By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 11:02 AM
All five of the candidates running for the open 4th District State Senate seat showed up early this morning for a debate sponsored by The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA). Labels: Schools, State_Senate, Video_Reports
Before an audience of people who don't have to be at work on a Tuesday morning, Kenny Jones, Amber Boykins, Jeff Smith, Derio Gambaro, and Yaphett El-Amin answered questions on topics ranging from the upcoming Stem Cell ballot initiative and a possible toll bridge crossing the Mississippi River to education funding and whether St. Louis' business community pays its fair share in taxes.
In one of the most spirited parts of the debate, former State Rep. Derio Gambaro attacked the record of professional educator Jeff Smith's Confluence Academy charter schools.
Gambaro pointed to the fact that 3rd grade students from the schools scored far below most students from St. Louis Public Schools on the state's reading tests [67.5 % of Confluence's 3rd graders tested "Unsatisfactory" in 2005 versus 24.7 % for SLPS].
Gambaro said he prefers a voucher (or tax credit-funded scholarship) system that would allow parents the choice of taking their kids out of SLPS and sending them to a school that is fully accredited.
Smith said it is unfortunate that people "who have just talked about doing things for the city schools are attacking people who have done things to improve the city schools."
He said that majority of the parents at Confluence gave the school an A or B grade last year and that there is currently a list of hundreds of families on a waiting list to send their kids to the charter school.
Trouble viewing this video on YouTube? Click here to download it to your computer.
Check back later for more videos from today's debate...
16 Comments:
What a bizarre attack… Private schools don’t even take the MAP test.
Who knows what the private school scores are?
The interesting thing is that Dario pointed out a good statistic for the SLPS and attempted to make it a push for funding private schools.
Not the most convincing argument.
6/20/2006 11:42 AM
Agreed anon, he goes way off his argument to attack Jeff Smith's school. I'm not sure he's entirely wrong about a voucher program from St. Louis, but he should probably stick to discussing it's merits than saying "we all know the schools are in bad shape, and oh by the way Jeff Smith's place does real bad with math."
6/20/2006 12:21 PM
The Confluence Academies are for-profit, secretive institutions that don't have the best neighbor relations with the neighborhoods in which they are located.
Of course privatizer Derio was being a hypocrite, but Smith needs to be called out on this anyway.
6/20/2006 12:22 PM
All gloves off in this battle...Derio is a much superior candidate in all areas except fundraising than Smith.
Side note: He's also much better looking (smile)
However, gents no need in wasting precious time; simply move aside and let "The Lady" through. Rep. Amber "Holly" Boykins who has the proven track record of consistently supporting public education in the total absence of charter schools, vouchers, tax credits, or scholarships (which are only backdoor vouchers)
Stay tuned. After all...Niaknows
6/20/2006 1:08 PM
First, full disclosure. I work for Jeff. I have an agenda. But facts are facts, and Derio got his wrong.
Jeff doesn't want to encourage all charter schools. He understands that charters must be more closely regulated than they are now. Just one example: Jeff believes that charter schools should be required to have all of their teachers fully certified (as they are at Confluence); under current law 20 percent can be uncertified.
Now, the trouble with Derio. Derio's attack had two problems. First, Derio picked a small group who haven't done so well at Confluence and used their statistics to claim that Confluence as a whole is failing. Even the best schools have some students performing below the norm, and Derio cynically manipulated this fact to try to make Jeff look bad.
Second, Derio ignored one very important fact. Confluence goes out of its way to find students who have struggled in the public schools. Their numbers will be worse because they have sought out students with barriers to learning. This doesn't reflect poorly on Jeff. It shows that Jeff has really done what he claims he wants to do in Jeff City: he has looked out for the neediest.
6/20/2006 2:02 PM
It is very interesting that the Repulican-in-Democrat's-clothing, Derio Gambaro, attacked a St. Louis education leader, like Jeff Smith, when Gambaro supports private school vouchers.
