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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Daus Opposes Takeover, Blunt Says Education is his "Highest Priority"
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Saturday, January 20, 2007 at 9:03 AM
State Rep. Mike Daus paid a visit to one of city's best performing schools Friday morning and, according to one student reporter, said if the state really wants to help SLPS they should allot more money for public education.
Young Claire Paddock, fifth grade reporter for the Kennard Tiger Times, writes:
Mike Daus is a Missouri State Representative from the 64th district. He visited Kennard School today. He said that he does not support the State Board of Education taking over the public schools because sometimes the government doesn't know best what's going on and that the people do, and should have a say in who they elect, and what happens to their schools. He also said that the state legislature can help schools by spending more funds for the right things and not for unimportant things. He didn't say what those were.
Meanwhile, Gov. Matt Blunt will be bouncing around the state Monday to announce his plan to improve student achievement in the areas of math, engineering, technology and science.
In addition to stops in Kansas City, St. Joseph and Cape Girardeau, Blunt will be in the St. Louis area at 2:15 p.m. at the Florissant Valley Campus of St. Louis Community College.
According to his press release, Blunt has made education the highest priority of his administration.
This week Superintendent Diana Bourisaw marked her first six months at the helm of the city's public schools by listing some of her administration's accomplishments.
"Thank you all for making my first six months at the St. Louis Public Schools so enjoyable. I am very proud of the work we have done in such a short period of time, including:
Opening schools on time despite numerous obstacles.
Developing an updated Comprehensive School Improvement Plan that will continue to move the St. Louis Public Schools towards full accreditation.
Raising over $21 million in new grants for the 2006/2007 school year. In addition, the District is working to raise $20 million in scholarships for students in the class of 2010.
Restructuring the central administrative office in a manner than improves communication while also reducing costs.
Reaching out to community partners, parents, elected officials, teachers, and other stakeholders. The District also reintroduced the School & Home newspaper throughout the community.
Establishing new attendance targets for schools which have boosted the attendance at all levels.
Increasing the number of permanent, certified teachers in classrooms. This year the District has 50 long-term substitutes compared to approximately 200 in past years.
Increasing accountability at all levels of the organization.
Expanding the use of current technology. For example, our Human Resources Division will soon be completely paperless. Further, a new workforce management system approved by the Board of Education is expected to improve fiscal accountability and increase school security.
"These accomplishments would not have been possible without the hard work and cooperation of administrators, principals, teachers, board members, and parents," said Bourisaw.
Tom Weber, of local NPR station KWMU, reports that Cape Girardeau-area Rep. JoAnn Emerson, a Republican, was especially supportive of Congressional Democrats' so-called 100-hour agenda.
Emerson voted for five of the six bills that passed during the 100 hours. Her only "no" vote was for the bill that implements the rest of the 9/11 commission's recommendations.
A taxpayer watchdog group is calling a proposal to repeal the state tax on all Social Security benefits a "sham".
Missourians for Tax Justice says that legislation, most likely House Bill 297 and Senate Bill 230, is "counterfeit concern" for senior citizens because, according to group's chairman Pat Martin, seniors with incomes below $25,000 ($32,000 for married couples) already pay zero tax on Social Security benefits.
(Click the chart to enlarge)
"Speaker Rod Jetton claims this proposal would help seniors with the costs of medication, food and housing. That’s a cover-up for the fact that this proposal is a regressive tax change that would primarily benefit the wealthiest 37 percent of Missouri’s seniors," Martin said.
"Actually, Missourians aged 65 or more and in the top one percent in income (average income of $896,000) would receive an average tax cut of $1,181 from this proposal. Can anyone believe that is needed?"
Martin says the poorest 46% of Missouri seniors -- those with incomes less than $27,000 -- receive no benefit at all from this proposal.
Missourians for Tax Justice estimate eliminating the tax on Social Security Benefits for the wealthiest income tax payers would cost the state $100 million this year and probably more in the future as more Missourians age.
