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PUB
DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
City of St. Louis, Missouri. Our goal is to cast a critical eye
on lawmakers, their policies, and those that have influence upon
them, and to educate our readers about legislation and the political
processes that affect our daily lives.
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St. Louis Public Schools is currently one of 11 "Provisionally Accredited" school districts in Missouri. But if things don't get better soon, it may lose that provisional status and become only the second unaccredited district in the state.
Just ahead of today's release of MAP test scores showing few gains by a school district that continues to produce students, the vast majority of which are not proficient in either math or communication skills, the State's Commissioner of Education, Kent King, had this to say:
"The State Board of Education, as you know, makes the decision about accreditation of school districts. They make that decision based on student performance data.
When we see a district that has had two years in a row where it has unaccredited status based on student performance, then I'm not very optimistic the district [we presume he meant State Board] will not make a decision to un-accredit the school district -- if that's what it turns out to be after all the data is thoroughly analyzed."
Some, like Post-Dispatch education reporter Steve Giegerich, connected the dots to take this to mean that King was warning that the state may take over the school district [see "Missouri warns St. Louis it may take over schools"; Post-Dispatch, August 31].
But others observe that the State Board of Education is unlikely to be in any rush to take over the problems of SLPS. Even if the district loses its provisional status after three years of turmoil and lost accreditation points, under current state law, SLPS would have two years to earn back its accreditation.
The prospect of the state moving to use provisions of the desegregation agreement to takeover the district before that two-year period was over may only add to the instability and uncertainty that King and DESE have pointed to as reasons for their current concerns about the district.
Some believe that a top-down approach to addressing the problems of the district -- such as that taken by the past school board majority and former Superintendent Bill Roberti -- is exactly the wrong philosophy for St. Louis Public Schools. Board Pres. Veronica O'Brien addressed that subject in a statement released yesterday.
"It is clear that a top-down approach to curriculum development did not empower teachers to teach, or help students achieve," said O'Brien.
The faculty is pleased to announce that in the month of August, we received 53,044 visits to our website. Our pages were viewed 57,449 times and visitors downloaded 4,905 files. We also produced 25 videos which were viewed thousands of times (see below).
Everyone have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. And please remind your mothers that there will be a bake sale on Tuesday.
Pub Def editor Antonio D. French, Arch City Chronicle publisher Dave Drebis, and (soon-to-be) State Sen. Jeff Smith were the guests on "Collateral Damage" with host Fred Hessel on Monday. The topics of discussion were St. Louis Public Schools and the Talent-McCaskill U.S. Senate race. Click here to download the 30-minute show.
A Circuit Court judge has upheld School Board member Bill Purdy's right to sit on the board. Purdy was being sued by two fellow board members, Flint Fowler and Ron Jackson, and 47 other citizens, including fired Vashon basketball coach Floyd Irons. The lawsuit claimed Purdy was serving on the board illegally and should be removed.
The issue was 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 state law allows school board members to serve even if they have family working in the system. But the school board bylaws still say that is illegal.
Those bylaws have not been amended to reflect the state law. But today's ruling by Judge Steven R. Ohmer affirms Purdy's assertion that state law trumps board bylaws.
Had Purdy lost the suit and was forced to give up his seat, Mayor Francis Slay would have appointed his replacement, shifting the balance of power on the school board for the second time in six months.
St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay and Republican Congressman Jon Porter from Nevada will convene a congressional field hearing Friday at 1:00 p.m. at Washington University Medical Center.
According to a press release from Clay's office, the subject of discussion will be how the creation of a proposed national electronic health records network could "prevent thousands of unnecessary patient deaths each year, save billions of healthcare dollars, and provide emergency responders with a powerful new Homeland Security tool to assist them in the event of a terrorist attack or major natural disaster."
Experts from the government and the private sector will offer testimony about the issues facing healthcare providers as they attempt to create a secure, electronic health records system.
KWMU reporter Kevin Lavery is leaving the station for Michigan, where he's getting a promotion of sorts -- he'll be a news director in East Lansing. His last day in St. Louis is tomorrow.
And speaking of KWMU, science reporter Robert Frederick had an interesting piece this morning on empowerment zone funds offered to the Solae biotech company to stay St. Louis. Click here to listen.
The special five-member committee appointed by State Education Commissioner Kent King last month to analyze the current state of St. Louis Public Schools is meeting today -- and unlike its last meeting, today's session is open to the public.
The committee will meet at the Washington University West Campus building (the old Famous-Barr in Clayton), 7425 Forsyth Blvd, at 3:30 p.m.
Check back later for video...
