By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 11:56 AM
The man slated to become the new czar of the city's public schools is scheduled to meet with members of the Aldermanic Black Caucus tomorrow. Labels: Schools
Rick Sullivan, the Chesterfield real estate developer selected by Gov. Matt Blunt to run the city schools after it is stripped of its accreditation in two weeks, has been making the rounds around town — and the country — talking to people about public education in urban areas.
With no formal experience in education of his own, Sullivan has met with school leaders here and in other cities, including Atlanta, and local elected officials, seeking input about the situation in SLPS.
PubDef has been told that members of the Black Caucus have many questions waiting for Sullivan concerning his take on the academic and financial situation of the district, as well as his stance on privatization and charter schools.
22 Comments:
McBride and Son and the SLPS joined together. I love the smell of corruption in the morning!
5/31/2007 12:07 PM
I don't know one person at McBride but I must say I have never heard corruption charges levied against them. Can you back that up Mr. Duckworth?
5/31/2007 12:28 PM
A lot of the local and nationwide debate, especially in urban areas, about education can be summed up in two words.
Charter schools.
A lot is at stake. There is not a lot of middle ground.
I think Bourisaw has been great, given the situations presented to her.
But if Sullivan is rational---the first thing he does is fire her.
For his side---she is simply wrong on charter schools.
She is right. They are wrong.
5/31/2007 12:43 PM
Charter schools have been touted as the 'miracle cure,' to the ills of urban education. They most certainly are not. This is really about RESEGREGATING POPULATIONS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY ECONOMIC CASTE, NOTHING MORE. While it is true, that from the beginning of puberty--the peer group is more influential than any other consideration; this does not justify destroying the public school. Charter schools, in order to be legitimate MUST BE FORCED TO FACE THE SAME ACCOUNTABILITY CRITERION AS TRADITIONAL PUBLIC. Presently, the Charter School law has been written to favor the charters both in economic terms and educational accountability terms. The charter law should be challenged as prejudicial, and be rewritten to represent a fair law. Truthfully, if today's students were properly disciplined at home--this would not be an issue.
The fact that Mr. Sullivan can sell more McMansions in the city by foisting charter schools or some reasonable facsimile has somehow escaped the Governor's and the Mayor's attention. I can spell it out--CRIMINAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
If you are truly interested in fixing the schools--TALK TO THE VETERAN TEACHERS. If these veteran teachers were so deficient--why is it that districts such as CLAYTON, LADUE, ROCKWOOD, have routinely attempted to 'pirate' away our seasoned vets. It's a matter of record. The true crime has been that of our pols, starving our schools fiscally, as they blame the victims. Don't worry, my book will detail all--
Sign me,
Scarlet Pimpernel of SLPSS
5/31/2007 3:59 PM
Aaah, there are the entertaining signatures emerging once more.
5/31/2007 4:09 PM
IF the veteran teachers know so much about fixing the schools, then why the heck are the schools in such dire straits??? They are in perfect position to do something about it, given that no one can control what happens once they close their doors...
5/31/2007 4:29 PM
For sometime now I have been reading this pedantic, petty BS. Let's just cut to the chase that like it or not the incontrovertible fact is that the St. Louis Public Schools SUCK and we need to fix them. All of this selfish, special interest driven bickering only serves to obfuscate that.
Tim
5/31/2007 4:53 PM
So Tim, what is your idea for fixing the academic performance of SLPS? If you do have one, that is one more than DESE or Sullivan has.
5/31/2007 5:32 PM
Tim,
I know it seems that way but I gotta tell ya...plead with you to believe me...the SLPS do not suck. Damn, I have seen such cool things happen. Please don't bash us all like that. It ain't right.
We are working HARD! And (give yourself a pat on the back) we survived another year! Hopefully, did our very best to reach as many as possible.
For Mr. Martin I this time sign myself...
"Feeling Self-Righteous With Two Days Left..."
5/31/2007 7:01 PM
I wonder will this carpenter (Sullivan) provide jobs for Slay or his family members for providing him with his position with SLPS so he can sell more expensive houses in the city for his company after he provides elite segregated pseudo private schools (charter) paid for by taxpayer dollars?Hmmm?
5/31/2007 10:16 PM
I dont know why people feel mr sullivan needs educational experience to lead the district. For YEARS UPON YEARS people with YEARS AND YEARS of experience in education have screwed the district over!
