By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 12:42 PM
For the third day in a row, people protested the school board's decision to force the resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams. Labels: Schools, Video_Reports
Yesterday evening, in front of City Hall, two dozen people carried signs bearing messages critical of the school board majority and shouting, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it!" They also gathered signatures on a petition of "no confidence" which they plan to turn over to the school board and the media later.
Among the protesters once again were ousted Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and local sports personality Demetrius Johnson, whose sister's job with SLPS was eliminated the same day as Irons'.
State senate candidate Jeff Smith also joined the picketers Wednesday. In an interview with PUB DEF, he said he joined in their disappointment in the board's decision to force out Williams.
"I didn't think he had a fair shot to see his plan through," said Smith.
22 Comments:
As you know, I am all for protests.
My criticism of these protests, on both sides, is that shouldn't people have been "mad as hell" say 10, or 15 years ago?
The SLPS has been in trouble for a long time, and I think its kinda funny that only when these controversial decisions are made, thats when people get "mad as hell."
Wouldn't the horrible test scores make people "mad as hell." Why does on incident suddenly awaken the citizenry to the fact that they have a lot to be mad about?
Maybe if people were taking this kind of action a long time ago, we might not have this SLPS today?
I am pretty young. Were there a lot of protests similar to this one in the past?
7/20/2006 1:36 PM
Our highly regarded president, Veronica and her cohorts have approved the wrong school budget. Check out the Post on line!! Way to go Veronica!!!
7/20/2006 2:34 PM
Jeff is seen in the video with Dan Haggerty husband of 23 ward committewoman Gina Haggerty. The committeman for the 23rd ward is the mayor's father.
Why isnt Jeff sweating? He is in long sleeves,tie and not sweating. Photo-op? What happened to Dan when the interview started?
7/20/2006 2:54 PM
Douy, for all his faults, blame the mayor for people caring about the schools.
It is my belief that Slay wants to run for higher office, and he could run on a)significantly increased population growth in the city and b) helping turn around urban education.
I believe it is a chicken/egg scenario, the city would get more residents if the schools were better, but until better students improve the schools, not so many residents will move in.
My thesis is based on that with the student population that SLPS has, poor, moving around a lot and from single parent homes, the schools/test scores are not going to improve that much. You need a new type of student to do that. That new type of student presently goes to school somewhere else, Catholic, county, wherever.
7/20/2006 2:57 PM
Look, right now people have no electricity, trees in their yard, and lined up at gas stations,
These folks found time to protest the school board.
WTF is going on!
7/20/2006 3:08 PM
I don't like the mayor. It seems to me that he doesn't care about the city schools. He is for charters and vouchers. If he was a good mayor for our city, he would roll his sleeves up and get his supporters to volunteer to make sure schools open on time. He would back anybody trying to make the schools better. He really shouldn't get his nose in it other than that. That's just my opinion.
7/20/2006 3:14 PM
When Jeff loses August 8th, I'm sure some will now blame his taking a stand on the school boards' recent actions. But notice not even El-Amin is taking a chance but saying she supports the new majority's decisions.
7/20/2006 3:47 PM
"These folks found time to protest the school board."
Uhhmmm...this was yesterday...before the storm......
7/20/2006 4:20 PM
To the anonymous who said that the mayor doesn't care about the city schools. . .
I don't care about the 'schools' either. I care about the students in the schools. There is a difference If the students can get a better education in a charter school, then the student is better served and the city is better served. Some charter schools are good, some are not. Nationally, charter schools, on the whole, were not worse, or better, than the 'schools'. However, smaller organizations, generally speaking, can learn faster than large ones, giving hope for charter schools. Good charter schools will get better and bad ones, hopefully, will close.
As for vouchers, I have my religious beliefs, and I am ok with others having religious beliefs, but I am not prepared to have taxpayer dollars paid to support my, or someone else's, religious beliefs. I am against vouchers. While vouchers can educate students about equally well, for a lot less money, I am not prepared to have government supported religion.
7/21/2006 8:47 AM
The charter schools in st. louis do worse than the city schools. Not caring about the schools means not caring about the kids. We already have schools, why open charters instead of making what we have work?
7/21/2006 9:38 AM
Jeff Haggerty is also the President of the Tillis Park Neighborhood Association.
7/21/2006 10:51 AM
Jeff Smith = our town's biggest opportunist.
Let's protest outside of his door and see what he does!
Why would he endorse this kind of ridiculous intimidation? Elected officials are *public* officials, but it's unfair to harass them this way at home.
It's also very easy to pick on a black female! Just like Smith is doing in the 4th district race...
