By Dan Martin
Filed Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 9:43 AM
St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Diana Bourisaw has fired back at the State Board of Education that earlier this year voted to strip the district of accreditation on June 15. Labels: Press_Releases, Schools
In a 22-page document entitled "The Determination that the St. Louis Public Schools is Unaccredited is Unlawful, Arbitrary, and Capricious", Bourisaw argues that:
It remains to be seen what effect Bourisaw's document — or this week's Supreme Court ruling allowing teachers to strike — will have on the State Board's decision to take over SLPS.
27 Comments:
Bourisaw is going down---but I give her credit for not being mealy-mouthed and suck-ass about the state board.
Hopefully, others in MO education will hear the wake-up alarm about this hideous bunch of idiots from jefferson City, or wherever.
5/31/2007 12:48 PM
Hey kjoe...
What makes you say she is going down? I have been trying to figure it out for a while now...Why going down? The state? Are they THAT stupid?
That would open the state and the McBride guy (sorry, forgot your name temporarily) up to the same accusations of "instability" etc. that were used last year to argue in FAVOR of keeping Dr. Bourisaw.
420 pushed the "stability" thing also. A good thing at the time.
If the state fires Bourisaw they should (hopefully will) come under fire for causing even MORE instability. Tired argument? Probably, but maybe still effective.
Dr. Bourisaw seems to be competent. (I know some will attack this, and that is certainly your right to do so if that is your true belief...but please provide data and/or facts to back it up)
To fire her now would be stupid. (That doesn't mean they won't do it)
5/31/2007 7:54 PM
To fire her now would be stupid. (That doesn't mean they won't do it)
The reason I believe they will fire her is the charter school thing.
She does not mince words---she gives them the straight information.
The state board has gone to Texas for advice on how to build one. Mayor Slay has lobbied for the right to build more of them.
Bourisaw stands for the difficult, long-sighted, do what is necessary efforts----------this takeover bunch wants the quick flashy "by God we are doing stuff to create alternative" cosmetic emptiness that characterizes the charter schools.
That crowd loves building buildings. They are not that crazy about himan beings.
Bourisaw is not someone who fits their agenda.
I told my state senator that Bourisaw is one of the smartest, most knowledgeable people in Missouri when it comes to education. I told him he should spend some time talking to her, no matter how things shake out.
5/31/2007 8:25 PM
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5/31/2007 11:57 PM
heger-you are the union and of course you want to keep this crew as you own Bourisaw. Remember if Sullivan would be stupid enough to keep this crew that they answer to him and you think the govenor is going to let him allow to keep you and your complaining selfish teachers fat and happy no way. Bourisaw is out for Bourisaw and she will do anything for money. Hear she is the bread winner.
6/01/2007 12:02 AM
Why would Bourisaw be so stupid to stay. If she does they are going to finish her off in a way that would make her move out of this state. So if she is so smart and cares so much why not step aside and know she is not wanted. That is why they are taking over. Remember those fools fired Williams and brought in a cheap little dented PINTO. So if she were the smart dented PINTO she would leave before they finish her off.
6/01/2007 12:08 AM
kjoe your comments are all over the spectrum. Do you have a job or are you a paid employee to post on this blogg. Man you need to call Helen for a date.
6/01/2007 1:02 AM
Anonymous said...
kjoe your comments are all over the spectrum. Do you have a job or are you a paid employee to post on this blogg. Man you need to call Helen for a date.
6/01/2007 1:02 AM
I do a music thing mostly around Crystal City and Festus. I am playing songs in public almost every night.
I was a teacher for two decades---and i took a year off to do music, because I got so sick of the policies of John Ashcroft---who did one hell of a lot to wreck public education in Missouri.
The music thing worked out so well, I just never went back.
I am very concerned about the way the republicans and many democrats are so fond of this outsourcing to corporations, which are not subject to much in the way of accountability. Halliburton---Roberti---this charter school crap-----it is all part of the same theme.
This takeover farce is a way of returning power to those who lost it because of the voters.
Note that wessling voted against the 25,000 dollar no bid pr campaign---and Jackson changed his mind. The two new kids felt they should be accountable and acted accordingly.
You will have no power of accountability over this three
man takeover group, and they will be pretty loose with the charter stuff which is designed to further wreck the public schools.
I have been consistently against the takeover for a long time, but occasionally, when I see the people i am mostly for messing up, I am critical of them.
I just work 4 hours a day---too much time on my hands---I will dedicate a song for you tomorrow night---how about "won't get fooled again"?
You are about to meet the new boss. He is same as the old boss that gave us Roberti.
6/01/2007 2:05 AM
Anon. at 12:02...
I really don't care who runs the district as long as they have some common sense. I just don't think it is wise to keep the revolving door policy of administrators. It becomes very disruptive. You know...not good for our children's education?
Also, I resigned from the 420 Exec. board back in January.
6/01/2007 6:05 AM
Won't we all be glad when V.O. comes out of her manic stage and goes into the depressive? Then she might not stay up into the wee hours of the morning with her drink insulting others.
