By Gabe Bullard
Filed Monday, August 20, 2007 at 3:00 PM
“A Fresh Start” was the theme for the day. Today was the first day of classes for St. Louis Public Schools. It was also the beginning of the first academic year under the Special Administrative Board.
The district will be releasing attendance and enrollment figures later in the semester, but both Superintendent Diana Bourisaw and SAB CEO Rick Sullivan reported higher enrollment than previously estimated, especially at magnet schools.
Despite administrators’ concerns over the heat, no schools were closed or released early due to the weather.
Lunch menus remained the same as planned, but the SAB is searching for an independent dietician to help revamp school lunches. St. Louis Public Schools’ lunches were recently named the worst nutritionally in the nation.
11 Comments:
Great job, Gabe.
8/20/2007 3:27 PM
I am glad to hear they are going to pursue safe environments and decent lunches. Our kids need and deserve those.
My daughter's new textbooks looked great, and they are hers! I hope all our kids have books they can bring home to study with, not just use at school during a particular class.
But, ask them about the busses.......
8/20/2007 3:37 PM
hmmm...So in order to assure decent nutrition we have to bring in independent nutrionists? Is Aramark unable to do this themselves? Isn't this the business they are in? If they are unable to do so I would think their contract would be null and void. Or was there no assurance of quality given when they were brought in?
I certainly hope Bourisaw, Sullivan, and Adams are being truthful about attendance numbers because I am being truthful when I tell you our attendance numbers were very, VERY, low today.
I don't believe a word of their spin.
We have also received NOT ONE workbook for Open Court (there are three), not one workbook for Science, not one workbook for Spelling, not one workbook for Social Studies. You get the idea.
I have received 1 set of books for Math. We were supposed to get 2. I hope every school is not in the same situation as mine.
It is a good thing we are all used to this or I would be saying...what a crock!
8/20/2007 7:44 PM
and if there was an emphasis on safety it was provided by the St. Louis Police Dept. because, once again, we have no safety officer.
8/20/2007 7:47 PM
So, in other words, the disgraceful book situation is not new, but replicates the performance of the "elected" board.
And I presume that the "nation's worst nutritionally" lunches were also in place pursuant to contracts entered into by the "elected" board. At least the SAB is aware of the problem and looking into how to fix it.
I think we need to give the SAB a chance to succeed or fail on its own merits, and not try to sabatoge it with criticism from the getgo. We need to (really) put the kids first instead of using them as political pawns.
8/20/2007 8:16 PM
Oracle,
At least the SAB is aware of the nutrition problem and looking into how to fix it? Those of us with kids who have been eating this stuff have been aware of this a long time, and the post-April elected board directed that the administration begin looking into bringing food service back in house so the food served was no longer driven by profit margins but rather by nutritional value. The SAB wasn't doing anything about this until they read about it in the Post.
There is no "the" elected board. The board composition has changed with each election as of late. And no board, SAB or otherwise, directly handles the day to day workings of the district--at least, they shouldn't. If things aren't being run well, a board can find a new superintendent. That is the person who runs the district day to day.
Today was not a good first day of school in many of our schools. Criticism is fair because if we all pretend everything is fine, nothing will improve. Praise is also fair. The staff at many buildings worked long and hard to take care of our kids today, and I am very appreciative of that. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't care that my 5 year old was not on the bus manifest, and the school would have had no idea how to get her home to me today if I hadn't made sure she was picked up. Or that a young boy was still at school at 6:30 with the caring principal because he was not on the manifest either, and his parents didn't know and weren't able to be reached. Or about the kids who stood on corners waiting for busses that never came this morning. I hadn't heard about the book situation but whether that is same old same old or something new, it's not okay either way. How is it not putting my kids first to not expect better than this? Are you suggesting that the emergency that was so dire that we had to overturn democracy and substitute patronage instead is now suddenly not so dire, and that we shouldn't care if things are not improving?
8/20/2007 9:41 PM
oracle when was the last time you were in a classroom in a real slps school? We have heard this bs many times before. sorry if we're tired of swallowing it. who was it who said shit wrapped in a box is still shit?
8/20/2007 10:14 PM
anonymous 10:14:
I am a slps graduate, I have served on the board of Bevo-Long Community School, and I usually take at least one community ed class per year at StL public schools.
How about you?
8/21/2007 12:53 AM
Oracle, I am going to reprint a comment I read by an anonymous poster--it rang true to me, because she did give a reference, Dr. Charles R. Brown , but you are in a better position to know---you can certainly tell me if you think it is an account not to be believed.
Anonymous said...
This is from a former secretary to the Director of Food and Nutrition Services when it was inhouse.
Roberti and Karen Marsal dissolved the division that had won awards nationwide for providing both healthy, balanced, and tasteful meals. Certified nutritionists ran the program and worked in collaboration with Missouri School Food Services and the USDA.
Out of all the companies bidding for the contract when it was being outsourced, Aramark was the worst according to the reports of the director and nutritionists.
Public service is geared toward public welfare; privatization is geared toward profit. Aramark has needed subsidizing by the Saint Louis Public Schools, while the in-house Food and Nutrition Services brought over a million dollars a year into the school district that helped the district in other areas.
Aramark serves junk food; while the previous service provided nutritious meals meeting USDA standards.
The director was Doris M. Layman, who served as a cafeteria nutritionist, an administrative nutritionist, and then as director for 40 years. She gave priority to balanced nutrition and appealing food, thinking it was also important to educate children on eating well.
William Robert and Karen Marsal destroyed an exemplary program.
Tom Leith, I sometimes agree with you, but in this regard, you are totally incorrect and inaccurate about the subject and regarding your unfounded accusations toward the elected board.
Blame privatization of public service. Profit first and to heck with children.
I know whereof I speak. Dr. Charles R. Brown, Superintendent or CEO of Wellston and a DESE employee will verify what I have written.
8/16/2007 9:26 PM
8/21/2007 1:13 AM
nice wor, Gabe
8/21/2007 1:35 AM
Oh great Oracle,
Methinks you have the situation backwards: prior to the SAB's takeover, the current elected board had begun the process to find alternatives to Aramark. One of Sullivan's first actions, unfortunately, was to ignore that initiative and approve a new one-year contract with Aramark. That was in June.
Now that the feces hit the spinning blades with publication of the "F" grade, the SAB is suddenly "doing something."
BTW, your attendance at, graduation from, and continuing-ed patronage of SLPS has absolutely nothing to do with students now. Unless you're 18, the SLPS you attended doesn't exist any longer.
Consider volunteering in a classroom, and eating their lunches; such an experience might open your eyes. But, then, as an Oracle, you already see all...
8/21/2007 10:01 AM
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