7/21/2006 10:53 AM
I might protest at Smiths house but it seems he has several addresses.
7/21/2006 10:57 AM
"Let's protest outside of his door and see what he does!
Why would he endorse this kind of ridiculous intimidation? Elected officials are *public* officials, but it's unfair to harass them this way at home."
Did you read the post or watch the video at all? They were in front of City Hall. I think there is a long history of public protest in America. Are you saying the First Amendment doesn't apply anymore?
"It's also very easy to pick on a black female! Just like Smith is doing in the 4th district race..."
If Amber and/or Yaphett can't handle an issues based challenge in a Democratic primary, they most certainly aren't ready to take on the Republicans in Jeff City. It's hard to see how Jeff is picking on anyone by running for public office, but I guess when the other candidates think they own the seat they see it as being picked on, as perverse as that is.
7/21/2006 11:01 AM
Smith is hardly an opportunist. His passion in life is education- that's why he is a teacher and that's why he founded the Confluence academies. Unlike some in this city, he believes that our school system should work for our children.
And how is he picking on any black woman? WHile El-Amin is going out there spewing venom about Jeff's ethnicity and taking push polls, Jeff has taken the high road.
All he is doing is running to represent our district- not just one part of it, but the whole thing. What is wrong with that?
I assure you, when he wins, you will be impressed by how hard he'll work to make our city and state a better place.
7/21/2006 12:23 PM
Is there a reference that says that charter schools do worse than traditional public schools in St. Louis? I am willing to be educated. I have only read studies on the national level.
As for 'we already have schools', yes, we do have schools, but we don't have education, or enough of it. How long must we wait for the 'schools' to perform? Please, someone give me a year and what levels of performance we can accept.
This was a problem long before Slay came on the scene.
7/21/2006 2:47 PM
Yes, Mrhappy, First find a search engine like google, then type in DESE (Department of Secondary and Elementary Education) click on school improvement, click assessment, click AYP District Results, then school data, finally scroll down to St. Louis City. All city schools and charter schools info will be listed there. Thurgood Marshall is a charter school but not labeled as such, I believe all the other charters have Charter in their title. Hope this helps. Let us know what you find.
7/21/2006 7:59 PM
Here we are a week later and both the El-Amin and Gambaro camps can only keep forwarding these desparate, Jeff is an opportunist crap. This makes it easier for the last weeks strategy...keep outworking, outgroundgaming, outraising, and outideaing all the other candidates and Jeff wins by doing it the right way--talking directly to voters daily and eliciting progressive policy ideas and solutions.
7/22/2006 11:48 AM
As I am not a statistician, my findings were limited. Poor students, those who are part of the free lunch program, do worse than than those who are not part of the free lunch program. There is a ton of data out there ripe for misinterpreting. Heck, I may have done that with the above.
Other than that 'fact', I am a bit at a loss. I was hoping for someone, UMSL, SLU or maybe the state itself to do a coherent analysis of how charters perform against the 'schools'. I do believe it to be a question worth knowing.
Even a report put forth by a non-neutral party, like Edison schools or the teacher's union, might shed some light. Unfortunately, none seems to be had.
The 'schools' have not done very well for quite some time. With the current and past state of things, I do believe the onus is on the charter detractors to state the case why charters should not be allowed.
7/24/2006 3:14 PM
I guess what I want to know is why charters? What is different in a charter than a public school? I do know that there are no teacher's unions and the teachers and administrators make less, and that they do worse than city schools on test scores. If charter schools have the magic anecdote, why don't all schools just adopt the ideas. I know they get private funding from big corporations or universities. There are many more public schools up and running, so why not put the focus on improving them?
7/24/2006 5:05 PM
Mrhappy, I know it is hard to decipher all those numbers and I do wish they would make it easier for the general public to understand. I was so glad to see that you noticed how schools where high numbers of students receive free and reduced lunch have lower test scores. That's what we (teachers) have been trying to tell everybody that thinks we aren't doing our jobs. These students have not enjoyed the advantages of coming from more stable families. The parents of these children are more concerned with feeding their children than reading to them. It is not the fault of the parent or the child, it is just the way it is. Please go to stltu.org and scroll down to the pink box that is titled "No Dentist Left Behind." That pretty much says it all.
7/24/2006 5:15 PM
Jeff is full of crap. He has never done anything for this community that didn't directly benefit him. He should go back to teaching, and play basketball. Race relations is more than that, and if Jeff really cares, he should go to St.Charles and help build a democratic base there instead of messing with us in the City.
7/24/2006 6:18 PM
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