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16 Comments:
FIRE BOURISAW!!!
3/17/2007 9:53 AM
Fire Blunt.
3/17/2007 11:02 AM
ONE PROBLEM SLAY AND BLUNT HAVE THE POWER OVER BOURISAW. BOURISAW HAS BEEN DOING JUST AS MUCH AS THE GUY IN REVIEW AND A LOT OF FOLKS DOWNTOWN HAVE REPORTED THIS TO THE POLICE JUST LIKE RIVERVIEW. THEIR BLUE PRINT WILL BE HER AUDIT AT FOX SCHOOL DISTRICT.
3/17/2007 12:07 PM
Jay Nixon has 100 times or more on Blunt than what anyone has on Bourisaw.
Slay is probably worried that Bourisaw still has the blueprint she used to audit Floyd Irons. He needs to find it, and destroy it.
3/17/2007 12:30 PM
ONE PROBLEM SLAY AND BLUNT HAVE THE POWER OVER BOURISAW. BOURISAW HAS BEEN DOING JUST AS MUCH AS THE GUY IN REVIEW AND A LOT OF FOLKS DOWNTOWN HAVE REPORTED THIS TO THE POLICE JUST LIKE RIVERVIEW. THEIR BLUE PRINT WILL BE HER AUDIT AT FOX SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Well, if Bourisaw has been doing as much as the guy in "REVIEW," she has nothing to worry about because there is no such school district. Sounds like you know who to me. You know, the one who is always accusing others even though she comes across as cuckoo.
3/17/2007 1:20 PM
There are people talking about the meeting between the kids, adults and the Mayor. Is there any video from that meeting?
3/17/2007 4:33 PM
This just in... Thousands of angry taxpayers have stormed the empty SLPS classrooms demanding refunds for their sqaundered tax money.
veronica, dianna, bill, peter and lizz are unavailable for sound bites as they are hiding in the "Dick Cheney Undisclosed Location." donna was not allowed in as she has apparently been trying to speak for herself for the first time ever and is failing miserably.
The very Reverend Al Sharpton quickly rerouted his GulfStream 3000 away from Lambert when he found out it was the taxpayers demonstrating.
3/17/2007 8:43 PM
While the above in funny. It does bring up a valid alternate demonstration venue. If the students were truly motivating themselves and are truly concerned about the state takeover in regards to their education. They should occupy the classrooms and study during their spring break. I cannot imagine a stronger message to be sent to "We the people."
Oh, and of course the leaches and buzzards who appear to be motivating the current sit-in could stay at city hall.
3/17/2007 9:03 PM
dumb comments. Bourisaw never conducted an audit on anyone. Jay Nixion should audit her and she will be in stripes. She is a devil and she has crossed the wrong people. Not to mention a flirt with men
3/18/2007 12:29 AM
Trouble: Buzzards gather because that's what buzzards do. The presence of buzzards does not indicate the honor of the predator or the dishonor of the prey or vice versa. It simply indicates the presence of a battle to the death. The buzzards sense it and swarm. But the battle is the battle, not the buzzards circling it.
3/18/2007 10:37 PM
yeah star blame it on O'Brien that really get's you the attention you need.
3/19/2007 12:23 AM
Buzzards show when something is dead or very close to dying. They show up because of the easy pickin's. They almost never show up when there is a real battle raging. They might, God forbid, get hurt. I stand by my statements. Buzzards and leaches are devouring the SLPS from both sides of the issue. From inside and without.
3/19/2007 1:06 PM
Oh, and no comment on the students staying in their classrooms during spring break; studying to protest their lack of adequate education?
Sometimes, if you really think about it, does the truth frighten you?
3/19/2007 1:12 PM
Trouble: The truth DOES frighten me. I wonder if you realize that these children that staged the protest, being the motivated young people they are--the students who truly DO CARE about their education, FIGHT FOR THEIR EDUCATION AND PROTEST THE INADEQUACY OF IT EVERY SINGLE DAY?
In order to get as far as they have and achieve what they have achieved, they have undoubtedly fought for years against the people who have TRULY held them back from their education: their peers.
More than any teacher, school administrator or board member, the other students in school with them make learning difficult, inadequate and next to impossible nearly every school day. Ask any of them if this is not what robs them of education more than anything else. Ask any teacher.
The battle is that some of us do not believe changing administrators or curriculums will ever solve the real problem of urban schools. The problem of urban schools is the chaotic lives of urban children that they bring into the schools. And schools are ill-equipped to effectively address social problems without the support of society and government for their efforts. What we are dealing with here is a governmental mindset that they do not need to do anything for these children but blame the school district for the children's problems.
The TRUTH is, that NONE of the best efforts to administer or teach these children, nor the most scientific curriculums known to man will EVER stop dysfunctional, ruined, neglected, angry, bitter children from stealing education from their peers by their actions and behaviors in the classrooms. There are TOO MANY children who feel no one cares about them and who consequently do not care about themselves or anyone else. They certainly do not see education as a wonderful right to be protected and fought for. School is a stage for acting out their frustration at life.
Please explain to me how having 3 appointed people from the state make decisions will change any of these things.
I believe the position of those who disagree with the takeover is that the takeover mentality simply buys into the lie that these children's social problems can be "administrated away" without addressing any real social issues. Not only will this not work, it will destroy what efforts the SLPS has been able to put in place to deal with these issues (with no help from society), and prevent a team now in place and one that would form with the April elections who are truly on the same page with this issue from continuing to build a district with the kind of social safety net we believe is necessary for urban children to be successful.
