Rodney Hubbard* at the Annie Malone parade

Mon, May 19, 2008

http://www.vimeo.com/1039188

Rodney Hubbard

This post was written by:

Antonio D. French - who has written 2903 posts on PUB DEF.

Antonio D. French is a writer, political consultant, and newly-elected Democratic Committeeman living in north St. Louis, Missouri.

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12 Comments For This Post

Dee Snutz Says:
May 19th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

; Another unbiased video from AD French. Antonio for Committeeman: My issues are your issues if you have a check for me.

[EDITOR'S REPLY: Actually, that's more of my opponent's motto, but thanks for visiting the site and thanks for the comment. And remember, everyone: "Haters Are People Too." -- ADF]

Anonymous Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 6:57 am

I’m glad that Rodney will be our next State Senator, he is down to earth and understand what the community needs. Keep up the good work Rodney.

for real? come on people Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:27 am

I know many people from the 5th have never been to Hubbard’s 3rd floor office in Jefferson City. Why is his office on the third floor and why the hell am I talking about his office location? Hubbard made back alley deals with THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!! The third floor is the prime spot for Representatives in the capital due to its proximity to the House floor. Hubbard and Hoskins are the only Dems on the third floor. If you don’t believe me, check the website. Hubbard may look like he represents us but he is primed with GOP money. His new campaign slogan is “HUBBARD, bringing down the St. Louis Public Schools one brick at a time”.

kjoe Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:50 am

I do not expect Rodney to change his views regarding charter schools, but i believe he and other legislators have a duty to demand more answers regarding the suspension(?) of the state board’s charter school from texas.

It is not likely the media will be asking any questions.

Talk radio said this would happen Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

How much of Paul Mckee’s and Rex Sinquefield’s money paid for Rodney to ‘rep his city. Also the lyrics to that song mention that the artists “be smokin’ his —-…..” That is just the kind of legistator St Louis needs. Rodney Hubbard is a dressed up clown. No he is a puppet and the Repulicans are holding the strings. If St louis really wants to give up the ghetto, try droppin Hubbard like he’s hot.

Ms STL Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

I enjoyed the video but I must that the choice of song behind the video would not have been first choice, espcially for one of you clients. I wish these people on here would stop hatin on Hubbard and let this man show you how much he can really do.

Do you know how many other elected officials had floats/cars in the parade?

BigD Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

This video will play well in South St.Louis.

Talk radio said this would happen Says:
May 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Who cares how many other politicians had floats and crap like that. Also the only thing Hubbard has shown us is that he can sell out his ward and smile in the faces of his constituents while he collects money from Mckee and Sinquefield who want to help “kill the northside.” If he can show any more than that I don’t want to see it.

kjoe Says:
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Disregard my post about demanding more answers about the charter school. Don’t worry about why Bourisaw was fired, or why her specific request to not have the state sponsor this school was ignored. Jon Grayson explained it to me the other night on kmox. Stories about slps make people yawn. David hunn wrote about the school today—I might have mentioned something about looking into it previously—I forget. It is pretty boring.

Can! Academies can’t make a go of it here
By David Hunn
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/22/2008

Can! Academies students (from left) Antonio Ford, 17, Keitren Teer, 18, and Devan Johnson, 17, at the school Wednesday on Goodfellow Blvd.
(Huy R. Mach/P-D)

ST. LOUIS — Students played cards in class one day this week, as they do most days now.

Others watched movies or milled about in the halls, loud and aimless. The teacher sat at his desk, filling out job applications.

The Can! Academies of St. Louis, a charter school for high school dropouts, started this past fall on Goodfellow Boulevard, just south of Interstate 70.

Today, the state school board is expected to vote to close it, at least for one year.

Its failure has led critics to again question Missouri’s growing but still controversial charter school movement. Can is one of the first charters to open after a request from the office of Mayor Francis Slay, who is championing the schools as alternatives to a troubled city school system. It is also the first charter directly under the wing of the state department of education.

But state and city officials say its fall is an isolated situation. They attribute it mostly to unprepared leaders and underestimated challenges — two-thirds of the students arrived with third-grade reading levels, or worse.

They say Can’s end, while difficult, is an example of a benefit of charter schools: Those that fail can be closed.

“I think as the sponsoring institution, we’re doing the right thing,” said Jocelyn Strand, state director of charter schools. “They’re not meeting our criteria and our expectations.”

But the school’s leaders say Can was doomed to fail from the start. They say they never got the support they needed from their central office, in Dallas, and that they were denied the basics: tardy bells, intercom systems, computerized attendance logs, even textbooks.

