By Antonio D. French
Filed Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 9:24 PM
A letter from Superintendent Creg Williams appeared in today's Oakville-Mehlville Journal. In the letter, titled "Which is worth more -- a building or 600 students?," Williams said he did not recommend closing Cleveland NJROTC High School -- just to move the students.
"This discussion is not about closing schools," wrote Williams. "It is about students who must sit in an environment that is not conducive to learning, and in classrooms that put their health at risk."
For just about everyone else, the debate is about SLPS moving to close Cleveland High -- without a clear plan for what to do with its students, or the building.
Williams just recommended moving Cleveland's students at the school board's May 2 administrative meeting (just three weeks before the last day of class), asking them to vote on the recommendation just seven days later. It is not likely that students would have been moved out of the building before the end of the school year.
Even now, four weeks later, questions still remain about where Williams plans to move the 600-plus students and what will be done with the NJROTC program. And the superintendent has offered no plan at all for what to do with the building.
Some have suggested that Williams, who openly supported the unsuccessful re-election campaigns of Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford, has planned for some time to close Cleveland but held off bringing the proposal to the old board during the heated school board campaign.
A new group has been formed to begin organizing to keep the "old castle" alive. The Alliance to Save Cleveland High will meet tomorrow, June 1, at the Dutchtown office, 4204 Virginia Ave., to form a steering committee and "come together as a community to act now in unity, with one goal: save Cleveland High School!"
The Alliance will also be holding a press conference on Monday, June 5, to mark the official launch of the organization. That event will be in front of Cleveland High School at 10:00 a.m.
Visit their new website at www.saveclevelandhigh.org
15 Comments:
Cleveland is not the only public school needing repairs; however, its repairs not the central issue. If one considers well the workings of the BOE, one must question their dedication to the Magnet School concept.
At Cleveland, the lateral sewer line is broken. There is water damage to some inside walls that have been daily stressed by water that either flows against the bricks and mortar or water that flows over the tops of clogged gutters.
Consider: If the NJROTC program moves, will the teachers and the support staff also move? Will this move allow repairs or will it simply free up the Cleveland space for development? In this last minute mess, have not the students and their parents been forgotten ... as per usual.
Is anybody worried about the student and their program? Is this an opportunity to re-new the Castle or is this simply another Warring School sell-off?
5/31/2006 11:41 PM
Supporters of the castle put the health of the children at the fore. The issue is not whether to risk the health of the students, but rather to make the necessary repairs to ensure the health and welfare of the students.
The true issue, that the Superintendent wants to evade, is whether the school will remain open after necessary repairs have been made. The castle is a keystone to the neighborhood, an anchor to local businesses, and provides a much needed haven for the students. The polarizing choices layed out by the Superintendent--risk the students' health or close the castle--are not the only options.
The already funded enhancements to the castle's heating and cooling, would most likely take a school year, if not longer, to complete and would require temporarily moving the students to another facility. So, let's move the students to a temporary location, make the necessary repairs, and then make our community whole again by moving the students back home to the castle.
6/01/2006 1:42 AM
This Cleveland high debate is ridiculous. Dr. Williams has only recommended removing the students from the school-and rightly so, it is in horrific condition, the students and teachers deserve a safe and healthy facilty. The rest is out of his hands. It is up to those fine leaders on the SLPS Board to fix the school or close it, not Dr. Williams, whose obvious priority is the children.
And Antonio,
"Some have suggested that Williams, who openly supported the unsuccessful re-election campaigns of Darnetta Clinkscale and James Buford, has planned for some time to close Cleveland but held off bringing the proposal to the old board during the heated school board campaign."
This is a bold claim, got anything to back it up?
Time for Peter, Veronica, Purdy, and Ms. Jones to put their money where there mouths have been for the past few years, its crunch time and all they want to do is blame the superintendent, now is that what we call leadership?
6/01/2006 7:20 AM
Fingerpointing is not the solution.
Get together, make a plan, and get it done.
Division is only going to delay whatever action needs to be done.
The quicker a plan is made, the quicker it can be implimented.
The students do not deserve division in their board. That has happened for far too long.
