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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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COLEMAN GETTING CANNED?The Source, a Republican blog, claims that a battle is brewing between Minority Floor Leader Maida Coleman and fellow Democrat, State Senator Tim Green. The Source says Senator Chuck Graham, the Assistant Minority Floor Leader, is attempting to replace Maida with Tim. Stay tuned...
BOND TO BUSH: BRING THE BUCKS U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent have asked President Bush to quickly approve Governor Matt Blunt’s request for a major disaster declaration for Missouri in response to this week's storms. They requested financial assistance for St. Louis City and Dent, Iron, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis and Washington Counties. The AP reports about 440,000 homes and businesses in the St. Louis area were still without electricity Saturday morning, but about 130,000 had been restored over the previous 24 hours.
BIONDI BACK FROM BEIRUT AFTER BOMBING After surviving the bombing of Beirut, Father Lawrence Biondi, President of Saint Louis University, made it back home yesterday from Lebanon.
As you may have heard, or even seen, Jim Talent is using his considerable financial advantage over his Democratic challenger, Claire McCaskill, to start running television commercials rather early, with well over three months before the November general election.
You can view those commercials on Talent's website, along with little intros by the senator himself. "It's kind of like the director's commentary on a DVD," Talent says about the Internet broadcast. Click here to view Talent's director cuts.
After two nights of sweating in the dark and sleeping on a futon on the back porch, my girlfriend, my dog and I split town and headed to Chicago yesterday evening. Not to rub it in or anything, but the weather is great, the power is on, and all lanes are open on the information superhighway.
Senator Kit Bond's office made a series of announcements today pointing out millions of federal dollars the veteran lawmaker recently got earmarked for his home state.
Bond secured $77 million in funds for Missouri defense projects, including:
$2.5 million for the Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Missouri-Columbia, $5 million for Advanced Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies at the University of Missouri-Rolla, $3.5 million for the Center for Nano/Micro/Systems & Nanotechology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, $2 million for the University of Missouri-Rolla’s Steel Castings Program, $7 million for Clean Earth Tech., located in St. Louis, $2 million for Sage Tech., located in St. Louis, $4 million for Avant, located in Overland, $3 million for GE Energy Systems, located in Kansas City, $3 million for Engineering Software Research, located in St. Louis... the list goes on and on.
Bond secured another $8 million in funds for health care projects, including:
$500,000 for the City of Springfield to be used for program development and expansion, equipment and technology for the Ready to Learn Program. $875,000 for Missouri Highlands Health Care to be used for construction, renovation and equipment costs for a new facility in Popular Bluff. $1,000,000 for St. Louis Children’s Hospital to be used for construction and renovation costs for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Expansion. $750,000 for the United Inner City Services to be used to expand the early learning programs in Kansas City.
Bond and Sen. Jim Talent shared the credit for bringing $3 million to the state for public transportation and almost $7 million in federal funds for a Child Development Center on the Ft. Leonard Wood base.
KSDK is reporting that Mayor Francis Slay has asked Gov. Matt Blunt to send National Guard troops to the city. No, not to assume control of the city schools (yet), but to aid in the recovery from last night's storms.
Speaking on NewsChannel 5 at Noon, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says he has asked Missouri Governor Matt Blunt to call in the National Guard and declare a "State of Emergency." Mayor Slay said he expects National Guard troops to begin arriving Thursday evening.
Ameren says the storm was the worst in its history. Click here to get the latest information about outages from the company's website.
Former Presidential Candidate General Wesley Clark will in Missouri tomorrow to help raise money for Claire McCaskill in her campaign against U.S. Senator Jim Talent.
"At a time when so much needs to be fixed, we can't afford 6 more years of 'maybe'," wrote Clark in a letter to supporters of his WesPAC. "We need strength, we need independence, and we need clarity and conviction," referencing the time it took for Talent to announce his position on stem cell research.
Clark will join McCaskill at Talayna's Restaurant in Chesterfield, on the southwest corner of Olive and Woods Mill Rd, tomorrow from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
For the third day in a row, people protested the school board's decision to force the resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams.
Yesterday evening, in front of City Hall, two dozen people carried signs bearing messages critical of the school board majority and shouting, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it!" They also gathered signatures on a petition of "no confidence" which they plan to turn over to the school board and the media later.
Among the protesters once again were ousted Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons and local sports personality Demetrius Johnson, whose sister's job with SLPS was eliminated the same day as Irons'.
State senate candidate Jeff Smith also joined the picketers Wednesday. In an interview with PUB DEF, he said he joined in their disappointment in the board's decision to force out Williams.
"I didn't think he had a fair shot to see his plan through," said Smith.
