By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 4:16 PM
As expected, the State Board of Education voted today to classify the Riverview Gardens School District, a district in St. Louis County with about 8,000 students, as unaccredited. Labels: Schools
It is the second time this year the board has taken action to strip a school district of accredited status. In March, the board voted to de-accredit the St. Louis Public Schools.
The board voted 7-0 to approve the recommendation of Commissioner of Education D. Kent King to de-accredit the school district.
“We have seen a precipitous decline in the academic performance of this school district. At the same time, there has been a dangerous decline in the district’s financial situation. We don’t know for sure if the school district will end this year in the black or in the red,” said Commissioner King.
On its most recent academic evaluation, the school district met only 3 of the 14 academic standards that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses to evaluate school districts for accreditation purposes.
The former superintendent of the Riverview Gardens district, Henry Williams, has recently been charged with crimes involving misuse of school district funds and other offenses. He has been suspended by the district.
The school district will have until June 30, 2009, to demonstrate sufficient academic progress to qualify for provisional accreditation status. If it does not make adequate progress in that time, it faces the prospect of state intervention and the dissolution of the local board of education.
7 Comments:
Did the superintendent or deputy take children up there to attack Kent King?
6/21/2007 4:23 PM
So where is Lizz Brown on this one? Is she still trying to protect "the babies"? Or because there was no boogie man, and the teachers and principals wanted it, that she decided not to stick her act in there.
Oh, and the unions are different as well....maybe that had something to do with it too.
6/21/2007 8:06 PM
You think?
It is amazing the difference between the two groups. Not that they are school districts being taken over, but the amount of negative crap being hurdled at us by parties hiding behind the children (unions and vested interests for one)
Both districts are inept and should be taken over. Pronto
6/21/2007 10:40 PM
Actually, there are a lot of things that are being run poorly which the State might want to consider taking over. I hear the St. Charles County courts are full of "influence" verdicts. And, of course, we have lots of TIF money for certain friends of the powers that be. Oh, and don't forget the no-bid contracts that our city, county, and State approve.
6/21/2007 11:22 PM
Did anyone bother to read this??
"On its most recent academic evaluation, the school district met only 3 of the 14 academic standards that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses to evaluate school districts for accreditation purposes."
"The school district will have until June 30, 2009, to demonstrate sufficient academic progress to qualify for provisional accreditation status. If it does not make adequate progress in that time, it faces the prospect of state intervention and the dissolution of the local board of education."
THE STATE BOARD WOULD NOT HAVE DARED TO ALLOW THE ST. LOUIS VOTERS' REPLACEMENTS FOR THE SLAY REJECTS TO HAVE TWO YEARS TO SHOW PROGRESS.
6/22/2007 2:38 AM
What is interesting is that the Riverview Gardens Board was culpable in the misspending of public funds, and it is allowed to remain in place?
Is this equitable justice?
6/22/2007 8:24 AM
This is more of the evil brilliance of the NCLB law at work.
Riverview Gardens' schools have been liberated from a criminal superintendent. Of course they are happy. But that action did not come from the state board of education. It came from law enforcement doing its job.
What has the state done to support the human needs of the children of Riverview Gardens for the last decade? How much effort has the state put into making improvements in the poverty, crime, dysfunction and despair of that community? How much will the state do in these areas now, to support the district's efforts to improve itself? Nothing. Yet if the district does not show improvement in test scores and graduation rates, the state will declare it a failure and take it over. It won't be out of concern for the welfare of the children, however. The state has always had all the authority it needs to affect the lives of the children in ways that REALLY help.
Riverview Gardens is a poor, urban district. Therefore, Riverview Gardens is a Title I district (receives federal funds). Title I districts are held to stricter penalties under NCLB than other districts. The 2 years till takeover rule is only for Title I districts. Non-Title I districts can fail AYP for years. Only after 6 years of failure can the state even consider a takeover. (So county districts that did not meet AYP can breathe a sigh of relief. It's only FEDERAL money they want--for now).
This provision of the law is unfair, and clearly discriminates against the poor and minorities. Yet even that amount of injustice and discrimination was not sufficient for St. Louis.
Using a DESEGREGATION agreement that was intended to PROTECT the rights of poor and minorities; an agreement the state has not upheld its own part in, they have dienfranchised city voters and taken immediate posession of the St. Louis district (and its substantial federal monies).
The problems Riverview Gardens has are much worse than those in St. Louis by the state's own standards. If it was "all about the children", wouldn't the state seek to intervene in a situation like Riverview Gardens immediately to help them? The situation in SLPS has shown that the state can structure the law as it chooses to effect a takeover.
It's not about the children at all. It's about the money. The state is only interested in taking over a district if there is enough federal money to be gained for political contributors who favor and run charters. Now that they have the golden goose, they don't need to waste their time with a few gold coins--yet.
There are power players with agendas behind the scenes pulling these strings. They have money and they own power, and their powers appoint other powers. Their spokesmen have said all the right things and cleverly duped well-meaning good people into blindness and deafness while they plot to rape the public pockets at the expense of the public's children.
There is only one superpower that can take them down. The people MUST WAKE UP AND VOTE THEM OUT.
6/22/2007 12:47 PM
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