By Antonio D. French
Filed Friday, October 19, 2007 at 4:16 PM
Andrew Wimmer, a parent of two students at McKinley Middle and Metro High magnet schools, spoke during the public comments section of Tuesday's meeting of the Special Administrative Board of St. Louis Public Schools. As he's done at previous meetings, Wimmer challenged District CEO Rick Sullivan on the legality of his appointment by Governor Matt Blunt. Labels: Schools
Here's the video Wimmer posted on YouTube:
27 Comments:
So again the elected board needs to go and take Sullivan and Bourisaw with them. Sullivan will not stop because the public is allowing him to continue. If Sullivan or bourisaw were black then they would have both been gone. Purdy and Downs are racist white men. The didn't think twice about going after Williams or Irons.
Now they are trying to use Sherman George to act as if they care about black people. Too bad O'Brien dropped them all because she had no fear and would have put a stop to this. Get the elected board out and take Sullivan and the district distraction Diana Bourisaw with them.
10/19/2007 8:55 PM
What does the validity of Sullivan's appointment have to do with the elected board? Purdy and Downs are two votes out of seven, and the elected board has 4 out of 7 members black. Even if Purdy and Downs did try anything racist, they wouldn't have the votes to pull it off anyway. Assuming the white members all voted together anyway, which has not always been the case.
10/19/2007 9:09 PM
I thought it was O'Brien that went after Williams and Irons, at least that's what the facts and record prove.
Besides poor English, anonymous #1 doesn't make any sense at all.
O'Brien didn't drop anyone. She just alienated herself from everyone.
10/19/2007 9:30 PM
Anonymous *1 is that crazy non-spelling Veronica O'Brien!
10/19/2007 10:12 PM
Mr. Wimmer is 100% correct.
And speaking of "technicalities and paperwork"...the geniuses now running the district (into the ground) have decided it is wise to replace our previous report cards with an 8 page document. This is just the latest cluster-f**k coming out of 801.
Whoever is responsible for this is an idiot. The massive increase in paperwork this year is typical when administrators are trying to cover their own asses. I am curious to know if any other teachers have had to cut back on their lesson planning in order to keep up with meaningless paperwork. Real smart idea...bury teachers in paperwork so they don't have time to plan meaningful, interesting lessons.
(by the way, did you geniuses notice that your new report cards do not have carbon copies? Does this mean we are going to copy each page for each child in the district?)
Have a good weekend teachers!
10/20/2007 9:43 AM
There you all go again putting the fault on O'Brien. The elected board alienated themselves. Proof: the teachers union does not even support them anymore. Most know O'Brien did not and does not need anyone of the folks. It is just har for them to accept this.
Purdy and Downs need the crowd. Stop the blame game and move on.
Hard as it may seem to believe to the three that run this blog O'Brien has a lot of support like it or not. Move on and let the SAB run things like it should be.
10/20/2007 5:39 PM
Have to agree with the last posting the O'Brien is getting very old.
Everyone knows that the new "gang of four" were done with the minute they were elected. O'Brien only helped them. When she dumped them the state came in.
Sometime I wonder if the posting doing the crazy posting is not someone from the Post. They need to make sure Downs and Purdy are going after her so they can have a story showing them making fools of themselves.
Looks like O'Brien's moves were very well thought out.
Please stop talking about the woman because it can't help you.
Does anyone know why the union does not support the elected board?
10/20/2007 6:21 PM
About report cards. OMG they are as long as Barely Hanging On said. Ours did however, come with a carbon. I spent the first two hours of this Saturday morning writing student names on each sheet, (7 per student)and filling in the character ed. portion. Still have to attend to the actual grades.
10/20/2007 7:14 PM
Republicans do this stuff on a national basis---they feel free to ignore the law and the constitution. I think it is a dangerous principle---even when it involves something as small as an appointed school official. They should have to obey the law. This bradbury guy has more power than the attorney general.
{A 1998 law called the Vacancies Reform Act bars non-Senate-confirmed appointees for holding their jobs for longer than 210 days.}
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004506.php
while Bradbury has been serving as the acting head of the office since early 2005, he's never been confirmed for the spot. Senate Democrats continue to express opposition to Bradbury's nomination and say he remains in the position illegally.
Throughout 2006, Bradbury argued forcefully that the Supreme Court's rejection of the administration's military tribunals in terrorism cases was incorrectly decided. He argued that Geneva Conventions language barring "humiliating and degrading treatment" was hopelessly vague, and subject to "uncertain and unpredictable application." He was a leading advocate of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which revoked habeas corpus for terrorism detainees. He authored an opinion immunizing ex-White House counsel Harriet Miers from testifying in the U.S. attorneys investigation. And, most infamously, he apparently authored secret memoranda reauthorizing torture techniques, including waterboarding.
Bradbury, however, shouldn't have been in his job, at least not this year. A 1998 law called the Vacancies Reform Act bars non-Senate-confirmed appointees for holding their jobs for longer than 210 days. Durbin, Kennedy and Feingold wrote to Bush this week to note Bradbury's "apparent violation" of the statute, and asked Bush to offer up a new nominee as OLC chief. You can read that letter here
10/20/2007 8:11 PM
Compelling argument.
