By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 2:47 PM
A rumor is circulating around St. Louis Public Schools that the Mayor and at least one holdover from the last school board majority have requested the state to step in to take over the troubled school district.
It is believed that Mayor Francis Slay and board member Ron Jackson told Kent King, Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, that the current board majority is standing in the way of Superintendent Creg Williams' reform plans. Sources tell PUB DEF that the two asked DESE to take over the district at the first opportunity and appoint Williams to oversee it, effectively eliminating the St. Louis Board of Education.
DESE officials told PUB DEF that they are aware of the situation in St. Louis, but would not comment any further at this time.
Board member Jackson confirmed that he has been in contact with state education officials, but denied asking them to take over the district.
"I asked them to keep a close watch on the situation," he said. However, Jackson did say he thinks that the state may need to step in at some point, should SLPS' situation get much worse.
"Boards of education are creations of the state," said Jackson, adding that he thinks tensions between Williams and the current board are standing in the way of needed reform. Jackson said he couldn't say whether or not the mayor had also been in contact with DESE.
Ed Rhode, spokesman for the mayor, has not yet replied to our request for comment. PUB DEF today made a formal "Sunshine Law" request of the Mayor's office for copies of any and all correspondences between that office and DESE.
Sources at DESE have confirmed that people from "several camps" have been in contact with the department in recent weeks about the situation at SLPS.
But even if DESE did decide to step in, the state can only take over a district after it has been unaccredited for two years (as in the case of the Wellston School District) or if disaster struck and a district was unable to open its doors and operate.
This scenario may give some support to the conspiracy theory quietly making its way around SLPS. Some SLPS principals, teachers and board members have been quietly asking this question: Is Creg Williams trying to destroy the school district? And why?
An article by Steve Giegerich in today's Post-Dispatch highlights the concerns of some in the district that the 2006-2007 school year may bring the disaster that sets the stage for a state takeover.
Williams has repeatedly said that the district faces a $50 million deficit in Fall of 2007 that would mean that SLPS could no longer meet its financial obligations. Yet in his 2006-2007 budget submitted last month, which was rejected by the board, not only were no steps taken to address that crisis, but $4 million was added to it.
Almost two weeks ago, the district failed to pay many of its employees on time, blaming it on "human error." And last week, many key district employees were dismissed, including most (if not all) of the people in the office which administers federal Title 1 dollars and possibly the only district employee familiar with the software used to send special data to the state.
District spokesman Tony Sanders has not replied to requests for comment on these dismissals.
The board will meet for three meetings tonight starting at 5:00 at the district's Administration Building, 801 N. 11th Street. See the complete agenda, including consent agenda items, at our sister site STLSchools.org, home of the St. Louis Schools Watch.
9 Comments:
When Slay first got his four puppets in office, the opposition considered asking DESE to take over district.
7/11/2006 2:58 PM
Seems like classic political fighting over the schools.
We need to end the fighting and focus on the children.
Slay needs to get his hands out of the cookie jar.
7/11/2006 3:11 PM
Perhaps Kent King, Commissioner of Education, could mentor Creg Williams. First, he could tell Creg he isn't driven around by a bodyguard and that he drives himself to and from work. He doesn't give the appearance that he's a plutocrat who is entitled to squander the taxpayers money for education on prima donna entitlements. He's a real man, and real men drive themselves.
And he doesn't go off gambling with another man who has questionable character over the years.
7/11/2006 9:53 PM
Bill Purdy has a smokescreen over everyone's eyes about Creg Williams as a superintendent, while he secretly cuts deals in the backroom with the law firm of Lashley & Baer and Sodexho. Watch out for Bill Purdy and pull records of the companies that he is getting payments from under the table with SLPS contracts. He is not alone, different school board members are getting paid through contracts that are being rewarded to vendors with a no-bid clause.
7/12/2006 12:37 AM
Anonymous at 12:37 AM -
"Watch out for Bill Purdy and pull records of the companies that he is getting payments from under the table with SLPS contracts."
If you are posting to blogs at 12:30 at night YOU must have the time to do some reserch.
YOU should be digging up this info and putting the facts out here.
YOU are posting anonymously - no body knows who you are... that gives you the freedom to make an intelegent argument.
stop being scared if you have some info sare it. Stop this misterious crap or sut up.
BTW-
"contracts... a no-bid clause. "
Their are no contracts with no-bid clause. Let me explane what biding is.
The district needs some kind of service or product.
They anounce the need for the service or product and ask providers to submit a price and qualifications... that is the bid.
A no bid contract would be one that is signed without letting the public know about the needed good or service.
7/12/2006 10:25 AM
It is not about the Kids, only about the looting of the school system by the 4 corporations that invited the corporate raiders in. Missouri Historical Society, Grand Center, Barnes Jewish Hospital and St. Louis for Kids. All Non-Profits with our Neighbors sitting on the boards, and feeding at the expense of City of St. Louis Tax-Payers. The State is probability the only answer at this point following due process of course. It will be good for
Governor Blunt to take the blame for this mess. After all, no Corporation has been left behind.
7/12/2006 5:20 PM
After the way this board majority handled the Irons' situation, a lot of St. Louisans that wouldn't have supported a state takeover might consider it. Downs' literature showing him and other current majority members being a team with Williams was a lie. I had voted for Downs, Purdy, Jones and Obrien. I do not believe them when they say it is not personal. The voters will never approve a tax increase with this mess going on.
7/12/2006 10:51 PM
As for the statement that "No Corporation has been left behind", I would like to add that it would seem that no consultant or friend of the mayor or his board puppets has been left behind either! I still can't believe the Waring School closing wasn't really just a political favor. And rumor has it that certain board members have even put pressure on district employees to get specific students into Magnet schools. I can't decide whether the point of Slay controlling the board was for the political favors or to destroy the city schools to get support for vouchers to pay parochial school tuition.
7/13/2006 10:32 AM
How can serious-minded men and women work with a superintendent who dismisses them, who socializes with the guy guilty of gross negligence, if not criminal activity (since it can't be proven one way or another), and who caters more to City Hall than to the school district? Williams has been playing one-sided all along. Don't blame the four you voted for who are dealing with some very serious issues. The tales out there about Irons would curl anyone's hair! One day some of the young basketball players may do to him what grown men are doing to some priests today.
7/13/2006 10:07 PM
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