St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Diana Bouriaw is one of 17 applicants to be the next head of the Cincinnati Public Schools, according to a Cincinnati newspaper.

Bourisaw, who has led SLPS since July 2006, decided not to re-apply for her job after the Special Administrative Board unexpectedly announced they were searching for a new superintendent.

Considering the relatively small group of educators with experience leading urban districts, Bourisaw may have an advantage on her competition for the Cincinnati job. In fact, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, several school board members there have specifically said experience in a large, urban setting is a high priority for the roughly 34,000-student district. Bourisaw is just one of seven applicants from school systems with more than 20,000 students. Enrollment in SLPS was 32,135 last year.

If you can’t beat ‘em, get ‘em to join. That may be the thinking over at the American Federation of Teachers.

Long the vocal opponents of the charter school movement, the teachers’ union AFT Local 420 will announce Tuesday that they are embracing one such school: the Construction Careers Center high school, whose teachers will be joining the union as part of an agreement quietly reached last month.

AFT Local 420 will represent the roughly 30 teachers and aides working at Construction Careers, whose charter is sponsored by St. Louis Public Schools.

The Construction Careers Center, located at 1224 Grattan, just east of Lafayette Square and west of Soulard, was established as the first charter high school in the country focused on preparing students for jobs in the construction industry and has an 88 percent employment rate for its graduates. Teachers at the school make an average annual salary of around $42,000.

People will be taking their hopes and frustrations about public education to the streets, rallying against reform efforts that include any kind of privatization.

“Free, public education is the cornerstone of a democracy,” reads the e-flyer. “Public education is under siege by those seeking to privatize it for a profit. Together, we will call for a more equitable system of public education for all and ensure literacy as a basic civil right.”

The Defend Public Education Rally will take place Wednesday, April 30, starting at 6:00 PM at the Old Courthouse downtown. It will feature Thunderheart, a group of traditional Native American drummers, and speakers, including:

• Rebecca Rogers, Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group, Acting for a Better Community Committee, Professor of Education, UMSL
• Ora Lewis-Clark, YMCA Literacy Programs, Advocate for Adult Literacy Education
• Donna Jones, Parent, member of the Elected School Board, St. Louis Public Schools
• Chad Beffa, SLPS parent, public school advocate, and candidate for State Rep (67th District)
• Byron Clemens, Regional Vice President, AFT Missouri
• Jackie Taylor, Literacy President Group
• Chuc Smith, Instead of War and Retired SLPS Math Teacher
• Cynthia Peters, World Education and The Change Agent

Report by Special PubDef Correspondent David Chilenski

Friday, Sports4Kids wrapped up its demo week at eight locations in the St. Louis Public Schools. The 12-year-old nonprofit which first started in the San Francisco Bay Area is now looking to bring a unique brand
of recess play to St. Louis and New Orleans next year.

Sports4Kids focuses on reducing conflicts during school recess. “You ask a principal or a teacher and they’ll tell you the bullying, arguments and fights all start at recess,” said Calvet Liburd, a Washington D.C. site coordinator for Sports4Kids. Liburd was in St. Louis this week for the demo.

“Our school staff is impressed with the organization and how they integrate sports and play into the curriculum,” said Principal Carey Cunningham of Simmons-Marshall Elementary School.

Sports4Kids focuses on public elementary schools with at least 50% of the children in free or reduced lunch programs. A trained staff member works at a school every day to provide fun and safe structured activities and conflict resolution strategies during recess and after school.

Sports4Kids is hoping to be in eight St. Louis elementary schools next fall. They are now hiring. Click here for more info.

The Special Administrative Board of St. Louis Public Schools has selected a firm to head the search for district superintendent. At its regular board meeting Thursday night, the SAB approved the hiring of ProAct Search Inc., a Milwaukee-based company.

Back in February, the Special Administrative Board announced that it would conduct a search for a new superintendent of schools. The current superintendent, Diana Bourisaw, said she would not re-apply for her position, but will continue in her job during the search process.

[UPDATE: Read our later story “Oxford Apologizes to Cunningham” to get even more info about what happened.]

Did State Rep. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) really turn tail on two teens who came to Jefferson City to support anti-bullying legislation?

The office of Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) put out a press release Thursday claiming Cunningham refused to meet with students Desiree Bain and Austyn Langston of Jackson County because “she found their appearance very difficult to look at.”

Oxford, who did meet with the students, said they had multiple facial piercings and one had “vividly colored hair.”

“Other than that they looked like regular teenagers to me,” Oxford said.

The incident happened March 26. Langston and Bain were at the State Capitol in support of the Missouri Safe Schools legislation (House Bill 1751). The bill contains training provisions for teachers and school administrators to better recognize and stop school bullying. The bill also addresses harassment of homosexual and transgender students.

The bill is presently being held up by Rep. Cunningham who is the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee chairperson.

PubDef.net has tried to contact Cunningham’s office for her side in this incident, but so far all attempts have been unsuccessful.