10/20/2007 8:50 PM
Barely hanging on, I am exhausted already. The endless laps to nowhere are taking a toll on many of us and the school year is new. The paper work is ridiculous! The time clock is the height of disrespect for multi-degreed professionals to be subjected as though we are factory workers (salaried laborers performing rote, repetitious, and rudimentary duties that we could possibly be paid over time). Of course that part of the concept won't happen. Add to this, our contract which was held hostage for three months as the board earned thousands off of our hard earned money. Also does anyone know what is going on at the board, if so can someone pass the information to the principals so they can conduct school intelligently and pass it to the teachers? Better yet, how about a new plan: Let the teachers teach. We are not permitted to do much teaching this year. There have three weeks of testing, three heat days, two professional development days, endless meetings during and after school. New strategies -AGAIN!! Dozens of new acronyms to be ingested and thrown around amongst us –which of course demonstrates how smart we are. Did I mention five page syllabi for parents loaded with standards, GLE's, and paper, paper, paper. Oh yeah how about the IEP for each child. Scratch that and change it to
I A P. When can we teach?
10/20/2007 9:33 PM
soapbox---does this seem like something Bourisaw is talking the board into doing---or is it something that the board is forcing Bourisaw to do?
Do you get the feeling Sullivan is giving orders---or taking orders?
It has been a long time since I was a teacher---but I can smell this crap---I get the feeling there is a whole new wave of it which started 9-07.
10/21/2007 1:41 AM
It times to get off of the Veronica O'Brien bashing. She has a right to have her views just like Purdy. Just like someone said before Purdy is a racist and to add to this he is getting money under the table from vendors. People are beginning to talk. Purdy used black people(black men) to attack a black woman. Black men stop being used by racist no good white men like Purdy. He got mad at O'Brien because she would not let him pull her strings. This man is the cause for the failure of SLPS.
I am a black man and I would never allow white people to encourage me to attack a black woman. If you have that much concern about this lady then contact her and stop all this sick bashing on blogs.
The woman was a trail blazer in the insurance industry and most of us hope she comes back to work with our community.
Purdy look out because we are going to put you were you belong.
Leave our black women alone.
Remember it is the black woman that is the queen and leader of most African tribes.
10/21/2007 11:02 AM
The above posting is another of Veronica O'Brien's loony postings!
10/21/2007 12:03 PM
Sure sounds like it. If it is not, O'Brien should ask this person to stop defending her because he (she?) is just making a fool of her and himself (herself?). Everyone who followed the situation knows how obstructive she was. Call her a queen or whatever but not all queens are good rulers and she ranks right up there with the worst of them.
10/21/2007 12:58 PM
"Remember it is the black woman that is the queen and leader of most African tribes."
The above statement is exactly what's wrong with some in the black community--self aggrandizement--no humility.
Besides being inaccurate and stupid, the statement shows the person's out-of-touch with education attitude and out of touch with democracy. If this is true and so laudable, go back to Africa where it is practiced.
But for the sake of truth, it isn't practiced in polygamous black Africa either.
Hmmm! Why would a black queen marry a white man?
10/21/2007 1:12 PM
Veronica O'Brien a black queen...stop the bullshit please people. The only queen she is a Drama Queen. She works my last nerve, I really wish her husband would pack up and move her behind out of the city limits or better yet another state and if I'm lucky they will take that damn Charlie Tuna with them and drop him off in Rehab on the way.
10/21/2007 3:20 PM
There are black Voodoo queens, aren't there?
10/21/2007 5:52 PM
I have heard it said that Charlie Tuna loves him some blonde haired white women! Does any of O'Briens siblings date/marry black people?
10/21/2007 5:52 PM
Not good to play with Voodoooo.
Who is Charlie Tuna? Sounds like you all have personal stuff going on.
What does this have to do with Sullivan?
10/21/2007 6:05 PM
School board people stop hating on the world. No wonder the state came in.
10/21/2007 6:30 PM
You nutbags should look in the mirror and see why people with kids are living in the county.
10/21/2007 7:27 PM
Tee Hee! Some on this blog do live in the county. Tee Hee!
10/21/2007 7:50 PM
I choose to live in the city and send my kids to SLPS and am very happy with their education, and will be even happier when this SAB crap is over and the people that parents worked so hard to get elected have a chance to improve our schools. The few people who write the same crazy stuff over and over on this blog are not indicative of the majority of city residents, Nick. Go back to stltoday.com and keep your smug commentary over there.
10/21/2007 7:51 PM
Charlie Tuna is a so called sportswriter and the brother of Veronica O'Brien and I recall that he was arrested for cocaine possession!
10/21/2007 10:10 PM
7:51, thanks for standing up to nick jackoff. And nickie boy, some people want better for thier kids than some bland suburban trap. The city schools are acutally the best out there, and if you don't know that then you are obviously too dumb to have the authority of calling yourself a good father. Oh, and btw, most parents live in the county because they want to make their kids part of the same destitute cycle that they are in, and don't have the balls to let them choose thier own life. So, yeah, shut the hell up and let city people take care of city issues, because we see you as retards too. (A common joke is that county chicks are the loosest slots in St. Louis!)
10/22/2007 3:09 PM
. . . what about the withdrawal and reappointment of Sullivan?
He still has not been confirmed by
Senate. It seems the parent has
made an excellent point.
The "barely hanging on" comments by a teacher illustrate what political appointees do when they run a school district into the ground.
10/23/2007 12:29 PM
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