By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 6:00 AM
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE — READ IT HERE FIRST
A source tells Pub Def that the State Board of Education will indeed vote today to strip St. Louis Public Schools of its accreditation and will select Gov. Matt Blunt's pick to head the newly established "transitional" board to lead the district.
According to the source, Blunt's pick is Rick Sullivan, chairman of Chesterfield-based McBride & Son Homes.
Other sources tell Pub Def to expect at least two different lawsuits to be filed within 24 hours of the state's action.
Pub Def will be in Jefferson City today. Check back later for video...
18 Comments:
Does this guy have ANY experience with schools? He just looks like some dude.
3/22/2007 9:00 AM
Oh, great, another Roberti! We all remember how well that experiment worked, now, don't we? How many accreditation points did we lose? Isn't he the reason we are in this mess?
3/22/2007 9:06 AM
The King of McMansions will be in control of our schools. This guy knows the issues facing urban America about as much as Matt Blunt. Probably why our rural friends chose this suburban sprawl czar. Keep protesting because this is the beginning of the end.
3/22/2007 9:19 AM
SLPS was hit with a triple whammy: 1) the MAP test was adopted the year SLPS came up for accreditation review. All districts did poorly on MAP at first. It was a whole new format. But SLPS bore the brunt of it because we happened to be in the limelight that year. Enter provisional accreditation. 2) the deseg agreement pulled millions of dollars out of the budget that were never replaced and have to this day not been paid by the state, contributing greatly to the district's financial crunch. Enter Roberti and school closures. 3) NCLB entered, throwing all kinds of money around for "failing" schools in the form of Reading First funding. Enter the present crisis:
Ironically, when Reading First funding appeared on the scene, SLPS had only 2 or 3 elementary schools that did not meet AYP. That was not enough free grant money for someone. Through forced implementation by the mayor's chosen school board of the substandard reading program Open Court, the district has now proudly achieved a status where only 2 or 3 elementary schools have met AYP, thus creating a windfall of schools eligible for federal grant money for anyone who had the foresight to position themselves to receive it.
I find it impossible not to see that there was a DELIBERATE attempt to CREATE failure in the schools starting with the adoption of Open Court, Roberti and the former Slay-controlled school board.
The state also receives a cut of the funding from Reading First. Entire departments and regional "consulting" centers are funded by it. Through this funding, NCLB has created an entrenched monster bent on its own survival; survival which depends upon the FAILURE of urban children.
I can only assume that some powerful people were and are continuing to benefit in some way from Open Court and Reading First being in SLPS. Perhaps they hold investments in the consulting firms that have made teaching impossible, or in the McGraw Hill publishing house that has cranked out most of the programs Reading First will "approve of". I know this: the new board members AND Diana Bourisaw were taking a hard look at what Open Court and Reading First has done to our schools, and if they stayed in power with added reinforcements in April, this nightmare could have ended. Someone wanted to make VERY SURE that did not happen. So sure that they were willing to disenfranchise voters, ignore impending elections, change DESE requirments and force accreditation evaluation ahead of schedule.
I also know that even though the Office of the Inspector General of the United States exposed the corruption in Reading First OF THE VERY SORT I AM TALKING ABOUT, no effort has been made in the state of Missouri to correct any of the items of Reading First funding about which it has been proven that states were misled.
3/22/2007 9:43 AM
I am NOT in favor of a takeover. I was not in favor of the Roberti experiment. I think what has happened since then and under the current presidency of the board has been about as disasterous as could possibly be.
I will grant you, his background is not education, and more particularly, urban education, a terribly complex subject. As a result, I must admit to be taken aback at his choice.
Having said that, please don't sell Sullivan short, especially before hearing a single word he says. I have worked with him on committees, and he is exceptionally bright. He has displayed an open mind on a variety of subjects, and, in my humble opinion, deserves to at least be heard before being criticized.
Believe me, he is no Roberti. Indeed, if the powers that be at the time had hired someone with a personal stake in the health of the metropolitan area instead of someone just passing through to collect a (giant) paycheck like Roberti, perhaps some progress could have been achieved.
3/22/2007 9:50 AM
He might be a nice guy and business savvy, but clearly this is patronage. I fail to see how he meritoriously deserves the position! We do not need patronage, we need merit!
3/22/2007 10:03 AM
If this proves true, the head of the SLPS will be a construction company exec who lives in Chesterfield and sent his three kids to private schools.