"Missouri can’t afford this cut in the state’s revenue," Martin stated. "We’ve had over $3 billion in cuts to essential services over the past 5 years. Thousands have been cut from Medicaid, and our public education system is drastically underfunded. Now is not the time to deliberately reduce the state’s revenue with a big tax cut to the wealthiest senior citizens."
Green Reserving Comment on Park Deal, Slay Lists Improvements and Supporters
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Friday, January 19, 2007 at 5:46 PM
The following statement is from John Farrell, Comptroller Darlene Green's spokesman...
"The comptroller believes people on both sides of this issue have strong points. On one side are the citizens and taxpayers who want to protect their parks and have a say in plans to develop park land. On the other side is the city's largest medical facility that serves thousands of disadvantaged residents each year and is an economic engine for the community.
"The comptroller intends to move forward in an effort to bridge the gap on these two very valid viewpoints and hopefully reach a compromise solution. She is working now to hold meetings beginning next week with both sides that focus on common ground and building consensus instead of rehashing differences. This issue is too important to our community on a number of levels for us to settle for anything less than a mutual agreement.
"The comptroller is reserving comment on the new lease plan revealed today until after these meetings and, hopefully, a compromise is reached."
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Mayor Francis Slay has posted on his website a list of improvements in the latest version of the plan. He also says this deal, which he admits is "much better than originally proposed" (he supported the old one too), now has the support of Forest Park Forever and the Forest Park Advisory Board.
According to Slay, here is how the proposal is better:
The size of the land covered by the lease has been reduced to 9.4 acres. In addition, BJC has agreed to set aside no less than 15 percent of the land for green space, effectively reducing the developable space by another 1.4 acres.
Even though the amount of acreage is smaller, BJC has agreed to raise its lease payments to $2 million per year. All of that money will be put into a trust. It can only be invested to maintain Forest Park.
One-and-a-half acres of land south of Clayton Road will be protected. A new park will be created with playground equipment and tennis courts. The new park will be more convenient for families in Forest Park Southeast. BJC will light the park, and provide security and maintenance.
Some of the tennis courts at Triple A will be improved and made available to the general public at no cost. The handball courts behind the visitor’s center will also be expanded and improved.
In all, BJC has agreed to set aside $1 million to pay for the changes and improvements.
Forest Park Forever has agreed to match at least $1.8 million per year. Combined with the $2 million from the BJC lease, that means at least $3.8 million per year in dedicated revenue will be available to maintain Forest Park.
In addition, $1.6 million in General Revenue will be freed up. That money will be set aside to help maintain the City’s other 104 parks. In the first year, that money will be invested within a mile-and-a-half of the Hudlin location to create new green space or recreational opportunities.
The Board of Aldermen seem to be rushing to get this deal passed before the voters can have a say in the matter through the ballot initiative recently approved for the April ballot.
What's a controversial school board president to do while angry parents picket outside her mansion, fellow board members demand her resignation, and the mayor is calling in old favors? How about listen to some Stevie Wonder on a taxpayer-bought iPod?
But Veronica O'Brien says she didn't purchase the iPods on the Board credit card, her employee did. But the employee, former board liaison Chip Clatto, tells the Post-Dispatch that O'Brien told him to buy them for her kids.
From the Post: Clatto said he placed the order for the iPods at O'Brien's request. The music players, Clatto said, were intended for O'Brien's children, who attend the Clayton Public Schools under the voluntary transfer program.
At a busy meeting of the 6th Ward Democrats, the organization voted to endorse Committeeman Patrick Cacchione over his opponents Kacie Starr Triplett and Christian Saller.
More later...
UPDATE 1:Urban Review has the vote as 115 votes for Cacchione, 51 votes for Triplett, and 5 votes for Saller.
UPDATE 2: They may have lost last night's ward endorsement, but the Starr campaign is touting a long list of other endorsements this morning.
In a press release today (Friday), Kacie Starr Triplett says the St. Louis Labor Council recently joined State Senator Jeff Smith, State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, Pearlie Evans, the Missouri American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the St. Louis Labor Legislative Club and St. Louis Building and Construction Trades in endorsing her candidacy.
