‘No-confidence’ vote means nothing
By Alvin A. Reid of the American
For a man who just received a vote of “no confidence” from some members in the St. Louis Teachers Union, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Creg E. Williams remains extremely confident that his strategic plan to improve the district’s woeful academic performance will go forward.
For a woman whose election as president of the SLPS school board sent shudders through City Hall and corporate board rooms, Veronica O’Brien has negated early doubts and responded by serving as a diplomat between newly elected board members and incumbents.
She has also won Williams’ praise. “Veronica O’Brien has demonstrated her ability to lead in a time of crisis,” he told the American.
“She has stepped forward, which is the right thing to do for the children.”
This is the same Veronica O’Brien whose appointment to the school board was later called “a mistake” by Mayor Francis G. Slay.
After winning re-election in 2005, O’Brien was picked as board president following a contentious school board election earlier this year. Incumbents Darnetta Clinkscale and Jim Buford were ousted by Donna Jones and Peter Downs, who were both backed by O’Brien.
“It’s nice to know that he said those things,” O’Brien said Wednesday following a meeting with Williams earlier in the day.
O’Brien called the teachers’ vote of no confidence “irrelevant.”
“They complained more about (Interim Superintendent) William Roberti. “(The vote) doesn’t impact me at all after all the stuff I’ve seen in the past.”
O’Brien said she is putting “tremendous time and effort” into her role as president of the board and that she feels that it is important to “get a feel for the people working directly for Creg.”
Confidence man
Williams said he is not surprised that some teachers forced a “no-confidence” vote, which was held on a Sunday afternoon with the majority of teachers’ union members absent.
He also said that vote or any other move by the union would not deter him from his mission to improve the district.
“I’m sending a serious message (with school reconstitution) and making it clear that we are moving forward,” he said.
He said teachers who are not in agreement with his plan to reconstitute some schools “used the opportunity to make a statement. It is unfortunate that they did not use the opportunity to prove that they are serious about changing schools.”
Williams said the teachers’ union should be more concerned with “people voting with their feet” and taking their children out of the school district.”
“We are losing 1,600 students per year because of poor-performing schools,” he said.
Byron Clemons, Teachers Union vice president, said the vote of “no confidence” is not solely targeted at Williams. In fact, he said he and the superintendent had breakfast together the Thursday before the teachers’ union’s vote.
“The vote is aimed at the administration of the district. It involves matters such as (a mistake) with paychecks the last week of the school year and the interview process that many teachers must now complete because of reconstitution,” he said.
O’Brien said the board would look into complaints that unqualified persons were being included on teacher interviews.
During their breakfast meeting, Clemons said he told Williams that “a perfect storm was brewing” and that he should not take anything personally.
Clemons said problems with “a revolving door in Human Resources, the paycheck mistakes and questions about which schools have been selected for reconstitution all led to the vote.”
He said the teachers’ concerns “involve problems that are systemic, not just the superintendent.”
Just days after the vote, the teachers’ union wants Williams and the administration to back a plan that would deduct a portion of dues from checks of teachers who are not members of the union.
The union says that, in such cases as the end-of-year payroll miscue (which left teachers three days short on pay), all teachers, not just union members, benefited from the work the union did to secure that lost money through the St. Louis Community Credit Union.
O’Brien said, “the ball is in the union’s court. They need to send a request to Creg, then we need to meet and decide how to handle it.”
Clemons said Williams “stuck up for us. He helped us out” during the pay crisis.
As for the vote of “no confidence,” Clemons said, “We still want to work with Williams.”
Williams says he wants to work with the teachers’ union too – as long as it doesn’t interfere with his strategic plan for quick academic turnaround.
“The school board and the public stand behind me. It’s unfortunate that 600 members of a much larger union took the stand they did,” he said.
“But I’ve had more than 4,000 employees, and the public, step forward and say they were sick of what went on at Vashon and other schools. I will let the public be my judge, and I’m hoping the public can see clearly that we must take action on schools that do not perform. There is no other option.”
And O’Brien said “I’m working to find out what problems the teachers really have. What is it?”