3/22/2007 11:11 AM
I hate all of this---I already don't like this guy.
One glimmer of hope----he might have a level of intelligence and arrogance to tell Slay and Blunt to----insert something.
3/22/2007 11:16 AM
From St. Louis Commerce Magazine, Nov. 2006:
Here’s a link
www.stlcommercemagazine.com/archives/novermber2006/cover.html
In 2005, a new partnership was announced, with Sullivan turning over the day-to-day reigns of the organization to Eilermann. Under the new partnership, Sullivan will take a less active role at McBride and will focus on more civic and charitable endeavors…
Sullivan adds, “We like to create neighborhoods and communities, not just build houses.”
Its employee-owned status, a careful strategy of steady growth through expansion into new markets, is at the forefront. But at its core, it’s the way McBride & Son Companies manages each division that sets it apart. Each section of the business, down to the community level, is treated like a separate, entrepreneurial company…
In 1988, McBride & Son Companies’ stock ownership plan was implemented and the company became fully-owned by its employees. That’s when things really began to take off.
“Being an employee-owned homebuilding company is one of the biggest keys to our success, and really sets us apart, “Sullivan says.
Eilermann concurs, “It makes a huge difference. Customers know they are meeting with employee owners. Their success is our success.” Eilermann adds that the company has an entrepreneurial culture where each company is fairly autonomous and managers are responsible for results of their individual division of the company…
The manager of each neighborhood has full responsibility for that community’s sales, budgets, quality of construction and customer satisfaction and is compensated based on the bottom line for that community or business.
SOUNDS LIKE A RECIPE FOR MASS CHARTERIZATION TO ME.
3/22/2007 11:37 AM
Sorry the link didn't post correctly. The address is:
www.stlcommercemagazine.com/
archives/novermber2006/
cover.html
3/22/2007 11:41 AM
Doug Duckworth writes:
> We do not need patronage,
> we need merit!
Do you think these are mutually-exclusive concepts? Why or why not?
t
3/22/2007 10:25 PM
Tom, let me interject here for one moment. One of my main complaints of most of our ex-School Board members was that their sole qualification was that they have kids in the district. I just hope that Mr Sullivan's educational qualifications are not as short.
3/22/2007 11:29 PM
Trouble writes:
> I just hope that Mr Sullivan's
> educational qualifications are
> not as short.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
I do not think Mr. Sullivan needs educational qualifications, as he is not being called-upon to educate. He is being called-upon to organize a system that delivers a service: in this case "education". It seems to me he needs leadership and organizational skills above all, and a very thick skin. He is stepping in to lead a system corrupted over the decades by the sort of patronage Mr. Duckworth fears, and God bless him for it. The knives will be out. They already are.
t
3/24/2007 10:32 AM
Tom- that then brings up one of my original questions. Do you have to be crazy to be on the School Board or does being on the School Board make you crazy?
To think that a school district is a factory with a product to produce is a little cold even for me. But, like I said previously, I hope that the protestnics listen to his thoughts and ideas before they print the t-shirts and placards and haul the pawns out of class again.
3/24/2007 7:48 PM
Antonio, do you think that this appointment put more pressure on Mr. Reed? Will he fall flat on his face if he does not come up with "an Educator." Your thoughts?
3/24/2007 8:34 PM
more houses from McBride and Sons
more tax abatement, robbing the district of tax dollars
more eminent domain
more displacement of the city's working class and poverty stricken
more civic progress, social injustice
more civil unrest
more rebellion among the youth
more police brutality
more SLY and more SHAME
3/26/2007 8:27 AM
Wow! 8:30 AM and on a school day. Maybe you ARE to blame for all of this mess.
3/26/2007 10:31 AM
Trouble writes:
> Do you have to be crazy to be on
> the School Board or does being
> on the School Board make you
> crazy?
Dunno. But if you weren't when you took the job, I can see how you might be when you left.
> To think that a school district
> is a factory with a product
Not a product! A service. A helpful act, useful labor that does not produce a tangible commodity, a contribution to the welfare of others. Those who serve (root is servus meaning "slave") require a context in which their service may be rendered most of all to the parents of the children entrusted to them. There is nothing cold or impersonal about it.
> I hope that the protestnics
> listen to his thoughts and ideas
Hope is a great virtue...
t
3/26/2007 2:46 PM
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