UPDATE: The video is up and the full story is at slswatch.pubdef.net. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be releasing the results from the 2006 MAP tests tonight at midnight on its website. CORRECTION: DESE won't be releasing the numbers on it's website until tomorrow morning some time. But we have the numbers already and we will be releasing them tonight at midnight on slswatch.pubdef.net.
Check back late tonight for SLPS results...
Bill Bryan of the Post-Dispatchreported yesterday that a 17-year-old male Beaumont High School student was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital after he was shot in the stomach during a fight at a school bus stop.
According the report, it happened about 6:22 a.m. at Thekla and Ruskin avenues. Officers said they suspect the incident was an extension of a separate fight Tuesday night. A suspect was sought in the shooting. Nobody else was reported hurt.
SLPS Attendance -- Day 1: 72%, Day 2: 84%, Day 3: 88%
Michael Allen of Ecology of Absenceis reporting that Richard Callow, political consultant to Mayor Francis Slay and live-in boyfriend of deputy mayor of development Barb Geisman, is the new chairman of the City's Preservation Board. Allen writes:
At its Monday meeting, the Preservation Board elected a new chairperson: Richard Callow, the public relations consultant who edits Mayor Slay's campaign website. New board member David Richardson nominated Callow after Melanie Fathman nominated architect Anthony Robinson, a reasonable voice who would have done well in the position.
Callow received the votes of Richardson, Luis Porello, Mary "One" Johnson (who presided over the vote rather clumsily), John Burse and new member Michael Killeen. Robinson received Fathman's vote, and the nominated parties abstained.
Attorney Kimberley J. Mathis has been sworn in as the next Chair of the St. Louis City Board of Election Commissioners. Governor Matt Blunt announced today that he had selected Mathis to replace Ed Martin, who he recently tasked to serve as his Chief of Staff.
"I have tremendous confidence in the selection of Kim Mathis. She will contribute a fresh perspective to our election process," stated Martin. "Kim brings an exceptional legal, professional and personal background to this job and will continue to lead the Board’s ongoing efforts to maintain the confidence of our voters in this process."
Mathis, 34, is an attorney with the downtown law firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP. Mathis holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Louis University, and a Juris Doctorate from Washington University. She is married to James Mathis, an attorney for Anheuser Busch. They reside with their three children in the St. Louis Hills area.
"I am honored to serve at the pleasure of Governor Matt Blunt," said Mathis. "His administration is one that takes action with results, and I hope to lead the Election Board in much the same way he has lead our great state."
Mathis also praised out-going Chairman Ed Martin for his dedication and devotion to changing the way the citizens of St. Louis perceive the election process. "Martin has put us back on the map," said Mathis. "He deserves a lot of credit and praise. Ed has put into place a team which has helped rejuvenate and restore confidence in our city’s voting process."
Mathis was sworn in at 11:30 a.m. today at the Federal Courts Building by Judge Ray Gruender. There will be a formal swearing in sometime after the November election.
So say you're downtown paying your property taxes when all of a sudden Bin Laden's boys decide to attack City Hall with VX nerve gas (it could happen). What are you going to do? You have no idea, do you? Well, fear not, you simple-minded civilian. Lucky for you, you're being protected by the elite fighting force known as the St. Louis City Marshals.
Three such marshals -- "martial artists" are more like it. We hear they can kill you with a single blow, a move known only as the "shiny badge of death" -- anyway, three marshalls recently gave us an exclusive tour of their secret lair buried deep under City Hall in abandoned caves once used by Harriet Tubman. But when we later checked our videotape, only snow and static had recorded (surely the result of some superior Marshal technology designed to keep their secrets -- and St. Louis -- safe).
Well, we've got some technology too. And we were able to salvage a couple of minutes of footage of Marshals Robert Howard, Antron Lavington, and Christopher Fischer telling us about some Homeland Security training they recently completed at a secret facility in Anniston, Alabama.
In the November general election, Missouri voters will determine whether Non-Partisan judges whose names are on their ballot should be retained for another term. To help them decide, The Missouri Bar has provided information they feel is important in making those decisions.
Members of The Missouri Bar have evaluated each of the judges who will be standing for retention this fall and the evaluations are now online at www.showmecourts.org.
In St. Louis County, the Bar recommended two judges, Judy Preddy Draper and Brenda Stith Loftin, not be retained. Click here to see those recommendations.
Click here to download the Bar's recommendations for St. Louis City Circuit Judges. And click here for Associate Circuit Judges.
