District: ‘the best and least disruptive intervention’
By Meliqueica Meadows
Of the St. Louis American
The State Advisory Committee on St. Louis Public Schools presented its final recommendations to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Friday. The committee’s suggestions include replacing the current SLPS Board of Education with an appointed three-person panel to right the district.
These panelists would be appointed by the mayor, the president of the Board of Alderman and (eventually) the governor.
The five person advisory committee was appointed July 27, with attorney Frankie Freeman and Washington University Chancellor Emeritus William Danforth serving as co-chairs. The other members of the committee were American publisher Dr. Donald M. Suggs, attorney Ned Lemkemeir and Michael Middleton, Deputy Chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Freeman said she hopes the committee’s decision would help to establish “accountability and responsibility with respect to the education of the children.”
The committee thoroughly researched every aspect of the district from finances, to academic achievement and professional development. Martin said it did “a thorough job.”
Of the school board, Freeman said, “We were disturbed by some of the disruptive actions.”
Freeman added that she hoped through this ordeal, “people will recognize that we have to be careful about the education of children and avoid bitter attacks.”
The fate of the district hinges on whether it maintains its current provisional accreditation status. If accreditation is lost, the advisory committee recommends that DESE appoint a transitional board to provide temporary oversight for the operation of the district.
“The present board is not doing the job of governance that it should,” Freeman said.
“But the decision is with the state. Our work has ended.”
In essence, the committee recommended a partial, rather than complete, state takeover should the system lose its current provisional accreditation.
“Of all the possible conclusions they could have come to, this could be the best and least disruptive intervention that the state could take,” said John Martin, SLPS deputy superintendent.
“A state takeover means that the state would disband the board, administration and suspend all contracts. But the three-person panel would operate in place of the board and presumably leave the administration and balance of the district intact.”
In terms of the impact the fracas is having on the district, Martin said, “Teachers and principals are a little less certain, and that hesitation affects their commitment and drive to move forward.”
He added, “We’re going to continue to focus on the kids and work toward full accreditation.”
Superintendent Diana Bourisaw appears to be unflappable, working to balance the district’s budget and make improvements in human resources and teacher accountability, all while taking shots from the board.
On Dec. 1 she received a letter on Lashly & Baer letterhead, written by the district’s attorney, Kenneth C. Brostron, saying that board president Veronica O’Brien “has asked that you please not discuss her or her actions without her permission.”
O’Brien has yet to schedule an emergency meeting, which Bourisaw called for last week to pass the budget so appropriations can be made to pay for professional development and board-approved contracts.
Meanwhile the teacher’s union Local 420 has filed suit against the district over back pay owed to paraprofessionals. Since O’Brien, Robert Archibald and Ron Jackson voted down the revised budget, Bourisaw and the district are in limbo in terms of compliance.
There had been whispers that Bourisaw would be fired at the last school board meeting, and still there is no certainty that she and her administration will survive the impending shake up.
“As long as Dr. Bourisaw stays, we can keep the trends that are being put forward,” said Ray Cummings, political director of the local teacher’s union. “The three-person panel won’t have that much impact.”
Local 420 president Mary Armstrong said keeping Bourisaw in place “would maintain stability.”
The mayor’s agenda
“The troubles in SLPS didn’t begin yesterday or four years ago and will not go away tomorrow,” said Robbyn Wahby, educational liaison for the office of Mayor Francis G. Slay. Wahby presented the mayor’s agenda for saving the public schools at the St. Louis Metropolitan Children’s Agenda meeting Thursday, Dec. 14.
According to Wahby, roughly 50-60 percent of SLPS students graduate and only about 200 score at the adequate level on the ACT exam, which means that a high number of SLPS students are graduating without the basic skills to succeed.
“Take Metro and Gateway out, and the ACT score approaches zero,” Wahby said. “DESE needs to see strong administration over SLPS with a laser-like focus on improving academic achievement while improving the financial situation.”
The mayor has been vocal about his desire for a state takeover of the district. When state Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal called Slay’s actions out on the carpet at the forum, it opened a Pandora’s box of criticism of the mayor and his agenda.
“If you’re going to be in Jefferson City and the mayor is going to have his lobbyists testifying on behalf of school vouchers and tax credits, then I want to also see them testifying on behalf of supporting public schools,” said Chappelle-Nadal.
“The mayor supports public education,” Wahby said.
“The district requires more leaders, so we went out and got Teach for America.” Wahby said that was just one example of the actions the mayor has taken to fix the district.
“Once stabilized, it should be given back to local control,” Wahby said of Slay’s position on a state takeover, while talking up his affinity for “quality charter and parochial schools”
Chapelle-Nadal spoke of the aftermath of a 2003 state takeover of the Wellston School district, which is in her political district.
“When the state comes out, you still have kids in poverty and kids getting pregnant,” she said. “Are you going to wait for the state to create an anti-poverty campaign? It’s about doing the work beforehand.”
John Moten Jr. of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable said, “It took more than four months to create the problems of the district, and it will take Diane Bourisaw more than that to clean them up.”
The full report of the SLPS State Advisory Committee can be viewed online at www.slps-committee.org.