By Gabe Bullard
Filed Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 8:40 AM
On Tuesday, the man appointed by the governor to turn-around the city schools met with the SLPS Parent Assembly for the first time.
SLPS CEO Rick Sullivan immediately opened the floor for questions, most of which were about the Special Administrative Board's plan to improve the schools. Sullivan, a suburban homebuilder, said the SAB's plan will soon be ready and available in its full form for parent review.Other questions focused on legal actions, school conditions and parent apathy. The meeting ran nearly 45 minutes past its scheduled closing time of 8:00 PM.
In related news... Sullivan, who still has not been confirmed by the senate, will testify Wednesday morning in Jefferson City before the Joint Committee on Education on his first 100 days as CEO of the district.
Labels: Schools
12 Comments:
The new 2007-08 Action Plan identifies students, parents, teachers and Community Partners as OWNERS in the St. Louis Public School System; to that end - There will be a MEETING of OWNERS conducted at 1408 N. Kingshighway-The Victor Roberts Building (The old Sears Building)Suite 215(The office of the Millions More Campaign) on this Thursday Evening from 8:00 pm until 9:00 pm-October 25, 2007-This meeting will last one hour
Please attend this Meeting in support of The Harriet Tubman High School & Career Center Proposal being considered before the SAB Board and CEO Rick Sullivan, who announced at this meeting that he has agreed to meet with Organizer Bill Monroe on Tuesday Morning October 30, 2007-Hours before the scheduled SAB Board meeting at 6:00 pm
Please Everyone-Come to this Board Meeting-
Our Children are dying for SOLUTION
A quote comes to my mind by Marian Wright Edelman (The Measure of Our Success-1992)-
"The question is not whether or not we can afford to invest in every child; it is whether we can afford not to"
Many thanks to Dorris J. Walker-McGahee for this Parent Assembly of the SLPS.
10/24/2007 6:28 AM
The Post reported only about 15 parents showed up. First, is that true? Second, WHERE ARE ALL THE PARENTS? WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE?
10/24/2007 10:03 AM
Bill,
Please know that this Thursday evening is parent-teacher conference time in the SLPS, and they go until 8, so you may not get a really good parent turnout. Wanted you to know the reason why was not necessarily a lack of interest in your cause. Your dedication to the kids is inspiring. Thank you.
Anon,
The Parent Assembly meetings are rarely well attended, when you look at how many the room could seat and how many show up. The reasons why vary with the parents, I'm sure. I know my own life already encompasses PTO meetings at two different schools and School Board meetings. There are only so many meetings one can attend. Especially when the featured speaker has backed out twice already, I surmise many parents didn't feel like making a big effort to come listen to a man who might just back out again, and has already shown by backing out twice before that interacting with parents isn't a strong interest of his. Actions speak louder than words.
10/24/2007 10:14 AM
Oh Doris give it up you know you get paid to say things just like Percy. Every supt. knows you come at a low price. Sullivan did ask for the job and it was for a reason. He needs to be replaced. His action plan is a joke.
Recall him.
10/24/2007 10:25 AM
The plan is to demolish all of Ittner and Milligan's schools for a rendition of Al Hrabosky's.
10/24/2007 12:12 PM
Does Sullivan still work for McBride? I honestly don't know. He is doing this for free, so maybe he, like most of us, needs his day job.
10/24/2007 12:16 PM
I am going to give Gingrich credit---he reported this gem as part of the plan---
One section of the plan, for instance, calls on the schools to "adopt a system of cross functional teaming to ensure appropriate skill sets are available to tackle projects, goals, and challenges to create a district-wide familiarity with diverse skills available in all SLPS departments."
That is the kind of language that just plain pisses teachers off--and causes parents to either be intimidated, or look at the source as being full of shiit.
For the record, my interpretation of it is "we should work together to solve problems and let each other know about who can help and how".
I could add..."parents and educational personnel should employ digital and mechanical devices, in conjunction with ongoing media reinforcement, to ascertain precisely what measures need to be taken to arrive at various locations within slps for the maximum contribution to the overall educational results."
or--"show up to school on time."
10/24/2007 1:44 PM
Rick Sullivan is Chairman of the Board of McBride and Son. He is certianly still bulldozing farm land in St. Charles County, turning the once nice rural land into bland "Neo-Traditional" homes, which really means placeless McMansions often taking the form of the tract style. They actually built many of the homes in Winghaven, under the name Vantage homes, in cooperation with Paul McKee. I wonder how this makes him qualified to administer education, especially in an urban school district? He was appointed simply because of his campaign contributions. He has no connection to the City or any of its problems.
10/24/2007 1:46 PM
Duh, Doug. That's what we've all been railing about since March when he was announced.
10/24/2007 2:59 PM
The Plan shows Bourisaw does not understand urban education. It also shows Sullivan does not understand anything. If he did he would have stopped her from making a fool of the both of them.
Sullivan needs to put his hard hat back on and charge back to his day job.
We should all thank him for the time he has spent getting to know people for the pst few months.
Too bad it didn't help the kids.
10/25/2007 9:06 AM
To Bill Monroe
From John Q. Public.
Bill I will be in the crowd at the next meeting of the SAB Board to find out the results of the meeting between you and Rick Sullivan regarding Harriet Tubman High School/Career Proposal-
We all know that Community needs a boost.
I'll be watching....
10/26/2007 8:54 AM
kjoe is right about that type of ridiculous language p***ing teachers off. I find it mind boggling...I mean MIND BOGGLING that we are still discussing school improvement plans!
How many plans are you going to make? What was wrong with the one last year? The year before? The year before that?
Just to make it clear...we get this PR BS every year. But never any real action for things that would actually make a difference. There are rarely (if ever) specific solutions. For example, more teacher's aids, smaller class sizes, etc. (no money for one thing). But someone always manages to milk a few more dollars for another "school improvement plan" (all plan...no action).
How refreshing it would be to hear whoever is in charge say "Well folks, after looking at the financial situation and after gathering input from the community, we have decided to skip creating a school improvement plan because it doesn't have a chance in hell of ever being implemented anyway!"
Now THAT would be an honest person who might be able to actually reach the parents and employees.
10/26/2007 9:00 PM
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