Stop the infighting, and make a plan which keeps those kids safe and in a school.
Hopefully, this includes keeping Cleveland open.
6/01/2006 7:53 AM
The smell of sewage in that basement is pretty strong. If anything, I fault Williams for leaving the students there this school year, since the city hasn't taken care of the sewer line. But it takes time to visit the 90 odd schools in the district. He may have only recently realized the problem.
Actually, Williams' piece appeared in print in the south city print edition of the journal, also.
Everything I have heard from the Superintendent and his cabinet is that they want to stop throwing money into the money pit. I have heard nothing that indicates he wants to spend the $20 million on it.
The aldermanic representatives are saying keep Cleveland open. They were awfully silent when Schoemehl, et al. hurt the district by closing the alternative schools and giving SLU the "awfully good deal" for the highly successful Waring school.
There is also the issue of equity. Did Roberti and Schoemehl et al. come up with a plan for all the shuttered buildings in north St. Louis? Where is the outrage about that?
If the board and Mayor's office demand a plan for the Cleveland building, then they should demand a plan for the north St. Louis buildings.
6/01/2006 8:07 AM
By his conspiracy theory that closing Cleveland was on the backburner until after the election, French is just trying to divert attention from those who truly now have the final say-- the new board majority.
Ironically, though, this new majority will have to seriously weigh closing more schools, despite their coming to power via voter angst over the Roberti-linked closures.
6/01/2006 8:12 AM
There are several good points being made here, I hope I can address them all as they deserve.
First, let me explain the issue--the one the Superintendent wants to evade. We all agree that the students' and faculty health is of prime concern. In order to provide for their health and welfare, we need to temporarily relocate them to another facility. Step two is to then repair the school and return the students home to the castle.
The Superintendent has another agenda here--to close the castle--so he is using smoke and mirrors to obfuscate this real issue. He keeps trying to wrap the debate in a blanket of safety concerns and dollar amounts. That includes the misleading repair cost figure.
First, the Superintendent has yet to provide to the public an itemized list of the repairs with their associated costs. The only list provided so far was compiled by Sodexho, the district's maintenance contractor, not licensed or accredited inspectors/engineers.
More importantly, he is playing a game of hide-the-nut with the overall dollar figure. The $20 million overall figure for the repairs includes $10 million already available to the castle for the air conditioning upgrades, which was provided by a bond issue and cannot be used for any other purpose. But, even with that information, the public still does not know how the other $10 million is being spent per line item.
As for the Aldermanic involvement in this issue, the question is not where were Alds. Kirner, Schmidt, Ortman, and Florida when the issues in north city were arising, but is instead, where were the aldermen of those wards? Further, while Ald. Kirner is an out-front member of the Alliance to Save Cleveland Highschool, the Alliance is a grassroots coalition of members from the community.
To the point about saving the castle being beyond the Superintendent's purview, it seems logical that if he can propose closing the castle and moving the students, then he can also propose to save the castle, the students, and the community. I would assert that he has the ability to do more than merely propose either. The Superintendent has it within his control to become a friend of the students, the castle, and the community through fighting to save the castle.
6/01/2006 8:42 AM
"This is a bold claim, got anything to back it up?"
Well, Gregg, you tell me. Cleveland High was no better in January or March than it was in April and May. Did Dr. Williams just step foot in the building after in the days before the May meeting?
To have brought it to the new board at the April meeting (just days after Downs and Jones were sworn in), would have been a bit too obvious. Bringing this issue up for the first time at the May meeting of the Board of Education only makes sense from a political point of view.
If the health and welfare of the students were the top priority, Williams would have brought this up months ago.
And how can a CEO of any organization dare to bring such a major decision to his Board without any supporting documentation for his price estimates or a clear plan what to do with the students and the building -- and expect the board approve it without any public input just 7 days later?
I've reserved judgement and given Dr. Williams the benefit of the doubt for a year. But the honeymoon is over. He now has a record, one that everyday looks more and more familiar.
- Bold broad plans short on specifics
- Going to war with the teachers
- Closing school buildings without public input
- Ending magnet school programs
Check, check, check, check. The only thing left on this guy's list is split town before any results can be seen, get a better job far from here, and leave it to the next superintendent to try a whole new experiment.