KTVI Channel 2 is reporting that a lawsuit is being filed by citizens on behalf of former Superintendent Creg Williams and former Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons, who were both were fired last week. The lawsuit reportedly seeks to remove board member Bill Purdy.
Channel 5 reporter Sharon Stevens gives a little more detail. She reports Purdy is being sued by fellow board members Flint Fowler and Ron Jackson and 47 other citizens, including Floyd Irons. The lawsuit claims Purdy is serving on the board illegally and should be removed.
KSDK reports the issue being whether a person can run for the school board if he or she has relatives who work in the district. Two of Purdy's daughters and a grandson are teachers in the district. A recent change in Missouri state statutes allows school board candidates to serve, even if there is family working in the system.
But according to Stevens, the school board bylaws still say that is illegal. Those bylaws have not been amended to reflect the state law and that is what the lawsuit is based on.
The St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners will again hold its regular monthly board meeting away from the department headquarters. They are again meeting in the southern part of the city, tonight at 7:00 p.m., at St. Raymond’s Hall, 939 Lebanon. Attendees will have the opportunity to voice their concerns about the Department's civilian residency rule.
"I think this is a perfect opportunity to hear how the residents of St. Louis feel about civilian residency and it gives citizens who work during the day the opportunity to attend a board meeting and to express their concerns to the body that represents them," said Colonel Chris Goodson, President of the Board of Police Commissioners.
The Board's August meeting will be held at The Tandy Center, 4206 West Kennerly on Wednesday, August 16, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. Open Board meetings are normally held the third Wednesday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at Police Headquarters, 1200 Clark Avenue.
Hundreds of people were unable to get into last night's school board meeting, the first since the board forced out Superintendent Creg Williams and popular Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons.
Reporters from PUB DEF, KMOX, The Arch City Chronicle, a photographer from The Post-Dispatch, members of the Clergy Coalition, and several elected officials stood in the summer heat, waiting to be allowed in. Even after a few of us were allowed into the building, we still could not enter the auditorium until dozens of people had left the meeting.
"By order of the fire marshal," we were told.
Inside, the crowd let the school board know that they were not happy with the events of the past week.
Chants of "Hey, hey, ho, ho! Veronica's got to go!" could be heard loudly in the hallways. Board members were booed and comments, some vulgar, could be heard after nearly every board move.
"Back to the bad old days," said one parent.
Among the business the board was able to complete was the passage of an almost $400 million budget for the next fiscal year. That budget, prepared by Williams and his team over several months, was questioned for the first time by board members Bob Archibald and Ron Jackson, both of whom are rarely critical of such things in public meetings.
After voting in favor of a budget last month that overspent by $4 million, Archibald asked the new superintendent, Dr. Diana Bourisaw, if $10 million could be further cut from this balanced budget in anticipation of the predicted financial crisis facing the district in 2007.
After little debate, the budget was passed by a 4-3 vote.
A story on the website of the St. Louis American this morning suggested that folks upset at the recent moves by four members of the St. Louis Board of Education might be laying the groundwork to recall one or more of the members. But a quick check with the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education suggests that is not possible.
The city and the school district are separate political subdivisions. While the city's charter outlines the procedure for recalling city elected officials, DESE officials believe it has no bearing on the school board.
"There is not a general provision in state law that allows for the popular recall of school board members in local school districts," said Jim Morris, a DESE spokesman.
But Morris said there is, however, a provision of law that applies to SLPS (as a metropolitan school district). Section 162.631 gives the circuit court jurisdiction over the school board and spells out a process by which board members may be removed.
However, it is unlikely that a judge would see the firing of a popular basketball coach, or even the recent resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams, as grounds to remove any one member from the board.
As a side note, that story on the American's site carried a photo taken by this reporter and used without permission. We wrote the paper's editor, Chris King, to inform him of the faux pas. We checked the site later in the day and the photo was gone. In its place was another school board-related photo and story. The first paragraph of that story reads:
"A crowd of more than 50 people picketed outside the home of School Board President Veronica O'Brien on Monday night calling for her removal from the board and the rehiring of basketball coach Floyd Irons."
Except for the word "tonight" being replaced with "on Monday," this was lifted word-for-word from our story yesterday on the incident.
Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but twice in the same day is just ridiculous.
What did you find as auditor of the district and are you still the auditor?
How long will you be "interim" superintendent?
What do you think about the recent talk about a state takeover of the district?
What makes what you're doing any different than what Creg Williams was trying to do?
How will you alter Creg Williams' "strategic plan" and will you rehire the teachers that he fired?
Will you end or alter Williams'reorganization plan for some of the city's most troubled high schools?
How will you lure students from charter schools?
Only 4 of the 7 members of the board are here today. How will you help heal the rift that exists on the school board?