She once said she wants to become mayor of St. Louis. Fat chance!
6/01/2007 7:10 AM
As pointed out in a previous comment, the ruling does not give the teachers a right to strike, only a right to collectively bargain.
Please, this blog is very good, but spreading mis-information, twice, does no favors to anyone.
6/01/2007 8:40 AM
Why does everyone think that a teacher strike is fait accompli? They are working under a contract that they felt was fair enough to sign. So what that the contract is now(possibly) null and void. Does that change the fairness of the old contract. Why is EVERYONE so eager to pull the students out of class. I cannot understand that. Even the failing students need to feel that going to class is better than them than getting USED by some Machiavellian nit-wit that feels that their end is justified by not having students in a classroom.
6/01/2007 1:26 PM
Why does it seemingly bother so few that the Missouri state government and Board of Education is SO determined to have its way in St. Louis that they have been willing to break, bend and invent the rules they use to make decisions? Just on principle it should be of grave concern.
Imagine this was a different issue. Imagine it was say, eminent domain? What if the state just changed the rules about it when they wanted to, to get what they want? Oh, wait, they already do thaT.
How about voting rights? What if they just changed the rules about what elections mean and whether they count? Oh, wait, they already do that too.
WELL, MISSOURI, IS NOTHING SACRED?
6/01/2007 5:53 PM
trouble...
How imposing is the threat of a strike in your opinion?
6/01/2007 10:01 PM
Forget that last question, it makes no sense. I was just wondering how much talk of a strike you have heard, because I haven't heard any except from Rep. Cunningham and briefly in the PD I think.
6/02/2007 7:16 AM
I thought the strike stuff was irrelevant-----but that would be from the perspective of most teachers.
I would not put it past these takeover bozos calculating ways to provoke one-----I really believe things will be interesting by late August.
6/02/2007 12:25 PM
Jim- the threat of a strike or actual strike is not very imposing in my opinion. The reason for that opinion; in the great scheme of things the masses are not going to be affected. They will continue to go to their private schools without interuption. The ones that will get hurt, by and large, will be those that "the educators" hold so dear. (that was sarcasm Adric)
If you want to practice "big scary Union tactics" then without a contract, would there be lay offs with out buy outs?
"I would not put it past these takeover bozos calculating ways to provoke one-----I really believe things will be interesting by late August."
Jim -isn't kjoes comment above a wink and a nod reference to a strike?
Ariel- I would be just as angry as you if I had bought and paid for something (School Board) and had it taken away from me.
6/04/2007 4:25 PM
trouble: Is that why Mayor Slay is so mad? As I recall it, Downs and Jones beat out Slay's candidates though Slay's people OUTSPENT them about 10 to 1. Who bought and paid for whom?
6/05/2007 8:09 AM
People seem to forget---Bourisaw did one hell of a job just cleaning up the mess left by Williams enough to get the schools open last year. The media pounced on the low attendance, but at least things were running.
When I say interesting---there is no guarantee that the new board is going to have a clue about dealing with all sorts of complications this summer-----then again---there might be just the right number of students and teachers leaving the system to make everything fall into place.
I think it will be interesting just seeing if they can open on time.
6/05/2007 8:22 AM
Hi trouble,
I kinda agree that there is not much threat right now of a strike. But kjoe is right that the way things are (confused, uncertain, fluid) that all it would take is one bad decision to make a strike almost inevitable.
I also agree it is important to keep the kids in the classroom...UNLESS things have gotten so bad they aren't learning by being there anyway. (I guess that is what it really comes down to)
I don't know about kjoe's wink and nod, let's ask: "Hey kjoe, was that a wink and a nod reference to a strike?"
I have recently been in favor of more limited actions. For example, I tried to convince others to take a one-day action to go up to Jefferson City (in February and then March) and agree to make up that day at the end of the school year.
I also thought it would have been really cool to take one day to go camp outside of City Hall to support our students who were protesting in the Mayor's office. We would, of course, make up that missed day at the end of the year.
I was unsuccessful, of course, but...
6/05/2007 9:34 AM
By the way, for my sisters and brothers at 420...that City Hall thing could have gotten positive national attention if handled correctly.
6/05/2007 9:39 AM
I think a there was some success achieved by the student action--------------best case scenario for Blunt and Slay was a more immediate takeover; do not let the current board solid five vote majority get organized; have legal actions and challenges have to take place before students have graduated.
At least the seniors have graduated from an accredited school, and the stage is set for the showdown in court without having to disrupt the regular school year.
6/05/2007 11:16 AM
Kjoe- I am proud of you. Advocating something that will take place during the summer and will not yank students out of the classroom. But, like I told Po... the student body will be hard to find during the summer months. The idiots who espouse student involvement in gains of questionable origin will go without. Students are in desperate need of classroom time and to be used as the fodder for some dubious gain is criminal.
Jim- I like the way that you think and am heartbroken that your thoughts are such a minority view.
