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VIDEO: Teens Learn Hip-Hop Reporting
By Gabe Bullard
VIDEO: Garfield and Jackson Schools to Be Sold, Top Dollar Will Be Sought
By Antonio D. French
It was revealed at Thursday's meeting of the Special Administrative Board that two more school buildings will soon be put up for sale.
Board member Richard Gaines assured parents and the public that top dollar will be sought for these buildings and that the properties would not be given away or sold for fractions of their value as previous school boards have done. Labels: Schools
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VIDEO: Fashion Police in Pine Lawn
By Gabe Bullard
On Monday, Pine Lawn became the first town in Missouri to ban sagging pants.
According to the ordinance, pants are illegally sagging if they show underwear or skin below the waist. This law applies to males and females.
Those who violate the law face a $100 fine and the parents of violating minors can be charged $500 or sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Mayor Sylvester Caldwell says he received complaints about the fashion from elderly members of the community. Also, he thinks the law will make Pine Lawn more appealing to developers, although no developers specifically said they had a problem with excessively loose pants.
The law has come under fire as a way for police to target young people. Pine Lawn Police Chief Rickey Collins says this is not the case. He points to specific language in the ordinance that says sagging pants are not grounds for search and arrest, and he said he will only issue fines to people who repeatedly sag their pants in public.
Despite criticism, Caldwell believes he has made the right decision by sponsoring the law. He also said other municipalities are interested in similar bans.
Labels: County, Young_People
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VIDEO: City Schools to Examine Bringing Food Services Back In-House
By Antonio D. French
At its regular meeting last night, the Special Administrative Board of St. Louis Public Schools voted to contract with the Council of Great City Schools to determine the exact cost of bring the district's food services back in-house.
Board member Richard Gaines, who has long questioned the wisdom of the 2003-2004 school board and former superintendent Bill Roberti's decision to outsource food services, said that traditionally food service has always been a source of profit for the district. The other, more important issue, he said, is nutrition.
"The other issue for us must always be nutrition," said Gaines.
A study released in August by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said St. Louis Public Schools' lunches have the worst nutritional value out of America's 22 largest school districts. District CEO Rick Sullivan said SLPS is now working with nutritionists at BJC Hospital to better the district's food offerings. Labels: Education, Schools
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SLPS to Start Thinking "Long-Term"
By Antonio D. French
At its regular meeting last night, the Special Administrative Board of St. Louis Public Schools announced the creation of a new Comprehensive Planning Committee, which will begin to look at long-term planning options for the troubled school district. The committee will be headed by board member Richard Gaines.
Labels: Education, Schools
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Blunt to Start Saving E-mails [Updated]
By Antonio D. French
BREAKING NEWS — READ IT HERE FIRST
Caving to mounting public criticism and still-possible legal ramifications, Gov. Matt Blunt today directed his administration to create a permanent e-mail retention system. Blunt says by doing so he is "setting a higher standard in state government and going well beyond present legal requirements."
 The governor said he will act to ensure that anyone using a .gov ("dot gov") e-mail address complies with the higher standard, including all statewide officials.
“I take great pride in my administration’s commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars and commitment to accountable and transparent government. Our state has an open records law and we have followed it. But there is confusion in state government about e-mail retention. For example, some state officials who claim to retain all emails in fact do not. That confusion is not acceptable to me. I am directing the Office of Administration to develop a system allowing for the permanent retention of every e-mail throughout all of state government. I expect all elected officials to cooperate with the Office of Administration in establishing this new and higher standard of openness.
“Because retention will be automatic and permanent, state employees will be released from making case-by-case decisions on what to save. All state e-mails will be retained and be open to the public for its inspection, subject only to the limited and well-defined exceptions where legal and privacy concerns apply.
“This standard will prevent what has happened in Attorney General Nixon’s office, where the spokesperson said that e-mails are routinely deleted, and e-mail record requests to the Attorney General’s Chief of Staff are returned with very significant gaps in time.
“I expect every statewide official, members of the legislature, independent agencies, the judicial branch and anyone using a state government e-mail account to retain every e-mail they send and receive. Transparency and accountability should be bipartisan values.” Governor Blunt has directed the Office of Administration to develop the computer and technical systems required for permanent maintenance of every state government e-mail. He says he expects their plan as soon as possible, but no later than the end of the year.
UPDATE @ 10:36 AM: As expected, Missouri Democrats are unimpressed by Blunt's new appreciation for the importance of government e-mails.
"Missouri law already states clearly that e-mails are public records and must be retained. Matt Blunt is in this mess not because the law isn’t clear, but because he clearly isn’t following the law," said Jack Cardetti, Missouri Democratic Party spokesman. "It’s a sad day when the only person in state government that refuses to acknowledge this law exists is Gov. Blunt."
"The other troubling part of the governor’s announcement is that it only regulates government email addresses," said Cardetti. "The governor's office has admitted that Gov. Blunt and his senior staff use political email addresses to discuss state business, thereby, evading the sunshine and record retention law. It would appear that the governor’s new retention system applies to everyone in state government except for his office."Labels: Breaking_News, Crime, Governor
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Deseg, Magnets and Charters
By Antonio D. French
PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
Of the more than 32,000 students that attend St. Louis Public Schools, only slightly more than 4,000 of them are white. Despite whites making up only 14% of the district population, two out of every five seats in some of the city's best schools — top-performing magnet schools — are reserved for white children. And because so few of their parents are choosing to send their kids to SLPS, many of those seats go unfilled, despite the fact that waiting lists of black students wanting to attend these good schools grow longer every year.
