaid overseer of a struggling, cash-strapped school district, Gaines sees charter schools as offering more risks than benefits.
“I am doing this on a volunteer basis, and the time I am spending is directly related to what will help this school system survive and thrive,” Gaines said.
“I have no time to deal with charter schools.”
Gaines acknowledged that the SAB, which has a CEO in Sullivan (who was appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt), does operate on a “business model.” But managing the district like a business that has to make its numbers add up may run counter to the agenda of the business interests that are helping Slay push charter schools and school vouchers.
“The school district is a multi-billion-dollar business that has to be managed as such,” Gaines said.
“There are difficulties involved with the product. I don’t like to see children as a product or a delivery of services as a product, but in business terms that’s the connotation.”
In Gaines’ view, public education serves the majority of students, and charter schools drain students and funds from the public school district. He said the numbers on Slay’s proposal for expanding charter schools in the district could add up to disaster.
“I don’t know how the system could continue to function on that basis,” Gaines said. “We are not going to sit back and allow these incursions.”
The Saturday planning session at Vashon is free and daycare will be provided. However, registration is required. For more information, call 314-331-6060 or visit www.slps.org