According to a press release for Oxford’s office, after refusing to meet with Langston and Bain, Rep. Cunningham told another group of students that:

(L)ooking at these two young women was making her ill and that she didn’t understand why they hated themselves.

Oxford would later meet with those same students and recalled how upset they were.

We all have different polices about who can see us in our offices, but anytime students make it to the capitol I try to talk to students … I try to treat them with hospitality whether they are dressed ‘properly’ or not.

The students involved went to the office of Sara Lampe (D-Springfield). She wasn’t in so her assistant got me. The kids were quite upset and I wanted them to see an elected official who’s going to receive them warmly.

Oxford said Cunningham may tell the story one way, but others find it another. She thinks Cunningham should set aside her prejudices and work with her fellow representatives to fight bullying.

I am not in anyway impugning some kind of lack of compassion or ill motivation on Rep. Cunningham’s part. She and lots of other will meaning people don’t understand the dynamics of hateful speech.

The state passed a law saying ‘no bullying.’ That’s not good enough. Unless there’s some training for teachers and principals on when and how to spot bullying, schools are not doing a good job with it. I sat down with a student who’s since dropped out of school because of the bullying she was receiving.

St. Louis Public Schools’ “elected” Board of Education will meet noon, Saturday at the Gateway Classic Foundation, 2012 Martin Luther King Drive.

The board is in the midst of putting the finishing touches on a plan for city schools.

Their plan, “Better Schools for St. Louis Children,” is seven pages long, detailing changes the board believes should be made. It is the product of nine months of meeting with community members, parents and education experts.

The elected board, which has been in contention with the state over it appointing a new Board of Education, is critical of the state and the management of the district in the report.

One idea was expressed in so many different forms and variations from so many people that it came through loudly and clearly above all the rest: the climate created by the district bureaucracy, the state board of education, and the governors of the school district does not encourage excellence from people in the district, be they staff or students.

There was an overwhelming consensus that if St. Louis Public Schools are going to make any meaningful improvement, the governors of the district and the district bureaucracy must start valuing people over programs. In short, the foundation for improving the school district is to organize operations around the idea that people make the difference, not programs.

Along with handling practical matters like the needs of teachers and administrators, the report also details what assistance is needed from the state.

An all-day diversity fair will be held Saturday, April 19 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The student governments of Harris-Stowe State University and Saint Louis University will come together as part of the Diversity Awareness Partnership to host the Dream Keeper’s Fair, running from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and opening with a two-minute moment of silence.

After the tribute there will be a variety of festivities available for participants to take in throughout the day.

Organizers said this fair is also about healing racial rifts in St. Louis. In a statement from the group, they wrote:

Race has been a divisive element within the City of St. Louis. There have been a number of events recently that threaten to keep the City from achieving racial harmony and equality. The Dream Keepers’ Fair aims to encourage people to begin crossing the street — to become more aware of the issues and the intolerance that are present in our communities; to become more willing to listen, learn, and experience; to realize that:

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny. What ever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” - Dr. King

The partnership was initially developed last year after the two student governments worked together to raise $10,000 for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project in Washington, D.C.

The group now exists with the “purpose of strengthening the relationship between the two institutions as well as serving as a model for racial reconciliation in the City of St. Louis.”

Washington University has named a new provost … and he’s the same as the last provost.

Executive Vice Chancellor Edward S. Macias, the dean of Arts & Sciences, was named to the position, to begin Jan. 1, 2009. He was the last person to serve as provost at Wash U almost 13 years ago.

Wash U. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton made the announcement last Friday.

According to a press release by the university, Macias was the last person to hold the position of provost at Wash U., from 1988 to 1995. Since then he has kept maintained the duties of a chief academic officer.

Macias will step down as dean on June 30 and take on his new position after a six-month sabbatical.

University officials said a interim dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences will be named soon, and the University will launch a national search for a new dean.

The provost, along with the chancellor and the academic deans, are responsible for the oversight of the educational and scholarly programs at the University. The release states that “the provost is the chief academic officer of the University, responsible for working with the deans to enhance the quality and impact of the University’s academic mission. The provost, working with the executive vice chancellor for administration and the chief financial officer, also has responsibility for coordinating the budgeting and capital planning of the University.”

The Missouri Senate has debated earlier this week Senate Bill 846, sponsored by Senator Scott T. Rupp (R-Wentzville), which would have create thed “Community College Associate Degree Transfer Incentive Program,” a scholarship for students transferring from a two-year college to a four-year college.

SB 846 also modifies the current A+ Schools Program, which provides scholarships for Missouri high school graduates to attend two-year colleges.

Current law provides that only public community colleges and public vocational or technical schools may receive A+ Schools Program reimbursements. This act would allow any two-year public or private vocational or technical school to obtain A+ Schools Program reimbursements, as long as they meet certain requirements.

Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons (R-Kirkwood) said the technical college provision will help benefit those types of institutions across the state, including Ranken Technical College in St. Louis.

But yesterday, after some controversy, the “Community College Associate Degree Transfer Incentive Program” was stripped out of the bill and the A+ Schools language was changed to narrow which private technical schools can qualify.