PubDef.TV has been updated with several videos from Tuesday's School Board meeting, including video of:
Superintendent Diana Bourisaw's subtle response to numerous attacks from Board President Veronica O'Brien during the three-hour long meeting
Board member Bob Archibald again complaining about the district budget even though he and O'Brien chose to skip last week's budget work session at which administrators walked the Board through every part of district's financial situation
Board member Ron Jackson's sudden concern about the district's minority hiring and his demanding that Bourisaw, who has been with the district just a few months, address the issue immediately
O'Brien explaining her new addition to the agenda, "an update from the Mayor's Office" (even though the Mayor Francis Slay's education liaison, Robyn Wahby, was in the audience, there were no "updates" this week)
And O'Brien's report from the State Board of Education meeting last week
Also new on PubDef.TV is a place to advertise your business, campaign, event, or services. Contact us at advertising@pubdef.net for rate information.
Parents of students at Buder Elementary raised money to purchase new equipment for their kids' school, but were less than celebrated for the act by School Board President Veronica O'Brien at Tuesday's board meeting.
Later in the meeting, when the Board took up a resolution instructing the district to conduct a survey of parents and staff on their feelings regarding a possible takeover of St. Louis Public Schools, parent and board member Donna Jones couldn't take it anymore.
Board members Flint Fowler, Ron Jackson, Bob Archibald, and O'Brien voted against the survey. It would have been the first time the opinions of parents were widely solicited since the State Board of Education has been considering a takeover.
Four members of the School Board voted against extending a program proven to work to help students prepare for college because of the possible involvement of a former district employee — even after Superintendent Diana Bourisaw offered to amend the contract to expressly forbid any involvement in the project by the former employee.
UPDATE: According to a district source, the program, which is called SchoolWorks and all seem to agree works well, works with school administrative teams to analyze school data to determine where they should focus their energies to get the most student improvement. Former Superintendent Creg Williams introduced the program to the district last year.
Joe Jacovino, the "former employee" in question, was also brought to the district by Williams. It is unclear if Jacovino ever had a permanent job with SLPS. He was brought in as a temporary accountability officer from Philadelphia to do data analysis for the district to see where officials were meeting targets and where they were falling short so they could work on strategies to improve.
According to a Board source, in December the school board may have approved an arrangement in which SLPS would continue to receive Jacovino's services by hiring SchoolWorks as a consultant, with Jacovino being one of the people the company would assign to work with the district. Presumably he would not be with the district full-time and would be free to work with other districts.
But now after Tuesday's vote, Jacovino finds himself in the situation of one month watching the board approve an arrangement with SchoolWorks in order to continue to use his services, and the next month the watching the board reject the actual contract with SchoolWorks because of his involvement.
Congressman Lacy Clay's office proudly announced today that the St. Louisan was unanimously chosen by his Democratic colleagues to chair the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, the Census and the National Archives.
The chairmanship, which is one of five selected by the majority members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has primary oversight responsibility for the 2010 Census, an enormous $12 billion national project that will determine political reapportionment and the distribution of billions of federal dollars.
"This is a historic moment, and I deeply appreciate the confidence and trust that my colleagues have invested in me," said Clay in a press release.
"The census is one of the most powerful tools that the federal government has to help African-Americans and other minority communities. In 2000, the national census missed at least three million people - mostly the poor and minorities. But as the Chairman of the Census Subcommittee, I will use all the government's resources to see that this never happens again. Phoenix-like we will rise up and ensure that every American is counted."
Congressman Clay's subcommittee will also have oversight responsibilities for the National Archives and Records Administration, which safeguards essential evidence and historical records from U.S. Presidents, the Congress and the federal courts. It also has responsibility for the management of sensitive and classified information through the Office of Information Security Oversight and for monitoring the enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act.
Here is the final list of candidates running for two open seats on the St. Louis Board of Education...
