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.

After the St. Louis Post-Dispatch launched a blog called “The Platform” Sunday, Margaret Wolf Freivogel, editor of the new non-profit news site the Saint Louis Platform, knew there would have to be a name change.

To be reborn as the “Saint Louis Beacon,” this local news hub created by some former Post-Dispatch employees will focus on shining “the light on news that matters to our region.”

Together, we can pierce the darkness with quality reporting and thoughtful discussion. We can generate a Beacon that illuminates our region and shines outward to the world.

Even though “Platform” name has been in use for months now, Freivogel thought a name change would easier since the site is still in its test phases.

In a statement on the site, the editors wrote:

We’re taking this step to avoid any confusion that might result from the recent appearance of a new blog created for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial page. We were surprised to discover that the blog’s name is The Platform and that the name appears in print announcements with a trademark symbol next to it.

In the statement, the editors stated that the new Web address will be stlbeacon.org, but if you stop by using the original address it will automatically take you to the new Beacon site.

To see the site at its current address, click here.

State Rep. Connie Johnson is under investigation by the city Election Board for possibly living outside of her district.

KMOX Radio reported Tuesday that the Missouri Senate candidate met with the Board to discuss allegations Johnson lived outside of the 61st District last year.

In the report Johnson admitted to moving into a house outside of the district last fall to take care of her mother.

“(T)he fourth Commandment said honor thy mother and thy father (if I didn’t do that) everything I did in life would fail,” she told KMOX.

Johnson told KMOX she still owns property in the 61st district and considers it her legal residence. She said she has since moved back to the home.

Johnson is one of three candidates seeking to replace the term-limited Sen. Maida Coleman for the state senate seat. The other two are Rodney Hubbard* and Robin Wright-Jones.

*Hubbard is a client of PubDef.net publisher Antonio D. French.

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.”

A gaggle of ex-Post-Dispatch employees banded together this year to create Saint Louis Platform, an online news magazine filled with original reporting on the metro area. But strangely on Sunday the St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced their new editorial blog called The Platform.

Coincidence or not?

Platform Editor Margaret Wolf Freivogel weighed in Monday that the timing seemed “odd.”

“We’ve been operating under that name for a number of months,” she said, later adding, “You’d have to see what’s going on in the mind with the corporate headquarters.”

Because of the kerfuffle, Freivogel said the site will be changing its name to avoid confusion and a possible copyright drama. The Post-Dispatch has placed a trademark symbol near their blog’s name. While it’s unlikely that they have the trademark, Freivogel said it may demonstrate their intent.

“We’re just getting started and we’re at a point that we can change things pretty easy,” she said, adding she is “flattered that they like it.”

Freivogel said the non-profit site picked the name platform because of the word’s multiple meanings, referring to the technology platform of the internet, a platform for people to speak out on and Post-Dispatch Publisher Joseph Pulitzer’s platform statement, which was an “inspiration” to the site’s creators.

“But we feel like whether it was deliberate or not this is causing confusion about who we area. It makes it difficult for people to find us,” she said.

As for the site itself, Freivogel said it’s going well. They have a beta site up for people to peruse and give feedback on. They’ve already started posting original content and hope for the site to become a place for people to get information and voice their own opinions about St. Louis.

Check out the test site here.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will be honored as “Citizen of the Year” Tuesday.

The event, sponsored and administered by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, honors people who have contributed greatly to the St. Louis area, often through citizenship and “leadership in generating civic pride and dedication to the growth and vitality of St. Louis.”

During the honors, Wrighton will give his vision for Washington University in St. Louis.

The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Graham Chapel. Parking will be available in the lot to the south and east of Whitaker Hall, located east of Forest Park Parkway and Hoyt Drive.

For more information, call Steve Givens at (314) 935-5408 or (314) 401-2072.

The latest in a YWCA Racial Injustice series will tackle a controversial initiative proposed to end Affirmative Action programs in Missouri Tuesday.

Fronted by California businessman Ward Connerly, this latest push is part of an effort by Connerly and his supporters to eliminate Affirmative Action in the United States. Connerly has backed successful initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan.

Many groups have joined in opposition of the measure. Speaker Brandon L. Davis of Missouri/Kansas State Council of Service Employees International Union and Working to Empower Community Action Now (WeCAN) speak at the even alongside Hortense Harrison, Missouri regional vice president for Imagine Schools and other representatives from a coalition group fighting the measure will speak at the event.

The event is free of charge, encouraging open dialog between attendees and speakers. It will take place Tuesday at the YWCA’s Phyllis Wheatley Heritage Center, 2711 Locust Street, Midtown, St. Louis from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

For more information, call the YWCA at 314-531-1115.

This lecture series is part of the YWCA Metro St. Louis’ “One Imperative” to “eliminate racism wherever it exists.”

A recent Congressional subcommittee meeting on the deterioration of North St. Louis will not be in vain, according to a representative of Congressman Lacy Clay (D-Mo.)

Steve Englehardt, Clay’s communications director, said inquiries will continue, including an on-going HUD investigation to determine if the City of St. Louis used federal dollars meant for poor neighborhoods properly. Based on some preliminary findings, Englehardt said it’s “unlikely that is the case.” Englehardt also said the city could be doing “a lot more” to clean up north city by going “after bad, negligent land owners.”

Last Saturday Clay, along with Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) and Al Green (D-TX), held a Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity meeting last Saturday discussing the northside and what action the controversial Team 4 Plan may have had in North City’s economic downturn. Clay and others at the meeting said that while Team 4 was never officially approved by city government, the plan may have been unofficially used. The plan called for the lessening or elimination of city services to the northside in an effort to get people out of the homes. Once the homes were abandoned the property could be resold for development.

The city has consistently denied any formal or informal implementation of the 30-year-old plan.

At the meeting, a representative of Mayor Francis Slay, deputy mayor of development Barb Geisman said that she’d never read the plan, but asserted that it was “not relevant to anything we’ve been doing the last seven years.”

State Senator Rita Days, a Democrat from north St. Louis County, and State Rep. Timothy Jones, a Republican from Eureka (”The home of Six Flags,” he reminded us.), have been elected to chair and vice-chair, respectively, the St. Louis Regional Delegation (formerly, the St. Louis Regional Caucus) in the state legislature.The mission of the bicameral, bi-partisan group is to promote and collectively push legislation to advance the St. Louis region.

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