Ariel- in this mondo bizzarro 420 world... don't you think that somebody needs to question the clout of an organization that is only worried about its membership? For whatever reason, what ever 420 says at election time is what goes. I don't blame them for taking the keys to the castle.
Before you get your dander up. Ask any Union Rep from any Union and they will tell you that the Union is for its members.
Now, I realize that this looks like I am blaming 420 for the education wasteland that is SLPS. I am not. But, someone has to question authority. And they have taken that responsibility. Albeit through legitimate electioneering and taking advantage of apathetic voters. But, they have taken that authority none the less.
6/05/2007 8:14 PM
trouble:
Talk about a bizarro world! What planet have you been on where 420 has "gotten its way" about everything? For years the mayor's school board henchmen defied every attempt 420 made to get anyone to listen to the teachers. Because no one would listen to the teachers, a VERY POOR reading program was bought and implemented by force. Because no one would listen to the teachers, Roberti & Co. shuffled students, teachers, staff and schools like cards, carving a swath of destruction through the district that will take years to undo. Because no one would listen to the teachers, hundreds of teachers and students were displaced under Creg Williams in an incompetent attempt to reorganize the schools that nearly led to them not opening. There are many more instances of how 420 and teachers were ignored for years that I could add.
Of COURSE 420 works for the teachers. That's what they are SUPPOSED to do. The recent difference is that some people actually began to LISTEN to them. Now that the voters have dismissed the wrecking crew that ran the school system, and many in power are favorably disposed to hearing the teachers' point of view about what goes on in the schools, you want to deride 420 for having undue power over how things were done when no one listened to them?
It does not make any sense that you say you do not lay the blame for the school system's problems at the feet of 420, because in the next breath you do just that. Do you really believe that because 420 is being listened to now that 420 has always had that kind of favor?
Why do you assume it is a bad thing for parents, teachers and school board members to AGREE WITH EACH OTHER?
To hold the present recently-placed leaders of the school district and 420 responsible for the condition the district is in, is like executing the generals who defeated the enemy because the enemy's regime left things in a terrible state.
6/06/2007 1:03 PM
What part of checks and balances do you not understand?
Seems that the School board is spending more time trying to take care of the Teachers than the 420 Exec Board.
6/06/2007 2:43 PM
The "checks and balances" to which you refer are supposed to exist between the branches of government in this country. For instance, the executive branch can decide it wants to do something to reward campaign contributors in the form of a new public policy, but needs to disenfranchise a city of voters to do it. Ordinarily, they must go through the legislature to get it done, but if the legislature can be sufficiently greased, sidetracked, or just plain inept, action can be taken. However there remains a third branch of government, the courts, to which the victims of the action can appeal for the upholding of their constitutional rights. I understand checks and balances just fine.
What I don't understand is why you think the same system should apply between parents, teachers and a school board. Which of these entities represents the executive branch? The executive branch enforces the law. That would be the board. Which is the legislature? The board makes the laws too. Who fulfills the role of the courts, interpreting what the laws mean? That's the board too. There are no checks and balances within this system except the voted will of the people in electing the board. It is when that right is taken away and replaced by appointed people that there are really no checks or balances in the system.
It may be your screen name, but it seems like you are looking for "trouble" where none exists. Why is agreement between the board, parents and teachers about some issues cause for alarm? On the contrary, after the foolishness of past boards in ignoring the teachers and angering the parents, it ought to be seen as a refreshing change for the better! It would be no stranger than the President proposing a law that is judicially sound and having it smoothly enacted by a bipartisan legislature. OK, maybe it DOESN'T happen that way very often, but it's SUPPOSED TO.
The parents elected the school board, so naturally the board is bound to perform the will of the voters who elected them. If they don't, they are voted out. There's the check. The school board employs the teachers, so the teachers are bound to perform the will of the school board. If they don't, they are fired. There's the balance.
Any reasonable employer who sees value in their employees takes their point of view into consideration, and works with them to produce a good environment for the work that they all want to do. Management responsiveness to employees, and employee input into their workplace has been recognized for a couple of decades now as one of the greatest forces to improve productivity in the workplace. You apparently think that if the managment listens to employees and the employees have a voice in the work there is something terribly wrong and out of balance. Have you been asleep for 20 years?
6/06/2007 4:03 PM
Well Ariel, by your first paragraph, it looks like you were paying attention in high school civics class. You are certainly looking at the big picture as if your law suit will not work to stop the accreditation issue. I am looking at it like it will be the "same ol-same ol" circus next year. The board should have the continuing education of the students as its first priority. It OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT!!!!!
==What I don't understand is why you think the same system should apply between parents, teachers and a school board.==
Why should it not apply?
Can you imagine an educational enterprise where teachers are allowed to cruise the internet and make a complete waste of time while they are protected not only by the Union but by the Board of Education as well?
There is alot of talk about George Bush creating the next generation of terrorists. Well the way that I see it... YOU are creating the next generation of drop outs. And there is nothing to remove you from that task. The on-site management of the schools has been emasculated.
QUESTION AUTHORITY. It works both ways.
6/07/2007 3:49 PM
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