5/31/2007 10:58 PM
Mr. Sullivan Bourisaw and status quo administration need to go. Besides how do you keep a superintendent, board, staff and law firm that has filed a suit against you before you even start. Please know that we are counting on you to not rollover like the govenor has been known to do. Do the right thing and help us in the district. We want that Purdy out along with Bourisaw. She has done nothing for the district but keep trouble going just like she did when they fired her from the last district. Talk to people in Jefferson County. The lady is dumb and can;t tell the truth if you paid her. It was terrible to hear her lie to O'Brien this week. They only people that want her are those she paid off and the weak. People can say what they want about that O'Brien lady but she caught on to Bourisaw early on. I think this may be why they are after O'Brien. Look at the timing of all this. O'Brien stood her ground and she sure made a fool of that board this week when she exposed the lies of the district. We are happy to see you come but the meetings will not be the same without O'Brien. The staff sometimes shows up just to see who O'Brien is going to expose. We thank her and she has always been kind and caring to us and never asked for a thing from us and she never makes excuses she just carries own. It was finally nice to see her and Ron Jackson working together this year. They covered a lot of ground and worked hard to help us. We wished Flint would have worked with them. She and Darnetta are two strong black woman.
5/31/2007 11:40 PM
I am with Duckworth. The word is that Sullivan is working with Bourisaw to cut deals for them. The thought of the two together smells big corruption. For some reason I don't believe that Sullivan would do this. It just doesn't make sense. Let's hope the stinky smell goes away.
5/31/2007 11:45 PM
STAR JONES.....does your whole center around bashing Slay and O'Brien. I suspect you are a two faced friend of the both of them.
5/31/2007 11:49 PM
Anon 11:49,I would never be friends with scum like Slay and O'Brien!
6/01/2007 11:02 AM
so---what time TODAY---do they meet?
6/01/2007 1:41 PM
Anon#1: Check out the problems O'Fallon and St. Peters have had with developers--including McBride & Sons controlling and influencing local government. ofallonwatchdog.com is a good place to start. It is already known that McBride contributed to Blunt. Coincidence?
As usual, kjoe is right. It's a nationwide problem, not just St. Louis, and it's all about charter schools. Anon#2 has it all right. Can't wait for the book.
Anon#3: The veteran teachers DO know what to do. No one asks us. The days of being able to close doors and do what's right are long gone. NCLB "accountability" FORCES every moment of time into scripted, ridiculous, useless teaching that is "policed" by federally-funded "consultants" who do little more than monitor strict compliance.
The general public is SO underinformed about what is going on in urban schools in response to NCLB that it will take a book to explain it. It was insidiously crafted to do just that.
For instance, the kinds of sanctions urban schools are held to are different than those for other schools. Only schools receiving Title I funding are held to the restructuring/takeover-type things when they fail to meet AYP. Non Title-I schools are sanctioned "by the state"--with much less stringent requirements. Non-Title I schools do not face serious sanctions until they have failed AYP for 6 years.
For the record, Title I funding goes to schools with a high percentage of poor and minority children. Why is NCLB not considered racism? Clearly, a different standard is being applied based on race and socioeconomic status. Is it because many urban black leaders have been duped into believing it is in the "best interests of the children"?
What it really does is create a "free-for-all" power grab in every urban school district in America; a power grab that people like Blunt, Slay and McBride & Sons profit from. It allows every urban, predominately black city in America to be controlled and redefined--not by the people who live there--but by developers and politicians who have no stake in the community they are redesigning.
6/01/2007 5:37 PM
The school board is rife with petty infighting and ineptness. That's a given.
However, there is a systemic problem here that nobody wants to address: NO parental involvement. We have parents that assume they can pack their kids off to school and their responsibility is done. Frankly, if you picked up every child at Shenandoah and put them in Community, they wouldn't do well there either.
Take care of your children. Never assume someone else will. Especially the government.
6/02/2007 7:57 AM
Speaking of systemic problems---------------got to be patient when waiting for follow up.
No mention of the meeting in the pd or anywhere else?
Did they meet?
Anything?
6/02/2007 11:28 AM
Really, CWEguy? Have you been to a Board meeting since we cleaned house in April?
6/02/2007 11:34 PM
Bourisaw and her friend who she gave a contract to, Mr. Sweeney says Sullivan has promised to keep her. Sullivan cannot help the district if the old crew is running the district. Sounds to me like Sullivan and his board are failing the grade before they start.
6/03/2007 6:42 PM
Monday after a Friday meeting---no follow-up.
Did it happen? Is it exempt from the sunshine laws?
Are there no aldermen willing to talk about it?
Why post an article like this in the first place?
6/04/2007 11:09 AM
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