Vision for Children at Risk organizes forums on public education
By Chris King
Of the St. Louis American
The Children’s Agenda – a group identifying itself as “a broad-based collaboration of hundreds of organizations and individuals pursuing a coordinated set of policy and program strategies to promote the well-being of St. Louis area children, youth and families” – has organized a series of public forums about public education and announced them to the media and the public without notifying or inviting representatives from the St. Louis Public Schools District, the teacher’s union or the Board of Education.
Vision for Children at Risk, the organization that “facilitates” the Children’s Agenda, also released last month the results of an email poll it conducted with a group it selected that indicated “a takeover of the district by the state of Missouri was supported by 58 percent of respondents, while 42 percent opposed a state takeover.”
The release did not specify methodology, though Richard Patton, director of Vision for Children at Risk, told the American that “about 550 or so” people were polled via email and the group received “about 138 responses.”
Jim Braibish, spokesman for Vision for Children at Risk, told the American that the office of Mayor Francis G. Slay was “very much in the loop on this” and that the organization was “in close contact” with the mayor.
Vision for Children at Risk previously honored Slay with its “Investing in St. Louis Children” Award “for working to increase community investments that promote child well-being and for prompting civic leaders to address children’s issues.”
Braibish said of the proposed public forums, “This is not anyone’s bully pulpit or place to push an agenda. It is a neutral ground to bring various stakeholders in the community together to engage in constructive action.”
When contacted by the American on Friday, the district’s then-interim superintendent – voted to be Superintendent Diana Bourisaw on Tuesday night – had only heard about the forum by being forwarded an email from a third party, and officials at the teachers’ union and school board also were not aware of the forum or the results of the email poll.
Patton, contacted by the American on Monday, said, “As a matter of fact, just when you called I was responding by email” to Bourisaw.
Patton explained the lapse: “Given the need to be timely, we couldn’t pin down every detail of every session. We are in the process now of adding folks to the mailing list beyond the initial, key stakeholders.”
Patton said the group had been in contact with an advisory panel co-chaired by William Danforth and Frankie Freeman that reports to the state, but not with D. Kent King, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request from the American to discuss the matter. Slay has still not met with Bourisaw, who has asked repeatedly for a meeting with him.
Bourisaw said after receiving only silence from the mayor himself, she was able to schedule a meeting for later this month with Robin Wahby, executive assistant to the mayor on education.
In a blog entry on September 3, Slay wrote, “Too many public schools in the City are currently choices of last resort for low-income families and unthinkable choices for everyone else.”
School “choice” is the slogan for All Children Matter and other heavily endowed PACs pushing for legislation that would redirect state general revenue into vouchers to pay for private-school scholarships.
Ed Martin, the new chief of staff for Governor Matt Blunt, was formerly treasurer for the Missouri chapter of All Children Matter.
After the recent turnover in the public schools, Slay said he would support a state takeover of the city’s school district.
On his blog, Slay also noted, “The attention of DESE’s Kent King and Gov. Matt Blunt, the continuing pressure for improvement by the region’s largest employers, and the earnest efforts of Dr. King’s new advisory group are all positive signs to counter-balance” the recent release of poor results for SLPS students on MAP tests.
‘On shaky grounds’
Asked if any of the leaders of the Children’s Agenda initiative are black, Braibish identified one of the co-chairs of the Children’s Agenda, Lora Gulley, but added, “Her being African-American is incidental to the whole thing.”
Gulley did not return a call from the American.
In a press release, Gulley is quoted as saying, “We are at the point where there needs to be broader community input and more open dialogue about the situation in the St. Louis Public Schools.”
The press release reporting the email poll results states that “a large majority of children’s service professionals and child advocates in the St. Louis area believe the recent change in superintendents in the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) reflects a governance crisis in the system and this situation adversely affects students.”
When presented with the study results and the press release, Mark Tranel, director of the Public Policy Research Center at UMSL said, “Rich (Patton) should know better than that.”
Tranel said, “It would be accurate to say that ‘a majority of those responding’ believe that, but they are on shaky ground to project, from their response rate, that their findings are representative of the population they are reporting on.”
When asked why his organization issued a survey about a state takeover of the city schools now, when the district has been in either financial or political turmoil for 15 years, Patton said, “It’s the first time it was really at issue.”
He explained, “After developments with the schools over the course of the summer, a lot folks in the community who are part of the Agenda initiative asked if we were going to say or do anything about the situation.”
Patton added, “It’s a fair question to ask why we are asking now. The coalition is 15, 16 years old.”
The first forum will be held on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m. at Vision for Children at Risk, 2433 N. Grand Blvd. Participants will join in a live National League of Cities web seminar, “Building Public Will: Promoting Citizen Engagement to Improve Your City’s Schools.”
City leaders from Denver and Nashville will appear on the web seminar to discuss their strategies for improving public schools. The deputy director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, which conducted a study of the two cities, also will speak. A follow-up discussion will be held on how those cities’ lessons can be applied here.
There is no charge to attend the forum, but reservations are required. To register, call Vision for Children at Risk at (314) 534-6015 or e-mail vcr@visionforchildren.org.