At the heart of the issue is whether we need a socially responsible government or one that lines the pockets of textbook publishers and consulting firms in lieu of the kinds of support these children really need. This is the fundamental philosophical difference between the two sides in this battle. And yes, it is a battle to the death.
3/19/2007 3:07 PM
Yes, I agree that it is a battle to the death. Only, that it started a very long time ago. This battle is riddled with surrenders and apathy. When mediocrity crept to the district so very long ago. The battle was waged by people who were allowed to concede and surrender to it. We all know that kids who are poorly supervised are more unruly than kids who are un-supervised. Now the battle is clearly lost and the buzzards are circling. If the expectation that society will do an about turn and start taking care of the poor amongst us... Well, then by all means let us continue with the status quo. Uncle Sam will take care of every thing. I know that will not happen and I doubt that you believe it either.
3/19/2007 9:59 PM
Trouble:
I have been around in the district long enough to know that for a long time there was an attitude that as long as it "looked" like we were doing something, that was good enough. I have also been around long enough to have seen that attitude change. There was a turning point in the early 90's during which time the focus of effort in the district began to change. I credit a lot of it to the State and Federal programs department at the time, which secured numberous grants to provide enrichment writing and science classes to neighborhood schools and expanded the drug-free schools program, at one point actually taking the bold step of asking TEACHERS what they would do and even more unbelievably, actually TAKING SOME OF THEIR ADVICE. I would have to do reams of research to support things I know from my own experience, but I remember that the district WAS making progress, not just academically, but social issues in the community were showing improvement too. A few I remember were that juvenile crime was down, teen pregnancy was down, and college attendance was up.
Then came 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. 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. 3) NCLB entered, throwing all kinds of money around for "failing" schools in the form of Reading First funding.
Ironically, when Reading First 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.
I can only assume that some of them 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 have NO confidence that the state people will take a look at these issues. In fact, I am almost certain that they will seek to INCREASE the federal presence in our curriculum and schools, since those chosen to take control will be chosen by those working to keep these things in place.
If I had access to the financial records of all these players involved, I could PROVE the scheme they are running on Missouri, which goes beyond Missouri and is, in fact, part of a FEDERAL scheme. I understand that one of President Bush's daughters is heavily invested in McGraw Hill. 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.
I am not advocating the "status quo". I am advocating that those elected by the voters of St. Louis be allowed to do their jobs. I am advocating that SOMEONE take a look at the detrimental effect the federalization of education is having on urban children before all of the schools are dissolved into charter schools run with federal curriculum--which does not require real teachers because it is scripted (convenient for the charter schools who do not have to have certified teachers per NCLB).
The whole NCLB law looks to me like a way designed by very smart, evil people to destroy public education in America so that charters will be allowed to take over. What could not be achieved directly by getting through laws mandating charter schools is being achieved under the GUISE of NCLB: pretending to care about public school children while in reality causing their public schools to fail.
As far as society waking up to its roll in helping the poor, if society does NOT wake up to it, there is little hope for America. The number of disenfranchised young people is growing exponentially. We will not need to go to Iraq to look for terrorists bent on destroying society anymore. They will be among us. Our society's neglected children. Meanwhile, I will settle for the federal AND state government backing off and letting the SLPS do what it was trying to do before Slay and Bush undertook to "fix" them. Every day, SLPS teachers in a million ways invisible to the public weave a social safety net around their students. They take them into their own homes, keep socks and food in their desks, call teenage moms to remind them of Johnny's glasses, find resources when there is no social worker available. I don't mind doing these things. It's what being an urban educator is. What I DO mind is when people from the outside who do nothing to help the children's real problems come in and start interferring with MY ability to help them.
It's true that there are burnt-out teachers. But there are many, many more SLPS teachers who are some of the most amazing people on earth. I am proud to be counted among them. We know if we need to stop a lesson and deal with a resentment in the classroom that will spill over. We know if our students did not understand what was taught and we need to reteach it. We know how to teach the children to manage some of their social issues so they can succeed. THAT IS A LARGE PART OF WHAT BEING A REAL TEACHER IS ALL ABOUT. It is not all "adhering to the curriculum" being pushed by the federal and state government. It is not all being on page 25 in every school on the same day. STUPID, BLIND people are telling us what to do and holding us accountable to do it then blaming US when the children do badly.
The things Reading First makes us teach do NOTHING to help children prepare for the MAP test. So even though we HAVE to do it--becuase Reading First consultants and Open Court consultants monitor our every move--the children will NOT improve their MAP scores and the district will NOT achieve accreditation and MORE READING FIRST MONEY will come in to "improve" our TEACHING of the very stuff that made the kids fail, until ultimately we end up in a place where the whole district looks so bad everyone thinks the only answer is to dissolve it into charters. But then, that was the intent in the first place. Some people just figured out how to make a lot of federal money on the way there.
This is becoming a manifesto. I apologize. I am really steamed. It's frustrating knowing that any hope of ending this will likely disappear on Thursday--at least until more people figure out they were taken for a ride and take the schools and their children back from these criminals. By then the children will likely all be in charter schools being taught scripted federal curriculum by college students, pulling down single digit MAP scores which NCLB will look the other way at, while their human needs fester like an Open Wound.
3/20/2007 10:39 AM
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