By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, December 29, 2006 at 2:25 PM
State Reps. Robin Wright Jones and Jeanette Mott Oxford, Teachers Union President Mary Armstrong, and Rev. James T. Morris, a parent of children in SLPS, were among the speakers at this morning's event. Labels: Schools, Video_Reports
Check back later for videos of two school board members defending the district from takeover.
17 Comments:
Look at me on my soap box! I support Local 420!
12/29/2006 2:40 PM
Once again I ask: Which one of these "leaders" has children in the public schools other than Donna Jones? Which of these leaders can point to a period during their leadership that MAP scores have had our children achieving at least at the 75th percetile? Which of these leaders has a track record of providing children of non-european decent with opportunites to learn about thier cultures outside of traditional celebrations like Cinco de Mayo or Black History Month? Has either of these "leaders" point to a specific instance in which they advocated for a teachers removal from the classroom because of poor performance?
These people are just haapy with the status-quo. The "I-got-mine-so-you gotta-find-a-way-to-get-yours" syndrome.
Classrooms are still over-crowded; principals are still complaining about not being able to remove poor perfroming teachers; parents still aren't showing up for parent conferences; AND the superintendents staff is full her and Bill Purdies cronies. So I ask "What has changed?"
12/29/2006 8:55 PM
Well said, who's really for the children!
12/29/2006 9:04 PM
Who is really for the children? Not Veronica O'Brien who brings in a celebrity for a coach's job and who never coached at over $75,000 a year, and she wanted to pay him way more than that.
12/29/2006 10:30 PM
Let me get this straight.
The children are failing.
Most are unemployable after high school.
The drop out rate is at 50%
The district is broke with the exception of the teacher pension fund at a billion dollars.
YET
They don't want school alternatives.
They don't want parents to leave.
They don't want the state to take over.
They don't want to address poor performing teachers.
They don't want Ms. Whitmore on the State board.
They didn't want the previous school board.
They didn't want Creg Williams.
They don't want standardized curriculum.
They don't live in the city.
They don't send their children to SLPS.
They don't want education reform if it means making teachers accountable.
And...Everyone is OK with this.
12/29/2006 11:13 PM
Anon at 11:13 pm, check your facts with the DESE website. The dropout rate has never approached 50% at SLPS, and the statement that the "children are failing" is simply not true. SLPS students did better on the MAP than charter school students (school alternatives?)
Anon at 8:55 pm, there is no 75th percentile on the MAP. It is not reported in percentiles. The MAP is a criterion referenced test, and they report the percent of students in a building or district in a given grade that score advanced or proficient. No school or student is in the "75th percentile". That type of scoring is used with norm-refernced tests. And, "Who is really for the children"? -hundreds of teachers who remain under difficult circumstances, only because the children need them, that's who. The smaller group of poor performing teachers cannot negate the efforts of the majority of teachers who are well qualified and give each student their best every day. When I was in the district, I encountered them in every building, at every level. People who have not been in at least a dozen different buildings observing teaching in every classroom of those buildings really should note in which school they have personal knowledge that is represented by their comments. Those of us who regularly visited buildings unannounced have a far more global picture of what the district had to offer. Individual grudges do not make for good generalizations, yet they frequently become blogger generaliztions.
12/29/2006 11:35 PM
Mr. Morris has children in the district according to the post, but I'm not sure of the others. I agree that the district has many poor performing teachers, but the districts contract with the union makes it nearly impossible to get rid of them and the board members are not going to turn agains Mary Armstrong.
12/30/2006 12:22 AM
Anon 11:35 ~ I will admit that I may have to stand corrected on the way the testing is reported, but the one thing that is indisputable is that there are far too may students failing in this district. THere are far more teachers in this district who have given up on students who do not learn in the "traditional" way classrooms are managed these days.
I am one of those parents who spend a great deal of my time volunteering in schools throughout the district. I agree that there are hundreds of teachers in the district who do the best they can with the resources provided to them. But there are also hundreds of teachers who are not and CAN NOT teach in the challenging environment that is SLPS. It is not far to the students of those teachers to have to wait fopr that teacher to improve.