As for Confluence Academy, I live across the street from their newest campus, and am VERY excited about their arrival to my community. I look forward to many more great things from Confluence Academy and Jeff Smith.
6/20/2006 6:14 PM
to travis reems: i hope that confluence treats your neighborhood better than they treat the north side. the man who lived next to the new north side confluence academy had lived there for decades but recently sold his home becaue he was sick of loud middle of the night trash pickups, children running all over his property and picking his garden, parents littering and school employees lying to him. i hate to talk trash gossip but i only learned that jeff smith was a founder of confluence academy from reading this post and i am dissapointed in him now.
6/20/2006 9:37 PM
I am not sure of Jeff Smith's current affiliation or role with Confluence Academy, as their website offers little in the way of board or leadership information. But I give Jeff Smith great credit for helping to establish the great concept of the Confluence Academy, regardless of his current involvement with the organization.
6/20/2006 10:02 PM
ANTIONO...why dont you ever put anything on here about the people running on the northside? You always put these southsider on here, Im not against the southside but I want a total picture. Or is it because you work with, lets say, "nasheed" and you dont want to appear one sided?
6/20/2006 10:39 PM
HEY ANONY.... you talk about the charter schools on the northside, the school didnt make the kids act crazy, thats there crackhead parents that dont raise them, I live on the northside and thats all I see everywhere I go. I dont blame business for not moving up here or schools for going bad, I bet any teacher will tell you the parents are N-U-T-S!
6/20/2006 10:43 PM
Eventhough Antonio works for Rep. El-Amin's father, Eddie Hassan, at the St. Louis Argus, I think he has given fair and even coverage to all candidates in the race.
6/20/2006 11:01 PM
First to Travis: I don't work for Eddie Hasan. I used to work for Hasan when I was editor of the St. Louis Argus in 2004-2005. I also designed and still own STLArgus.com, which I was never paid for. That is one of several issues that our attorneys talk back and forth about.
Next to Brian: If you think I just write about southsiders, you need to check my archives. More black faces have appeared on this site than white folks. As a matter of fact, I've been accused of exactly the opposite on more than one occassion: that I just "pick on" northside pols.
Again, I write about what interests me and what I find newsworthy. Is there something going on in the 57th or 60th district races that I'm not reporting? They seem pretty slow right now to me. But I expect that to change in two to three weeks.
And I don't work for Jamilah Nasheed. I was paid for about three days of work to build her website. I also built the website for Gregg Daly. Again, is there some news that you think I'm not reporting about those two races?
6/20/2006 11:38 PM
If Jeff Smith is a "St. Louis education leader," what has he done for city public school students other than start a charter school that so far shows substandard performance? If he cares so much, why is he teaching at Washington University instead of at a city public school?
If it is true that the Confluence Academies are for-profit institutions, how do they help the city's public school system?
6/21/2006 8:01 AM
http://dese.mo.gov/planning/profile/building/atte1151156930.html
I really find it hard to trust this data when the attendance rate is above 100 percent.
I guess Steven Hawking built a time machine, and has been transporting people back in time to attend classes twice.
There is not a complete profile for this school as the dropout rates, attendance rates, and graduate rates are not listed.
One should not attack the school unless the entire data is available, because one set of data is not representative of the entire school.
6/21/2006 8:38 AM
Antonio:
I based my statement solely on the information available at http://stlargus.com/staff/, where it shows you as an employee of Publisher Eddie Hasan. If I relied on inaccurate information as the basis of my comment, I appologize. My point still stands--I think you offer fair and balanced reporting.
Anon #4:
I'd remind you that inaddition to his ground-breaking work with the public school, Confluence Academy, Jeff Smith was also an employee of the School District working with teachers on improving reading scores.
6/22/2006 2:05 AM
Confluence Academies are part of Edison Schools, Inc. -- the brainchild of Chris Whittle, the Ken Lay of the education world.
Read this for some more information:
http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev440.htm
6/22/2006 11:06 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home