NEW HQ, OLD BS -- St. Louis City Democrats will be opening their new temporary headquarters Thursday to stage campaign activities for the November general election. The new digs will be located in the St. Louis Marketplace on Manchester. Interesting location, considering the gigantic failure of leadership that the Marketplace represents to so many locals.
Developed in 1992 with the use of eminent domain, $15 million of public money, and a familiar promise to "spur development," most of its life has been spent near vacant and as an ugly reminder of what happens when BS from overly optimistic politicians doesn't line up with the reality of Joe and Jane Public, who haven't dropped much dough at the Marketplace in over a decade.
The Dems better hope Joe and Jane are more generous with their actual votes than they are with their dollar votes.
BETTER ON DAY TWO -- St. Louis Public Schools reports nearly 84% of students expected to attend school today were in the classroom. These Day Two numbers reflect a big boost from the 72% attendance on Day One.
"We are certainly pleased to see an increase in the attendance for day two," said Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw in a statement released to the media. She added that district leaders still want "all of our kids in school tomorrow."
The total enrollment for St. Louis Public Schools today was 27,620 compared with the first day enrollment of 23,558.
SHE'S STILL GOT GALL! -- Jamilah Nasheed, who is running unopposed in north St. Louis' 60th State Rep District after winning the primary three weeks ago, is recuperating tonight after having her gallbladder removed earlier today. We're told she came through the surgery fine and was back on her cell phone within the hour. Bladder or not, we're sure Nasheed's trademark boldness and "gall" will be back to full strength in no time.
Slightly above 7 out of 10 St. Louis City kids attended the first day of school today. That's according to Interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw, who told PUB DEF that while she considers the school district's Back-to-School campaign a success, she is not satisfied with more than a quarter of students missing the first day.
"We're not satisfied until we have 10 out of 10 attending," said Bourisaw. She said that SLPS attendance has typically been around 80% by the end of the first week. "We are well on our way to exceeding that 80% number," she said.
Bourisaw also addressed a concern brought forward by some of our readers about confusion surrounding a later start date for some Early Childhood students. She said that historically those students have started a week after other students (Sept. 5 this year). "We need to change that," said Bourisaw. "They need to start from Day One like everyone else.
New backpacks filled with crayons, three-hole paper, and bright yellow, unsharpened Number 2 pencils. The terror in the pit of your belly over the thought of being teased about your Payless shoes by kids wearing new Jordans whose price tags would cause your mother to faint.
It must be the first day of school.
School is back in session and so is PUB DEF's sister site, STLSchools.org. After a short summer break (it's not like anything ever happens with SLPS in the summer, right?), the watch dog is back on the beat. Check it out over at www.stlschools.org.
Some Felt Snubbed by McCaskill's Early Exit, Staffer Says Family Comes First
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 9:23 AM
Some attendees of Friday's NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner were upset by what they described as a "snub" from the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. PUB DEF received the following report yesterday from one insulted attendee:
State auditor Claire McCaskill, a democrat who is working to unseat incumbent U.S. Senator Jim Talent(R-MO) seemingly gave short shrift to the St. Louis County Chapter of the NAACP when she stopped by before the group's 65th annual Freedom Fund Dinner last night at the Airport Hilton and stayed only 10 minutes.
Dinner attendees who were mingling outside the ballroom before the dinner said they caught a fleeting glimpse of McCaskill who smiled and waved during a quick walk-through.
Her political director, Brandon Davis, was later AWOL when he was called to the dais during the event to convey greetings from McCaskill. He failed to respond when his name was mentioned and some dinner attendees noted that he left shortly after McCaskill did.
If McCaskill stayed she eventually could have glad-handed at least 500 potential voters and touched bases with influential people like attorney Frankie Freeman, County Executive Charlie Dooley, State Representatives John Bowman (D-70) and Esther Haywood (D-71), State Senator Rita Days, radio personality Deneen Busby, and television journalist Bonita Cornute.
McCaskill could have politicked with Jim Buford, president of the St. Louis Urban League, county NAACP president Ina Boon and her counterpart in the St. Louis city branch, Harold Crumpton.
It seems like she missed an opportunity to score some points with a segment of her electoral base. The crowd could have been considered a broad cross section of the Black community that was equal parts male and female, of varying incomes, suburban and urban, and between the voting ages of 18 and 70. That is a demographic McCaskill sleeps on while she assiduously courts rural Missouri farmers and others.
PUB DEF contacted the campaign's communications director, Adrianne Marsh, who said McCaskill had a very busy schedule Friday and did not expect to even be able to make the dinner at all.
She said McCaskill left early because of a family obligation. "It's difficult balancing being a candidate for statewide office and a mother of three teenage daughters," said Marsh.