Would you trust you mothers healthcare to a doctor who is unfamiliar with her illness or who has a dislike for her because of her zip code or treated her with the wrong medications. If you answered yes to any of these situations you are one sick puppy. If you answered no, why can't parents like myself who want alternatives for our children try possible solutions while SLPS gets its house in order.
"Individual grudges do not make for good generalizations" - I don't have a grudge. I do however have a problem with holding children hostage until people like you get what you want out of the system. Children are not widgets; you can't come back later to undo harm cause by a poor teacher or poor teaching meathods. I pay taxes and I would rather the state come in to manage this district because the rest of them have had their opportunity and all they are doing is creating a class of children headed straight from middle school to the pen.
12/30/2006 12:41 AM
Antonio - you're a great reporter and finder of all things factual, Can you riddle me this:
Is there any way to find out how many teachers and school related personnel actually live in the city? How many send there children have their children in non-magnet city public schools? How may have their children in non-public schools of any kind [charter, private, parochial, etc.]? How many graduated from public schools? How many went to state universities?
Does the district perform an exit interview when a parent decides to take their child out of SLPS? How many students have returned to the district from other schools fro reasons other than discipline?
Questions like these should be a part of the survey Donna Jones want s to perform. And the survey should be done by an impartial entity not by the district itsself - that would be like have a criminal investigate the crime they are accused of committing - Wouldn't you agree?
12/30/2006 1:04 AM
Ooops! I caught my own typing errors - so don't go trying to change teh subject by pointing them out!
It's late and I was just trying to get to bed and couldn't resist posting a comment.
12/30/2006 1:06 AM
There have been many pertinent comments listed here, but even more generalizations which I feel need to be addressed. As a teacher in the District, lives in the district, no children, product of public education & public universities, please don't assume I'm not qualified, not caring and unfamiliar with "non" traditional teaching methods for my students. Also, don't assume I support everything the union does. Additionally, don't assume I respect my colleagues who unfortunately do fit some people's perception of teachers in the city. I agree there needs to be a change, but I'm not sure the state coming in will really help things, other than removing the board from micromanaging the district. BUT, and this is what a good portion of the population refuses to believe, I can't help and teach a child who refuses to learn. And yes I mean refuses. After I've called home numerous times (usually more than 5) and informed the parent their child is not doing their homework, is cutting class, is sleeping in class--you fill in an action--and there is NO improvement from that child, I lay the blame on the home/guardian. Yes I said BLAME. At some point responsibility has to be taken for these children missing 30% of school with their parent's permission (they are actually calling in sick for the child); at some point someone has to take responsibility when a child misses a bus and the mother goes back to sleep and tells the child "too bad" And trust me, as a caring teacher this bothers me and frustrates me, but what else can I do? Social workers are notified, counselors informed, but if the behavior does not change, what do you do? How do you teach someone that education can be their greatest hope and equalizer in life and give them 2nd or 3rd chances when you want them to succeed so badly but you know life won't give them this many chances?
How is the state coming in going to change THAT? How is the WELLSTON district doing with the state running it? I believe they had to create a brand new rating so they can extract themselves from that situation soon. And since we're talking about responsibility and consequences, I'll gladly take them. I'm proud of the fact that my students score higher than the average at my school, but these students don't take it seriously and should I? These averages are between 48-52%! And these scores beat the district average--would I be retained or fired for these scores? At some point personal responsibility needs to come to the forefront. I can model it in the classroom but need some support from home.
Personally, I don't know what the answer is, but I do believe that until people believe education should be a privilege and not just a right, nothing will change.
Sorry, I'll step off my soap box now.
12/30/2006 2:05 PM
Anonymous said...
Let me get this straight.
The children are failing.
Most are unemployable after high school.
The drop out rate is at 50%
The district is broke with the exception of the teacher pension fund at a billion dollars.
YET
They don't want school alternatives.
They don't want parents to leave.
They don't want the state to take over.
They don't want to address poor performing teachers.
