By Antonio D. French
Filed Monday, July 17, 2006 at 10:38 AM
The St. Louis Board of Education will hold a press conference today at 1 p.m. at the Clyde C. Miller Academy, 1000 North Grand Ave, to introduce interim Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw. Labels: Press_Releases, Schools
From the press release: Prior to accepting the position of Interim Superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools, Dr. Bourisaw served as Superintendent in the Fox C-6 School District and in the Sacramento City Unified School District in Sacramento, California. "I'm very pleased that Dr. Bourisaw has accepted the position of Interim Superintendent," said School Board President Veronica O’Brien. "She is committed to improving the academic achievement of the 35,000 students in this district."
13 Comments:
Bill McClellan's column tells it like it is:
"She (Bourisaw) ran a Jefferson County school district a few years ago. It (Fox C-6) was a mess when she took it over and it was a bigger mess when they booted her out. Then she sued the district. Those might seem like strange qualifications, but O'Brien explained things to my colleague, Sylvester Brown: 'She's a pit bull. Neither Slay nor his favored board would want to deal with her as a superintendent . . .' So she's there to give the mayor a hard time."
7/17/2006 11:21 AM
I've not read the McClellan article, but if this except is representative of it, then Mr. McClellan is all wet on the issue.
Dr. Bourisaw was let go from Fox C-6 because she was too progressive for the district. The district desired to quietly settle with her our of court for three times her salary to avoid a law suit and damaging publicity.
Dr. Bourisaw has an impressive resume including time as a Superintendent (something our previous Superintendent did not have coming into the job), a consultant to school district, and work in the Department of Education. She is supremely qualified to lead our district back from insolvency and into full accredidation.
7/17/2006 11:55 AM
I think Antonio's prior post ("It didn't have to go down like this") said it all. And, simply repeating over and over that "I am sure that they have a plan" doesn't take away from the fact that William's hasty departure adds more instability and distrust into a situation that was already pretty unstable to begin with.
It is a situation that can't just be spun away. The issue is that there is a case for reform leading to improvement of academic achievement in the school district that the current managers of the school district need to make clearly.
7/17/2006 12:06 PM
How can St. Louis expect any progress when our school system is in such poor state?
The firing of Craig Williams was horrible. He might have made mistakes, however his firing is only going to keep the revolving door open. Should we have given him some more time? Yes. Am I upset that I voted for Downs and Jones? Yes. Is this what St. Louis needs? No.
How many more times will we pay 250,000 for a lack of leadership and results?
The school board needs to end their political games and fighting. The children, and the future of St. Louis, are the prize. How can this prize be won with such selfish decisions?
What good will be the result of the Williams firing, and the new Superintendent?
7/17/2006 12:31 PM
Antonio:
Will City10 and other local stations cover the introduction at 1 do you know?
7/17/2006 12:43 PM
It would be informative to know where the 4th State Senate District candidates stand on state takeover?
7/17/2006 1:03 PM
The new superintendent has led a larger district than ours, and worked in the Missouri DESE accreditation division. Whatever one thinks about the decision that led to her choice as interim superintendent, her qualifications as as strong as Williams' and light years ahead of Bill Roberti's.
The hot seat created by the Mayor and his media pals is actually god for her because it will force hder to work harder and smarter than if she had taken the reins more conventionally. State control looms over her hear, so expect her to get down to business fast.
Does anyone know if she is the first female superintendent of SLPS?
7/17/2006 2:01 PM
I give her maybe 3 months and she will be gone for either being too progressive or not able to get along with the board. Being a pit-bull and being able to tell the Mayor and other civic leaders which way is up is not a characteristic that has worked int he past or will work in the future. And so, the problem continues to recycle itself and there is no one to lead who is in the position long enough to make a difference. We need a state takeover to provide stability and flush to SLPS and board of its systemic infection.
7/17/2006 2:14 PM
Doug Duckworth, in case you haven't been reading either what the superintendent himself has said or the fact the board had to meet in an emergency meeting to accept his resignation, he wasn't fired.
More than anyone else, the superintendent himself might not want out what grounds or if there were grounds to force his resignation publicly aired.
Most in the district are relieved to see the combination of arrogance and entitlement depart from St. Louis. At least the security guard who had to drive him around and wait all the time is probably the most relieved.
The new interim superintendent (people forget the word, "interim,") is more qualifed than Creg Williams or any of the previous superintendents following Roberti.
The deed is done (and was probably Williams' indiscretions and lack of savvy). So let's face the future and begin healing this community and schools.
Don't let a vindictive and power-hungry mayor mislead you. Keep an open mind.
7/17/2006 3:25 PM
To MichaelAllen:
The largest district Bourisaw led was 20,ooo students less than St. Louis Public Schools according to the press kit passed out at today's news conference. For those who continue to speak of her work at DESE, you must remember that she was appointed by Holden (I wonder how much she donated to his campaign for that position?). As to your question about her being the first female superintendent, she is not. That quite possibly would be Ms. Pamela Randall-Hughes who also served as an interim superintendent. Remember as much as you and some others want Bourisaw to be the "super", she is not, she's just holding the seat and taking the money until Purdy/O'Brien find someone else they want to give some money to.
7/17/2006 5:54 PM
Pamela Hughes was our first female interim superintendent. I spoke to her personally regarding school issues. I was impressed with her also, we also let her go!
7/17/2006 8:22 PM
I believe it was Creg Williams who let Pamela Hughes go, yes?
7/17/2006 8:28 PM
Why don't you all stop blaming creg Williams for everything that is ailing this district. It has been a mess for years and will continue to be a mess if the courent board majority continues to behave as they did last week. It is a shame that they used there positions to fulfill vendetas. They promised ro be above that. They still have not explained how the change in superintendents is going to improve academic achievement. They wanted change simply for the sake of change. Now that Creg has been cast to the winds how long before the plan he developed with input from the community ben cast into the trash?
Was the past Board majority perfect? No. Did they mess up? Yes. But this board is nopw doing the exact same things they criticized the previous board for doing.
7/17/2006 9:30 PM
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