How many times do we have to get beat over the head with a stick before we realize it's not raining holy water?
SLPS keeps hiring these superintendents and saying, "Okay, now fix our district." But it's not his (or her) district to fix. Statistics show that the average stay of a superintendent in an urban school district is just two years.
These guys come in, collect huge paychecks for him and his buddies, make a few bold moves, split before the dust settles, and get hired by another urban school district looking for a black superintendent who is willing to make bold moves and go to war with the teachers union.
That is why it is imperative that the Board asks the same question about EVERY move that any superintendent recommends for their approval: How does this fit into the 30-year plan of this district?
Because 15 to 30 years is realistically how long it's going to take to turn a district that produces a student body only 2-3% proficient in Math and Science into one that produces 60-75%.
Do the students need to moved out of Cleveland for the 2006-07 school year? Yes.
Should the superintendent tell parents, the Board and the public exactly where those kids will be moved to (and then what happens to the kids already at the school the Cleveland kids move to)? Yes!
Should the superintendent tell parents, the Board and the public what his plan is for not just the Cleveland High building, but also other old high schools like Sumner, Roosevelt and Beaumont? Absolutely!
These are basic requests and that it's like pulling teeth to get these answers from Dr. Williams says volumes to me about his personal and professional plans as they relate to St. Louis.
6/01/2006 9:11 AM
The Mayor's office has said that the district exists to educate students. It is not a jobs program. The district has about $30 million deficit. It can't afford to fix the building.
Once segregation ended, how many bond issues for the district got high votes in south St. Louis? Part of the deferred maintenance problem comes from decades of insufficient money.
6/01/2006 10:49 AM
To anonymous, we unfortunately don't have a real estimate of what it will take to fix the problems of the castle because we don't have a true assessment that contains line-itemization. So, without real numbers, the debate as to whether the district can afford the repairs is moot. Add to that the fact that the community is willing to raise necessary funds, and the whole discussion of the district's budget becomes moot.
6/01/2006 4:50 PM
This district has so many problems with so much urgency to them that there are going to have to be some huge sacrifices to fix this mess and actually start giving our children the education they deserve. Williams recognizes this and has the character to do what needs to be done, even though people like you, Antonio, will accuse him of trying to grab a huge paycheck and split town, even though he's shown no signs of cutting bait. Meanwhile, the teachers' union doesn't want to budget an inch and the school board is throwing up roadblocks to his plans. On top of that, we've got people who aren't willing to let a school building go -- we're talking about a beautiful building, but just a building -- and this has become more important than the students. I'm glad it's not my education and my future that is being sacraficed here.
-- Joe
6/01/2006 5:29 PM
"...even though people like you, Antonio, will accuse him of trying to grab a huge paycheck and split town, even though he's shown no signs of cutting bait."
Is that a bet, Joe?
6/01/2006 6:18 PM
Antonio, still waiting for you to back up your claims about Dr. William's, your fairy tale was lacking crucial information: facts. I could invent probably a more likely scenario if you're interested, but I doubt it.
6/02/2006 7:03 AM
Let's hope you're wrong, Antonio, or are you hoping to chase Williams out of town? I know two self-serving board members who would love to help you with that. Even if Williams wasn't the perfect person to help turn the schools around, this district needs some stability in its leadership right now. Or does digging up dirt and creating another scandal mean more to you than any actual interest in education?
-- Joe
6/02/2006 10:03 AM
Joe, this whole "If you love our schools, you love our school's leaders" makes even less sense than when Bush and Rumsfeld pull the patriotism card when defending their own mistakes.
To point out the errors of an inexperienced public servant isn't naysaying or even muckraking, it's responsible journalism.
I would invite you to be more critical of anything elected or appointed officials say. That's responsible citizenship.
Don't just sit back and trust people to do what's best for you, your kids, or your city. Examine their actions, demand accountabilty, and apply common sense.
In the case of Cleveland High, common sense demands a plan for what to do with the kids, the NJROTC program, and the building.
6/02/2006 10:45 AM
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