2005

According to campaign finance reports electronically filed by Amber Boykins' campaign for state senate, the four-term state representative (D-60) made a $15,000 no-interest loan to her campaign.It's not uncommon for candidates to do this to…

PUB DEF Weekly is pleased to announce it is now hosting a blog for Peter Down's informative St. Louis Schools Watch.The URL is http://slswatch.pubdef.net and it will be updated often, so check it regularly.This continues…

December 13, 2005 -- The St. Louis Board of Education tonight gave the go ahead to Superintendent Creg Williams' plan to revamp high schools and middle schools in St. Louis.Williams plans to create up to…

October 17, 2005 -- Kudos to the staff at Shaw Visual and Performing Arts Elementary School for moving away from group punishments, and for trying new techniques for maintaining order in the lunchroom, and kudos…

According to the Missouri Ethics Commission, Steve Brown, treasurer for Jeff Smith 2006, has "bad PM". For some struggling to read Brown's chicken scratch on Jeff Smith's latest campaign finance reports, bad PM means bad…

I understand there is a controversy regarding Cleveland's Naval policy. Is that true? I want to go on record that after living through Larry Myers last year and the horrible condition he left the school,…

A Letter to the Editor from Helen Louise HerndonToday's leading editorial in the Post-Dispatch, a scathing criticism of the school district, is somewhat overdue. All along, its editors and commentary page editor refused any articles…

[What you're missing. This story appeared in last week's print edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Subscribe today.]October 18, 2005 -- The editorial staff of The St. Louis Argus was furious with the paper’s publisher last…

The Post-Dispatch is reporting that the St. Louis City elections board has gone with Diebold as its new supplier of electronic voting equipment.The selection of Diebold is somewhat controversial. The company's machines have been thrown…

A new textbook committee began meeting October 17 to evaulate social studies textbooks for middle school. As of October 12, district administrators were still looking for parents to sit on the committee, but as one…