Columnist James-Ingram
Just three months ago, East St. Louis School District 189 Superintendent Theresa Saunders declared (at a special press conference), “We are going to shout … from the mountain tops” that 14 of 18 elementary schools had been successful in attaining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the 2005-06 school year.
At that time, I pointed out the danger of premature celebrations, particularly since East St. Louis Senior High had failed to meet state standards for the past 6 consecutive years, a fact that she conveniently ignored.
Unfortunately, her bragging has come back to haunt the struggling school district.
Last week, Saunders was caught running away from KMOV-TV reporter Craig Cheatham, when pressed about the squandering of over $2.5 million during the past four years, for two after-school programs which have produced pitiful results.
In fact, from 2002-2006 the ESL school district blew $1,666,193 for the programs, including $922,572 for salaries and benefits for program staff.
One program was directed by Peggy LeCompte, president of the ESL teacher’s union. For the past two years, she earned $50 per hour for her services (totaling $28,000) in addition to her $75,000 annual salary.
That same teacher’s union, headed by LeCompte, donated $5,000 to the campaign of ESL School Board President Lonzo Greenwood. Coincidence? You be the judge.
For the record, in spite of these so-called after school programs, East St. Louis Senior High, again, is one of the poorest performing high schools in the St. Louis metropolitan region, with a 28 percent decline on state tests (from 2001-2005) and a 12 percent decline in their graduation rate during that same period.
However, School Board President Lonzo Greenwood had the audacity to say (with a straight face) that he was “very much satisfied with the program.” But when one has “Forest Gump” as school board president, one must consider the source of such lunacy!
Peggy LeCompte said that the “Out of the Box” program, which she directed, helped hundreds of students. The program (approved by the Illinois Board of Education) was eventually eliminated by Saunders; but one wonders how such a program could have helped “hundreds of students” with such poor test and graduation results.
I think that the parents and the students of ESL have been “bamboozled and hoodwinked,” to quote brother Malcolm. I also think that when many of these students graduate from high school (if they graduate) then they will, eventually, realize the true extent to which School District 189 (and certain teachers) have betrayed them and denied them the quality education that they deserve.
When ESL school administrators have the audacity to wheel and deal for campaign contributions, and instructors are “hooked up” with lucrative pay in exchange for managing programs which produce ZERO results, then heads should roll.
And if ESL taxpayers are stupid enough to re-elect Lonzo Greenwood as school board president, in view of his arrogance and willingness to insult their intelligence by telling them that abysmal failure is success, then they deserve the schools that have become the laughingstock of the state of Illinois.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com.