They don't want Ms. Whitmore on the State board.
They didn't want the previous school board.
They didn't want Creg Williams.
They don't want standardized curriculum.
They don't live in the city.
They don't send their children to SLPS.
They don't want education reform if it means making teachers accountable.
And...Everyone is OK with this.
12/29/2006 11:13 PM
Maybe you ahven't been keeping up with current events. You certainly state your opinions as facts which is not very bright. You don't say who "they" are. And you don't connect Ms. Whitmore to this thread.
The SLPS needs help from intelligent people, not pseudo-snobs.
12/30/2006 2:57 PM
Anonymous said...
Let me get this straight.
The children are failing.
Most are unemployable after high school.
The drop out rate is at 50%
The district is broke with the exception of the teacher pension fund at a billion dollars.
YET
They don't want school alternatives.
They don't want parents to leave.
They don't want the state to take over.
They don't want to address poor performing teachers.
They don't want Ms. Whitmore on the State board.
They didn't want the previous school board.
They didn't want Creg Williams.
They don't want standardized curriculum.
They don't live in the city.
They don't send their children to SLPS.
They don't want education reform if it means making teachers accountable.
And...Everyone is OK with this.
12/29/2006 11:13 PM
Maybe you ahven't been keeping up with current events. You certainly state your opinions as facts which is not very bright. You don't say who "they" are. And you don't connect Ms. Whitmore to this thread.
The SLPS needs help from intelligent people, not pseudo-snobs.
12/30/2006 2:58 PM
How is the state doing with the Wellston school district takeover????????
12/30/2006 8:35 PM
"I lay the blame on the home/guardian. Yes I said BLAME. At some point responsibility has to be taken for these children missing 30% of school with their parent's permission (they are actually calling in sick for the child); at some point someone has to take responsibility when a child misses a bus and the mother goes back to sleep and tells the child "too bad"
Personally, I don't know what the answer is, but I do believe that until people believe education should be a privilege and not just a right, nothing will change.
Sorry, I'll step off my soap box now."
12/30/2006 2:05 PM
I'm on your side teacher. Here is where we differ: I think the teachers, parents, students, administrators and other supporters of free public education have been cleverly squeezed into a box. As is human nature, people start blaming each other when the "blame game" begins.
As a parent, I have no doubt that there are permissive parents. And I know for a fact that this attitude is not limited to the SLPS or public education for that matter. It is quite likely, though that the parent(s) you speak of are already at work when it's time for the student to leave for school. Middle class parents might discipline their children by taking away privileges and/or resources. It's also quite likely that the students are living at or below poverty level. What privileges and/or resources will be taken away as a disciplinary action.
We have to look at the big picture which moves our eyes and minds outside the box. The truth is that the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of our Mayor who sold out to groups like Civic Progress. When this is all over, some people will be considered heroes and some will be vilified by the public for generations. I can't imagine that it will be the teachers who will be vilified.
12/31/2006 9:05 AM
Is this the same so called leadership that did not demand public input into the selection of a superintendent! When their friends are doing wrong, they stay silent. The public should have had input in deciding the superintendent and they didn't care about the public then and don't now. Is it, as always in St. Louis, nothing more than a show.
1/03/2007 5:27 AM
Is this the same so called leadership that did not demand public input into the selection of a superintendent! When their friends are doing wrong, they stay silent. The public should have had input in deciding the superintendent and they didn't care about the public then and don't now. Is it, as always in St. Louis, nothing more than a show.
1/03/2007 5:27 AM
I hear what you're saying but as I recall there was a huge time crunch at that juncture. This time crunch is only part of the chaos created by Slay and Co. that is intended to sabotage the improvements at SLPS.
I think they are within their authority to make those kind of urgent decisions without public input.
Having said all that, the Slay appointed Board made many decisons unilaterally and without parent input when there WAS time to discuss it. Or, you might also read that they want to slow things down when there is a sense of urgency. So, Archibald and Jackson wnated to argue on and on about appointing Bourisaw when we desperately needed a Superintendent.
1/03/2007 7:19 AM
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