PUB DEF asked Bourisaw, who is the 6th superintendent in three years and the 2nd superintendent in the last 7 days, what can she say to parents who wonder about stability in SLPS?
What experience to you have that qualifies you to reforming this district?
A parent asked Bourisaw, because SLPS is at least double the size of any district you ever led before, not to mention it's urban and mostly poor and black, what makes you qualified to lead this district?
What are you going to do differently than Creg Williams to reform SLPS?
How will you work with the divided board?
You're taking a smaller salary than your predecessor, will your other staff as well? And how will you pay for your planned reforms?
When where you first approached about becoming superintendent?
A crowd of more than 50 people picketed outside the home of School Board President Veronica O'Brien tonight calling for her removal from the board and the rehiring of basketball coach Floyd Irons.
The crowd, led by local sports personality Demetrius Johnson, shouted chants of "Veronica must go!" and "recall, recall" while O'Brien sat on her front steps protected by nearly a dozen City police officers.
The protesters promised to come out in force at tomorrow's school board meeting. They also said they would return to picket O'Brien's home again.
Harold Brown, district assistant to State Sen. Pat Dougherty, has joined Jeff Smith's campaign to replace the term-limited Democrat. "These are huge shoes to fill," said Brown. "And Jeff Smith is the only one of the candidates who can fill them. Like Senator Dougherty, Jeff will represent the entire district – from Bevo Mill to Walnut Park."
The new superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools was introduced today to a room full of reporters, district employees and parents. Dr. Diana Bourisaw promised that the first day of school will occur as scheduled and that the district will return to a focus on full accredidation.
"Our goal is to make St. Louis Public the best choice in the city, not the last," said Bourisaw.
Bourisaw -- who used to be the head of the 11,000-student Fox C-6 School District and an area superintendent in Sacramento, overseeing 14,000 students -- introduced several members of the new team leading SLPS following the resignation of Creg Williams Friday. Many of the faces on this "new" team were very familiar to watchers of the district.
Back as treasurer and also chief financial officer is Enos Moss, who abruptly resigned from the position a few weeks ago. At that time, it is believed that he received much of the blame for a $4 million dollar bill from the district's Pension Fund being delivered to SLPS in December, but not included in the budget or brought to the attention of Williams until last month.
Also back is Mulugheta Teferi, a former chief academic officer and principal of Gateway Middle School, who will again serve as CAO. And Deana Anderson, who served under Williams, has been promoted and will assume the duties of chief operations officer.
A packet handed out the media, still bearing the name of Williams as superintendent, highlighted many of the problems facing Bourisaw, the school board (only four of whom attended today's press conference), and the district. Declining enrollment, increasing costs of supplies and services, competing charter schools -- these are all things the new superintendent pointed to as challenges which can be overcome.
"We need to remove the distractions, put our blinders on, and move ahead," she said to some applause.
But not everyone was happy about the change in direction. After the press conference, one angry parent confronted board member Donna Jones demanding to know why Williams was forced out. The woman said that Board President Veronica O'Brien, whose children attend school in Clayton, couldn't relate to what the continuing instability means to parents of students in SLPS.
The St. Louis Board of Education will hold a press conference today at 1 p.m. at the Clyde C. Miller Academy, 1000 North Grand Ave, to introduce interim Superintendent Dr. Diana Bourisaw.
From the press release: Prior to accepting the position of Interim Superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools, Dr. Bourisaw served as Superintendent in the Fox C-6 School District and in the Sacramento City Unified School District in Sacramento, California. "I'm very pleased that Dr. Bourisaw has accepted the position of Interim Superintendent," said School Board President Veronica O’Brien. "She is committed to improving the academic achievement of the 35,000 students in this district."
LATE STARTER BUILDING STEAM? Former Ald. Sharon Tyus announced over the weekend that she had accumulated several endorsements in her bid to re-enter politics as State Rep from the 60th District. Third Ward Committeepeople Lucinda Frazier and Johnny Saddler; 4th Ward Committeepeople Norma Leggett and James Clayborne; 18th Ward Committeepeople Ernestine Hill and Jessie Todd; and 21st Ward Committeeman Arthur "Chink" Washington, according to Tyus, have all backed her campaign against activist and frontrunner Jamilah Nasheed, former State Rep. Bob Bartlett, and Shaun Simms, husband to the current state rep, Amber Boykins.
DEM YUNGSTAS The College Democrats of America (CDA) are holding their national convention at Saint Louis University starting this Thursday. There will be speeches given by DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, retired General Wesley Clark, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, Congressman Russ Carnahan, Congressman William Lacy Clay, and CDA's national leaders. This is the first time the College Democrats will have their stand alone convention outside of Washington DC.