KATHERINE WESSLING DAVID LEE JACKSON, JR. PAUL E. HARRIS BILL HAAS [UPDATE: Haas later withdrew] JASON SPRAY MAURICE ST. PIERRE BILL MONROE RONALD L. JACKSON* ROBERT ARCHIBALD* DOUGLASS PETTY
*incumbents
Check back later for video from last night's meeting.
Watch video from yesterday's press conference by State Senators Maida Coleman and Michael Gibbon on the eve of their meeting today with DESE Commissioner Kent King regarding the future of St. Louis Public Schools at our new video site, PubDef.TV.
While PubDef.TV is still in beta, we greatly appreciate hearing your comments and suggestions as we improve and add features over the coming months.
In addition to the video from yesterday's press conference, select from some of the best of PubDef videos from the past few months in the PubDef.TV playlist.
The new .TV is just one of many things to look for in 2007 as PubDef continues to provide the best coverage of St. Louis politics anywhere.
Archibald and Jackson File, So Does Monroe [Updated x2]
By Antonio D. French
BREAKING NEWS - READ IT HERE FIRST
Today is the final day for candidates to file to run in the important April school board election and it appears that school board members Ron Jackson and Robert Archibald will be filing for re-election.
Both Archibald and Jackson have called for a state takeover of the district and recently voted, along with controversial Board president Veronica O'Brien, to dismiss Superintendent Diana Bourisaw.
Developing...
UPDATE @ 1:50: Sources confirm that they have filed. And another candidate also filed earlier today. We don't have his or her name yet, but that would make a total of nine candidates in the race so far.
UDATE 2 @ 2:45: Make that 10 candidates. Mr. Douglas Petty is filing right now and Bill Monroe, formerly of Thurgood Marshall Charter School, was the candidate who filed earlier this morning.
As tensions remain high between police and many of the city's youth over the shooting of 14-year-old Jeremy Robinson, the alderman of the ward where the shooting took place tells Pub Def that the F.B.I. will be launching its own investigation into the matter.
Alderman Jeffrey Boyd says that after several conversations with Police Chief Joe Mokwa and Police Board Chairman Chris Goodson, the Department has agreed to an independent F.B.I. investigation, while also conducting their own investigation of the shooting.
There are numerous different accounts of what happened Friday, December 29, in the 5500 block of Greer Avenue.
According to Mokwa, Robinson, an eighth-grader at Turner Middle School and a relative of 1st Ward Alderman Charles Q. Troupe, was a passenger in a rented pickup truck speeding through a residential neighborhood. He said the driver of the truck forced an unmarked patrol car on a sidewalk to avoid being hit. Police then began pursuing the truck, which soon crashed into a tree.
According to the police, after the crash, an officer approached the wrecked pickup as Robinson and the driver began to run. Robinson fell to the ground and pointed a .45-caliber pistol at the officer, Mokwa told the AP. He said the officer ordered Robinson to drop the weapon and then fired, killing him.
But some witnesses tell a different story.
Andre Jones, who lives two houses from the shooting site and heard the gunfire, told the AP, "I never heard them yell 'police' or 'stop.' It sounded like they just got out and mowed down the kid."
Neighbors told Channel 5 News that police ordered Robinson to the ground and shot him twice before planting a gun on his body, then shooting him four more times while on the ground.
There are also reports of officers using racial slurs over police radios when requesting backup at the shooting.
"Right now the community is really upset and concerned and there is a lot of mistrust as it relates to the police," Boyd told Pub Def. "I think there needs to be some transparency in this investigation."
"The FBI is a federal agency that is independent of the St. Louis Police Department so they will have no reason to cover anything up," said the alderman.
Boyd said the F.B.I. investigation will start immediately with Special Agent Roland Corvington leading.
At the same time, the police investigation remains ongoing with the officer who shot Robinson remaining on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is standard procedure in such cases.
Click here to download Boyd's letter to Chief Mokwa.
An incident at the last meeting of the Board of Aldermen is making a few elected officials take a second look at who they will be supporting in the race for Board President.
