By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, July 14, 2006 at 5:44 PM
School Board President Veronica O'Brien has called a special emergency board meeting for 6:30 tonight. No word on the agenda, but some speculate that this could mean the end of Superintendent Creg Williams' time in SLPS. Labels: Breaking_News, Events, Schools
Developing...
UPDATE: Dr. Creg Williams' time as the superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools is over. It is not clear yet if the school board fired Williams or, in the face of a 4-3 vote, he resigned. What is clear is that the school board is as divided as ever and calls are increasing for the state to take over.
After the closed meeting vote, board member Bob Archibald was the first to emerge. He blasted the board majority for letting Williams go. He told reporters that he thinks the state should come in and take over SLPS.
Still Developing...
UPDATE 2: SLPS is now headed by Dr. Diana Bourisaw who was hired by the Board just a couple of weeks ago as an internal auditor.
More...
UPDATE 3: Mayor Francis Slay weighed in on the firing tonight, calling it a "damn shame." He told television reporters that only hope now for SLPS is a state takeover.
READ MORE AND SEE MORE VIDEO AT STLSCHOOLS.ORG
24 Comments:
I go to SLPS and I am thinking very hard on whether I want to return to the district. Dr. Williams was a very active superintendant and very patient and supportive of students. It is sad to see a good man, person, adminstrator and lrelieved of his services. It seems like everything that we like is taken away for us without us voicing our concerns. SLPS board members are afraid of a positive change and are very dictating. We, the students want greatness at our schools and to have a great visionary and a very caring superintendant fired is scary. We are afraid because we want a world class education and knowledge that will take us outside of the classsroom, and Dr. Williams was the educator for that and now what do we do from here?
7/14/2006 9:32 PM
We all know the new board fired Williams, it would be nice if everyone owned up to it.
How fast can the state take over the school district? I for one can't wait!
7/14/2006 9:33 PM
Please excuse the spelling mistakes. I was typing fast and listing to the very sad and depressing news about Dr. Williams.
7/14/2006 9:34 PM
Today is a great day in the city for our children.Thank you Veronica Obrien,Purdy,Downs and Jones...I salute our new majority board.Now let's get the ball rolling and start planning opening day with a positive attitude.And from a very loyal Slay supporter,sign in the yard, I was;Slay,listen to Veronica, mind the city bussiness and SHUT UP about the schools,your constant negative postings make me sick.Thank you again!!!
7/14/2006 10:29 PM
First of all!!! I am going to miss Creg Williams!!! And for the first time...I AGREE with Mayor Slay.
7/14/2006 10:49 PM
If the public knew the chaos created by Creg Williams in our school district, they would support the actions by the new board to begin returning our school district to some level of normal activity. Mayor Slay's actions over the past few years have greatly hurt the district. Investigate and find our what has REALLY been happening under Slay and Williams as they continued the Roberti assault on our district before you criticize the board for taking long overdue actions relative to personnel.
7/14/2006 11:07 PM
Damned Shame"? Mayor Slay is unhappy because he had hoped Williams and "the boyfriends" would continue down the road to ruin begun by Roberti. With Bourisaw there will be a halt to the accreditation point loss, so now he is worried that his plan for getting vouchers won't come to fruition. He and Schoem-ful aren't worried about our kids, they just want tax dollars from us poor folks to provide part of the private or parochial school tuition for him and other rich folks. It's just like they wanted the Waring School for SLU and didn't care that it was one of the higher performing city elementary schools. They want to stick our kids in Charter Schools that do even worse than regular public schools so that our kids won't be any competition to their rich kids for good jobs.
7/14/2006 11:09 PM
Education is not politics, it's the future and we will never get anywhere by commenting, we have to be active and do what we believe. I think students should boycott the first day of school because we have been poorly educated and now we are being lead in a direction that's not conducive to learning.
What happened to helping each student realize their full intellectual potential and the children being "the focus of all our efforts"?
7/14/2006 11:47 PM
The handling of the firing of Floyd Irons was pure Keystone Cops. Let's hope that that is not what the beginning of school will be like.
7/14/2006 11:58 PM
OK, "concerned and worried student"; if education is not politics, how does boycotting the first day of classes make sense to you? You would miss out on important work in your classes to make the statement that you are missing out on realizing your true potential? This crap at the top does not change the fact that you have dedicated teachers who want the best for you every day in the classroom. Take advantage of that every single day that you can!
7/15/2006 12:20 AM
Your rights is not politics its LAW.
Boycotting the first day of school makes a lot of sense to me because it will make the "responsible adults" in charge see that all of their bickering and irresponsibilities are effecting us and not in a good way.
NEWSFLASH-- No one does work on the first of school, we are just occupying space in a building that's not organized for the first day of school.
7/15/2006 12:37 AM
Concerned and worried student, Don't boycott. What will that do anyway? Williams is gone. Give the change a try. I think you will be positively surprised. Don't you realize that the previous superintendant was trying to dismantle the St. Louis Public School System. If he really cared, he would not have left. Now, who knows? He gets 2 and 1/2 years of pay for doing nothing? He wasn't the man you thought and I am sorry. I believed in him too. He said it was his decision to leave. KMOV has a long interview from him online. Trust the people who are staying, support them, and if it is awful - then do your boycott. Again, I am so sorry you are downhearted about your schools and I wish I could fix it for you right now.