OFF THE HOOK? The last vestiges of Mayor Slay's three-year control of St. Louis Public Schools went out the door with the exit of former Superintendent Creg Williams last week. For many, the manner of Williams' departure lets both him and the mayor off the hook when the consequences of their and the Darnetta Clinkscale-led school board's decisions start to show. Williams leaves smelling like a rose with a quarter million dollar parachute and Slay gets to say all the coming problems are the fault of the new board majority. Game, set, match. Nicely played, Mr. Mayor.
EXCUSE OUR SLACKING Campaign finance reports will be rolling in today and in the coming days. Click here to look up how much a Missouri candidate is raising and who's giving money to who. We're a little distracted by this schools stuff and probably won't get a chance to analyze the reports until later in the week. If you spot something fishy, or at least interesting, post a comment about it here or shoot us an email at editor@pubdef.net.
It Didn't Have to Go Down Like This, Board Becoming What it Hated
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, July 16, 2006 at 12:39 PM
Last week, in an off the record conversation with a member of the St. Louis school board's minority, he and I agreed that the tensions between the board's majority and Superintendent Creg Williams could only be solved in one of three ways:
(A) Williams and the board could try harder to work together, coming to a working agreement about each other's roles in reforming SLPS; (B) The board can get rid of Williams; or (C) The state could get rid of the board.
He and the Mayor opted for C. The board majority opted for B. And both Williams and the majority seemed unwilling or unable to take the A option.
There may have been reason to dismiss Creg Williams. To date, he had offered no plan to deal with the estimated $50 million financial crisis facing the district in less than 18 months. He was often unwilling to provide board members with information they felt they needed to make informed decisions. He routinely overreached his authority in hiring high-priced consultants, reassigning employees, and making major moves without the approval of the school board, as was contractually required. And he was often openly insubordinate to his bosses -- something that the mayor has fired his own high-profile employees for.
When rumors began to spread about possible action against Williams, I offered the following advice: Make your public demands of the superintendent, allow him time to comply or not. If the tensions persist, then make your case for the need for new leadership. Over 30-60 days, talk to opinion makers and editorial boards. Tell them what Williams is doing wrong. Build public support for a change in direction.
If it is true, as some board members have said, that Williams has made so many poor decisions that the district is being set up for a chaotic and disastrous first week of school, then the board should have kept Diana Bourisaw "in waiting" for a few more weeks, let the disaster happen, then come in to save the day.
But now, if any little thing happens during that first week (and it always does), it's going to be seen as the board's fault for throwing the district into chaos just weeks before the start of school.
This thing should have gone done much smoother than this. As I write, nearly 48 hours after the bloodbath at 801, the board still has not held a press conference. The board still has not said why Williams (or even Floyd Irons) was dismissed. The board still has not explained why a quarter million dollars of taxpayer money is going to paid by an already bankrupt school district to get rid of a man who had a higher approval rating than the board of education.
The new school board majority has disappointed many of its supporters who backed them because they were upset with the secretive and arrogant manner in which the former majority operated.
That school board, backed by Mayor Francis Slay, made major decisions, costing the district millions of dollars, without any regard for public input. It thumbed its nose and the state's Sunshine Laws and operated like a private corporation whose major stockholders resided in City Hall and not in the poorest neighborhoods of our city.
This board is now on the brink of becoming what it said it hated.
Two months ago, after the board agreed to hold off on Williams’ recommendation to close Cleveland High School to allow time for public input, Board President Veronica O’Brien, a Slay appointee, called a special public meeting with less than 24 hours notice. Some school board members were out of town and couldn’t even attend. Some aldermen who showed up at the hastily called meeting complained that it appeared that O’Brien had called the meeting just to “get it out of the way.”
As we all know now, O’Brien again this week -- with far less than 24 hours notice -- called an emergency meeting to replace Williams with a woman that some board members had never met before and clearly the public does not know. After the deed was done, neither she nor board members Bill Purdy, Peter Downs or Donna Jones had anything to say to the media or the public about what they had done.
The level of arrogance of this board has shown this week matches, and maybe even exceeds, that of the Slay/Schoemehl/Roberti board. It has squandered much of the good will coming from the April election and has done two things that many thought were impossible: made Archibald and Jackson the voices of reason, and made this reporter agree with Mayor Francis Slay.
It is a damn shame how this thing went down. It didn’t have to be this way and the damage may be irreparable.
COLEMAN GETTING CANNED? The Source, a Republican blog, claims that a battle is brewing between Minority Floor Leader Maida Coleman and fellow Democrat, State Senator Tim Green. The Source says Senator Chuck Graham, the Assistant Minority Floor Leader, is attempting to replace Maida with Tim. Stay tuned...
