Longtime
St. Louis activist Bertha Gilkey-Bonds is one of the state’s
biggest advocates for charter schools, particularly in black
neighborhoods where school buildings are boarded up. She’s the
state director for the national nonprofit Black Alliance for
Educational Options.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Just this year the St. Louis Public School District has awarded her organization four contracts, totaling more than $750,000, to recruit students into the district and improve student performance.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It could be that Superintendent Kelvin Adams is trying to mend the public education chasm. Or it could be a suspicious conflict of interest, as Susan Turk writes in her Aug. 5 article for the St. Louis School Watch, “The Sweet Perfume of Money.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Why would the school district – which has long claimed that charter schools are sucking the life out of its resources – hire a pro-charter organization to recruit students into SLPS schools?
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Gilkey-Bonds said the organization supports educational options for African-American families, charter or not, and they have successfully recruited students at one SLPS school for the last four years – for free. Adams said it doesn’t matter whether the alliance supports charter schools or not, they have successfully recruited more than 100 students this year.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The fact that they are a pro-charter group is inconsequential here,” Adams said. “We are not anti-charter, we are pro-student. She is providing a service.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>BAEO background “font-family: Verdana;”>
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In April 2007, the national BAEO leaders established a Missouri chapter, and soon after, they chose Gilkey-Bonds to be its director.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In both 2009 and 2010, BAEO received funding from Rex Sinquefield’s foundation, said the group’s spokesman David Grubb. And in 2009, the organization and Sinquefield worked together to demonstrate in front of the district’s administrative building and demand that the district sell its vacant lots to charter schools. Gilkey-Bonds led the fight.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Then in 2010, Gilkey-Bonds served on the advisory committee for the Prop S campaign, led by Richard Gaines, a member of the district’s three-person Special Administrative Board. She still holds this post, and the committee meets three times a year to monitor Prop S funds.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Contracts
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In March, the group landed its first two contracts to work with Ashland and Columbia elementary schools from March 11 to June 30. The first contract for $40,000 was to provide an after-school remediation program, engage parents and work with the student government at Columbia Elementary. The second contract awarded BAEO with $32,000 to do the same at Ashland Elementary.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The school year ended on June 5, so the organization only had 75 days to complete the task. If you break down the money, that’s a pay rate of just under $1,000 a day for the organization to work in two schools. About 97 percent of this went towards wages or salaries, according to the contracts’ budgets.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Both were sole-source contracts, which the district defines as, “The commodity or service has no competitive product and is available from only one supplier,” according to the contracts.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>On May 5, the SAB approved a $20,000 sole-source contract to recruit 150 students into seven schools – Ashland, Clay, Cole, Columbia, Cote Brilliant, Farragut and Meramec – by August 15.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>This budget states that BAEO would get $10,000 for every 75 students recruited.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Adams “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>said $20,000 is a bargain, considering that the district receives $10,000 per student from the state. As of Sept. 6, BAEO had turned in 217 school registration forms, and 121 are confirmed as attending this year, he said.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“That’s $1.2 million for our district,” Adams said. “It’s well worth the investment if the students are attending our schools.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Now the group is onto its current contract of $668,376.43. From July 25, 2011 to June 25, 2012, the organization will create parent resource centers at seven schools, including Hamilton, Jefferson, Sigel, Mann, Walbridge, Ashland and Columbia.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Adams “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>said getting parents engaged is an invaluable service. This contract was opened to the public for bidding, but no one submitted a bid, he said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Why only BAEO?
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It was Columbia Elementary Principal Crystal Gale and former principal of Ashland Elementary Bobby Gines who sent the request to the district for a “sole source purchase” contract with BAEO on February 28, 2011.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In order to pass the “sole-source” test, someone searched the internet for companies providing similar services and searched purchasing files to see if the district had any record of vendors that have provided such services.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Nothing must have shown up because Carlinda Purcell, deputy superintendent of academics, signed the request, according to the contracts. Both were approved by SAB board on March 31.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Also in the request document, the principals had to explain their reasoning why no other vendor in town could provide acceptable services. The principals stated, “There is no other vendor with this unique skill set. This vendor has a proven record of success.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In St. Louis, this record would be for Gateway Tech High School. For the past four years, BAEO has recruited students into the aviation program at no charge to the district. Gilkey-Bonds said one of its members, Maxine Johnson, took her son out of the Imagine Schools, a charter school, to go to Gateway’s aviation program. At that time, only nine students were enrolled, and the program was on the brink of collapse.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We supported her position to leave the charter school, and we went over to help her to recruit students,” Gilkey-Bonds said. “We believe in choice, and we don’t apologize for that.”
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Now the aviation program is full, and their recruitment assistance isn’t necessary.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>They were successful at Gateway. But is there really no other organization in town capable of recruiting students for the St. Louis Public Schools?
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>To this question, Adams responded, “It was the only group we knew of at that particular time.”