On Thursday, the morning of the meeting, Ald. Kathleen Hanrahan (23rd Ward) asked President Jim Shrewsbury to include a prayer for the son of Ald. Jennifer Florida (15th Ward). Gram Florida, 13, was undergoing his second surgery that week after a sinus infection spread into his brain. According to Hanrahan, Shrewsbury refused to allow the prayer.
According to Ald. April Ford-Griffin (5th Ward), who shares an office with Hanrahan, Shrewsbury denied the request saying he thought it was a personal matter and didn't want anyone to be upset with him.
Both Ford-Griffin and Florida are supporters of Shrewsbury's opponent in the March primary election, Ald. Lewis Reed**. Just two days before, Shrewsbury lost the endorsement of the 15th Ward (Florida's home ward) to Reed.
Ald. Fred Wessels (13th Ward), a Shrewsbury ally, also spoke to the President about the prayer. Shrewsbury says he told Wessels that Florida's was a personal situation and he wasn't sure she wanted it publicized.
"I was not going to violate her privacy," Shrewsbury told Pub Def.
But according to Ald. Stephen Gregali (14th Ward), Florida called the Board office on Monday and asked that everyone be informed about her situation and to pray for her family. Shrewsbury says he was not aware of that.
"It just shows [Shrewsbury's] indecisiveness," said Gregali. "It was the right thing to do and he didn't do it."
Near the end of the meeting, during Aldermanic announcements, Gregali asked his colleagues and the public to pray for the Florida family. He said it was after the meeting that he heard that Shrewsbury had not allowed the prayer earlier.
Gregali is now supporting Shrewsbury's opponent. When asked whether this incident played any part in him deciding to support Reed, he said, "it certainly helped."
In a phone interview Monday, Florida said she believes in the healing power of prayer and contacted the Board office and hundreds of other people and churches in the area requesting prayers for her son, who is now in stable condition.
She said she also resented that Shrewsbury allowed a prayer Thursday for the then-still-missing Ben Ownby, but not her son.
"I don't think Jim was trying to protect my privacy," said Florida.
Sitting in the corner of a busy St. Louis Bread Company, James Trout recently talked to Pub Def about his lawsuit that has resulted in Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan temporarily blocking the new ban on fundraising during the legislative session.
A hearing will be held on Friday, March 2, to determine whether to make the ban permanent and to throw out the rest of the campaign finance law, including the elimination of contribution limits.
You may have seen his "I Have a Dream" speech before, but watch it again now if only to marvel at how great of an orator Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, and how large a void his murder left in American politics.
Attempting to build some momentum in his second campaign against 26th Ward Alderman Frank Williamson, two-time challenger H. Lee Willis will be shaking hands and talking politics tomorrow.
Willis will be hosting a meet-and-greet Monday at Eklectic Designz at 5622 Delmar Blvd. His appearance follows his testimony Thursday at a meeting of the Streets Committee of the Board of Aldermen (a committee Williamson sits on), where Willis spoke against Ald. Lyda Krewson's anti-street peddling bill, suggesting that instead the city invoke some kind of height restriction on peddlers to deter children from selling in busy intersections.
The event will run from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and is open to all. "This will be a great chance for ward residents to voice their concerns and meet their candidate for alderman," said Willis in a press release.
Willis lost to Williamson in 2003, garnering just 34% of the vote.
The Missouri History Museum has purchased former Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr.'s Big Jake's BBQ on Delmar and, according to The Pacer neighborhood newsletter, plans to raze the building and put in a new "multi-modal" building.
Closed for a few months now, Big Jake's hosted several political meetings over the years and was one of the few places in town you could buy barbecued turkey legs so big they hung out of the Styrofoam to-go boxes. R.I.P. Big Jake's.
Mike Daus is a Missouri State Representative from the 64th district. He visited Kennard School today. He said that he does not support the State Board of Education taking over the public schools because sometimes the government doesn't know best what's going on and that the people do, and should have a say in who they elect, and what happens to their schools. 
