Columnist Jamala Rogers
It came as no surprise that the state Board of Education voted to discredit and discount the wishes of thousands of students, parents, teachers and community leaders last week. The St. Louis Public Schools District was stripped of its accreditation and an overseer appointed. Advocates of public education have not conceded to defeat and, in fact, have vowed to intensify the fight to regain accreditation and their right to vote.
The St. Louis Public Schools students who conducted a 5-day “teach-in” at the mayor’s office won a significant demand. The state board will not be obviously negligent and jeopardize graduating seniors’ ability to pursue aspirations for higher learning. They will be allowed to complete this school year, with the new oversight committee kicking in on June 15, 2007.
Rick Sullivan, CEO at McBride and Sons, like the overseer given to us in the first “unofficial” takeover by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has NO experience or credentials relative to public education. His job is to make available public coffers for private consumption. In addition to the $400 million budget, it also includes trying to steal the billion-dollar cookie jar – the teachers’ pension fund.
We ought to be weary and wary of the rationale that we need public institutions to be run like corporations. The private sector has no monopoly on sound fiscal management. Just ask the victims of Enron, WorldCom, Hewlett Packard, AIG and the growing lists of greedy corporations.
I have yet to see a successful example of such a model working. If you know of any, please let me know.
The latest example of the corporate model failing is the Smithsonian Institute. Many were horrified when Lawrence Small was brought on to head one of the country’s oldest keepers of culture and history. Small came with a background from CitiCorp and Fannie Mae, both of which are suffering from their own fiscal and management problems.
It wasn’t long before Small was living large. While roofs leaked and other repairs went idle, Small helped himself to $2 million of public money to furnish his house, take travel junkets and increase his annual salary. Small was finally fired last week, and now the Smithsonian must pick up the pieces. Just like we had to pick up the pieces once Bill Roberti and his wreckers left town.
It will be more of the same if and when Mayor Slay and Governor Blunt get what they want. It has nothing to do with securing quality education for a district with majority African-American children. We’ve witnessed their contempt for this protected class in many different ways.
So, consider this a hostile takeover. That is language a corporate CEO understands.
The rest of us must gear up for the battle for public education, self-determination and voting rights and regain our schools by any means necessary.