They warned everyone of the troubles, they said, but were given little lasting aid.

“It’s been really, really hard,” said academy principal Vinikka McCoy, in her first year as an administrator. “My husband says all the time, ‘They sold you a dream.’”

McCoy’s bosses in Texas told her not to talk about the problems, she said. And they told her not to let other staffers speak publicly.

But McCoy is leaving, as is everyone still here, including the only teacher who stuck with the school from the beginning. Staffers are so angry, they want people to know the truth:

Fights roil the campus weekly, gang signs cover the bathrooms, classrooms are unproductive, and both students and teachers are left adrift, uncertain when they lose their school and their jobs.

Teachers, administrators, parents and students all spoke of specific problems:

— Administrators constantly changed student schedules. At the start of the year, students had regular classes. Now they have study hall all day.

— Can’s payroll department didn’t withhold retirement from teacher paychecks until recently. It is unclear what will happen with those staffers already gone.

— Attendance was taken by hand each day; leaders couldn’t say exactly how many students went in and out of the school. They estimate 530, but, for periods, data entry was months behind.

— The school couldn’t keep teachers in classrooms or students enrolled. Roughly two dozen teachers quit or left over the year. There are now just seven teachers and only about 118 students who come with any consistency — maybe half that attend daily.

— School disorganization now threatens college applications. “They’re never able to give you any straight answer when it comes to records,” said Shelly Davis, mother of student Jur’nell Davis. “Nobody has his test scores. All they’re telling us is he passed.”

Can Superintendent Yolanda Cruz, based in Texas, referred questions to the nonprofit group’s vice president of communications, Cheryl Rios.

Rios said she would only answer questions via e-mail, and sent a three-paragraph statement from Can’s president, Richard Marquez.

In the statement, Marquez said the Can model is proven, but “it was still a Texas program trying to fit in a Missouri model.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t succeed,” he said. “It just means that time is needed to take what was learned and come back with a system to serve these kids the best way possible.”

Indeed, Can’s 10 Texas schools are well-known for taking at-risk students and getting them high school diplomas.

Strand said it’s clear now that the school opened here too quickly, that the administrators hired were too inexperienced, and that management gave too little support, especially with students who needed so much help.

This spring, Marquez apologized to state and city officials.

Today, Strand will recommend the state board suspend Can for a year, and give the organization an opportunity to hire new staff and retool the model. If successful, it could reopen in the fall of 2009.

Still, Strand said, this year is not lost. As many as 50 of the 530 students who went through the St. Louis program will have passed their GED tests by the end of the year. Through a Missouri conversion program, they could receive their high school diplomas.

“These are kids who were already out,” Strand said. “So the fact they’re back in is huge.”

But students were left either angry or confused this week.

Tuesday, as some played spades and others watched movies, Rayford Marion put his head down in a quiet class next door.

Marion, 17, passed the GED in May. He’s working at a fast-food shop in the evenings. But the school says he needs more hours in class in order to get his diploma.

So he comes to school before work, just to sit there. Still, he’s worried about the teens next door.

“They think tomorrow when they take the GED, they gonna pass,” he said. “But they not doing nothing to help themselves.”

“They don’t understand,” he continued. “Sometimes, there is no third chance.”

kjoe Says:
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm

where is monty python when we need him?

Mo. to control St. Louis schools for additional 3 years
Thursday, May 22, 2008
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) The state Board of Education has voted to extend its control over St. Louis public schools for an additional three years and to suspend a struggling charter school.

The action Thursday means Missouri’s largest school district will remain under state supervision until June 30, 2011.

The state took over the district a year ago because of academic and financial problems.

Last year, the state also approved ”The Can! Academies of St. Louis” a charter school for high school dropouts.

But Thursday, the state board voted to suspend operation of the charter school because of what one official described as a chaotic atmosphere for students and staff.

fan Says:
July 5th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

I must make a correction. Hubbard is not a 67th district. Sorry. But from what I have read about his political career, we dont need someone like that.
We sure dont need someone who is beholding to others and owing many favors. We need someone who is more dedicated and owes the voter, not some organization, company, sleaze industry, owing the creditors for failed business. We have a failed businessman for a President, and see what that has lead to?

Turd Ferguson Says:
July 7th, 2008 at 8:27 am

“We need someone who is more dedicated and owes the voter”

Nudge, Nudge, Vote for Robin Wright-Jones… Nudge, Nudge…

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