Yesterday, at a public meeting of parties in the Liddell v. The Board of Education case (the historic desegregation case which led to 15 years of court-ordered busing between city and suburban districts), teachers union president Mary Armstrong asked the parties if they would consider releasing those empty seats to black students whose families are desperate for better educational opportunities.
Armstrong said many of those families choose charter schools because they are turned away from SLPS magnets, costing the district millions of dollars every year.
In this exclusive video Armstrong mentions Mayor Francis Slay's plan to aggressively expand the number of charter schools in the city, which will put further economic strain on the district. And attorney William L. Taylor, the lead lawyer in the desegregation case, asks Armstrong her position on pay-for-performance plans for teachers.
Applications for acceptance to the following magnet schools must be received by Friday, November 16: - Central Visual and Performing Arts
- Cleveland NJROTC
- Gateway Institute of Technology
- Kennard Classical Junior Academy
- McKinley Classical Junior Academy
- McKinley Classical Leadership Academy
- Metro Academic and Classical High School
- Soldan International Studies
Applications to all other St. Louis magnet schools must be received by Monday, December 31. Labels: Education, Exclusive, Race, Schools
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Clay, Clyburn Raise $100K for DCCC
By Antonio D. French
St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay was all smiles Friday night as he and visiting House majority whip Congressman James E. Clyburn (D-SC) helped raised over $100,000 for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The fundraiser was held at the home of Bob and Ellen Clark. Bob Clark is the founder, chairman and CEO of Clayco Construction Company.
 Pictured are Lewis McKinney, an executive with Anheuser-Busch, James Clyburn and Clay.Labels: Events, Fundraising, Photos
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Calloway Jumps Into Mayoral Recall Fight -- Against the Recallers
By Antonio D. French
Last week St. Louis County state representative candidate Don Calloway, Jr. penned a letter to the St. Louis American questioning the strategy of those involved in the effort to recall St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay. Calloway, an attorney at the firm Thompson Coburn (as of July, Calloway is now with the firm Lathrop & Gage) and a political newbie, is running in the district currently represented by Ester Haywood, who is term-limited.
 Whatever justification there may be for the criticism [against Slay], the current recall effort is possibly the most horrendous thing the anti-Slay contingent could have come up with ...
... A recall, similar to any other election, is a battle of campaign finance. The pro-Slay contingent will be raising lots of cash to combat the recall. The pro-recall committee doesn’t have the support of an established political base to give enough money to make the recall effort viable. Furthermore, political donations are public record. This will force otherwise-closeted supporters who could give big money to support a recall into the open, which many are not willing to risk.
The Slay for Mayor October 2007 quarterly report shows $318,000 on hand, every penny of which can be lawfully used to battle a recall. Strategically, the pro-recall committee has helped Slay, by giving him a golden opportunity to raise money that will eventually go to his 2009 reelection effort...
Most importantly, the pro-recall effort will weaken the moral authority and political viability of our most important advocacy group: the St. Louis Clergy Coalition.
Contrary to mainstream media reports, the recall is NOT a Clergy Coalition thing, it is a Rev. Douglas Parham thing. As president of the coalition, Parham had to have known that taking a stand as the face of the recall would paint the entire coalition as being in support. This is not the case. At the Oct. 21 recall rally, coalition members in support included Parham and the Rev. James T. Morris, who as a candidate for the state House can take political stances. Where were the Revs. Sammy Jones, Earl Nance Jr. or E.G. Shields? The recall is not a Clergy Coalition endeavor.
Calloway's letter fails to mention that Rev. Shields is his campaign treasurer.
In response, local activist Eric Vickers, who is one of the organizers of the recall effort, wrote an open letter to Calloway defending the strategy and attacking the young candidate for his old thinking.
[Calloway's] claim that the recall is infeasible because it "doesn’t have the support of an established political base," is indicative of the racial paradox that has stymied the collective progress by blacks in this city. That paradox, simply put, is the difference between talk and action, the difference between black leaders being captive or being free.
Too many of this city’s black leaders (and blacks in positions like Calloway) live in a benign state of captivity in which they dare not confront the powers that crush beloved black men like Sherman George. They are as afraid today to face and fight a mayor as Frederick Douglas was initially with his slave master. They say it is a difference of means and methods and approaches, but in the end it is fear.
In the end, they are leaders who, as Douglas poetically put it, "profess to favor freedom and deprecate agitation," but "want crops without plowing up the ground…rain without thunder and lightning."
In the end, they will realize that Douglas is right about Mayor Slay: "power concedes nothing without a demand." Click here to read Calloway's full letter.
Click here to read Vickers' full response.Labels: Beefs, Francis_Slay, Mayor, Recall
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Cunningham to Announce Hearings to Address Teacher Sexual Misconduct
By Antonio D. French
Missouri was recently identified by the Associated Press as having the 11th highest number of K-12 educators dismissed for sexual misconduct. Just last week, a St. Louis teacher was suspended with pay pending an investigation into an allegation by a student of "inappropriate behavior."
 State Rep. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) will be holding a press conference Wednesday to announce a schedule of investigative hearings and legislation to address the AP findings and Missouri's disproportionately high ranking.
A victim will be sharing her personal story of sexual abuse by a teacher who is still teaching in Missouri. PTA representatives will be on hand to alert parents and teachers of the importance of parent involvement and learning the "red flags" for spotting sexual abuse.
The press conference is tomorrow, Nov. 14, at 10:30 AM in the House Lounge of the state capitol.Labels: Crime, Education, Schools
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