7/15/2006 2:05 AM
Based on some conversations I rest assured that President O'Brien has a plan, that it is well thought out, and that it will be well received by the students, parents, and residents of the City. We are headed in the right direction.
We should all rest assured that this is all about the student. This restructuring, first of the Board, and now of the administration, is about the future of the city's children. It is obvious that parents, students, teachers, and city residents are applauding the brave leadership of the School Board.
The next step is to continue the progress by replacing Board members Archibald and Jackson.
7/15/2006 10:02 AM
Concerned student, I applaud your bravery in posting a reply on this website. I agree with you, I am a concerned parent of a SLPS student. Creg Williams has made positive change in a system loaded with incompetent teachers and a lack for accountability! Ms. O'Brien is not for the better of the school system, her children attend the Clayton school district. Your statement regarding the dictatorship of the school board is right on! O'Brien and Downs are purely dictators, Jones simply follows their lead.
Please keep striving for greatness, if you choose to accomplish you will find a way to do so. I am sorry to say the SLPS is not going to offer it to you or my child! You have exhibited internal strength just by posting your comment! Keep it up, I am pulling for you!!
7/15/2006 10:14 AM
Travis,with all due respect you are affiliated with Downs aren't you? Do you have children in the district? I do! I no longer have confidence that this will improve!
7/15/2006 10:15 AM
Bring on the state of MO!!!!!!!!!
7/15/2006 10:16 AM
Anon:
I have no affilitation with any of the Board members. In fact, I've only spoken with Member Downs twice either on the way in or out of a School Board meeting.
7/15/2006 10:35 AM
I agree with anony #2. Today is a great day!!! Brian, quit calling people idiots - it's rude.
7/15/2006 10:36 AM
It seems to me that everyone has their agend, and neither group are clear how said agenda will help the kids.
The power struggle needs to end.
7/15/2006 11:54 AM
Everyone is still speaking on personal reasons.... NO one is concerned about us, everyone is in it for money.
When going to school we have nothing to look up to. Dr.Williams was going to change that, he gave differnet schools new hope and reformed 2 major high schools.
- SUMNER BULLDOGS-- Beware, you all have an asshole for a principal and all students are now being educated in a district that strickly cares about paychecks.
- VASHON WOLVERINES-- Be ready for a major change, with new staff and a new principal.
I am going to try to help SLPS with their problems, but I am going to stand up, if everyone stand up, then no one will get left behind.
Sadly we still won't get a world class education. DESE where are you we need you now. "The children are the focus of all our efforts". ... BULLSHIT
7/15/2006 12:17 PM
Who do you think is looking for their paychecks? The administrators- Principals could go to the county and start at around $80,000. The principal scale starts in the fifties in the city. A job in the county would be a lot less stressful than in the city. The teachers- think again. If I was looking for a nice fat paycheck, I definitely would not continue to teach in this district. I think that there is some confusion about teacher's salaries. I have worked almost twelve years in this district and have two masters degrees. Next year will be the first year that I will break $50,000. How many people do you know with that level of education that make that little? I could get paid much more if I would get a job in one of the North County districts.
If you are concerned with the money look at the millions of dollars that has been given away to consultants.
Confused child- Clean up your language and maybe someone could take you seriously. Who do you think hired the principals at the schools you mentioned?
It sounds like you think Dr. Williams was the answer to everything. That is wrong. He didn't run the schools or teach the children.
7/15/2006 1:12 PM
As a graduate of Metro High School (Class of '04), I have seen the Roberti year and observed Williams tenure and all I have to say is that there is no one that is trying to see what the students think. I mean, students have opinions too and they should have a stake in what is decided in this district. To see this "great" School Board Majority take two straight meetings behind closed doors with no public input to decide important personnel matters shows that they think that they can do things with no input from the public. Also, choosing a Superintendent without input from the public or having a formal search for a new one does have me thinking that Diane Borisaw sp? was chosen as a Superintendent-in-waiting and the new board majority was just making Williams job hard so they have reason to let him go. All I have to say is that you adults are screwing it up for kids who need a good education to survive in a competitive job market and the future of the City, so I hope the State does take over, it seems like anyone but St. Louis adults should run the schools.
7/15/2006 5:03 PM
So Mary Armstrong got what she wanted, payback for having her teachers reapply for jobs. I hope the chaos that you have rought on the parents and kids of this district is placed at your feet because you wanted these new board members.
Well Mary, who is going to run the school district now? Your friend Lizz Brown!
7/15/2006 5:37 PM
This is absurd! I find it difficult to believe that a school board can make these types of decisions without hearing from the people that their decisions will affect the most. This looks a lot like a dictatorship headed by Ms. O'brien. I am further outraged by the hiring of the former Fox school employee. She has little or no experience with the problems that face inner city students. The children will suffer the most from this horrible decisions.
7/17/2006 10:51 AM
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