2005

St. Louis School Board member Bill Purdy called the program "a national scandal" and "a travesty" and refused to vote for it at the school board meeting on October 11. Fellow school board member Ron…

[The following editorial, published in last week's print edition of PUB DEF Weekly, was the focus of some discussion on 'Collateral Damage' on KDHX Monday night. In the interest of public discourse, we are making…

November 9, 2005 -- St. Louis Schools Watch has a redesigned blog. Stories from the newsletter published by Peter Downs, parent and former school board candidate, can now be seen online at www.SLSWatch.PUBDEF.net

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…

According to the AP, Vince Schoemehl said in his letter of resignation that he always had intended to serve just one year on the school board. If that is true, that was probably information he…

Richard Callow is not very callow at all. He is quite experienced in many areas, including website design apparently. On July 27, Callow's firm (and web-posting moniker) Public Eye was paid $4,000 by Mayor Francis…

November 21, 2005 -- Vince Schoemehl resigned today from the St. Louis Board of Education. Mayor Francis Slay has appointed Urban League president James Buford to replace him.

National opinion has finally turned on the Bush Administration. The Iraq War is now seen by most Americans as a failure and, perhaps more importantly, as unnecessary. The question is now being publicly debated whether…

Future of Gifted Education, Magnet Schools in DoubtBy Peter DownsNovember 22, 2005 –– Last Friday, David Welch, director of gifted education programs for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, gave representatives from metropolitan…

October 27, 2005 -- The last meeting of the year for the 26th Ward Democrats is tonight. The ward organization, which meets every last Thursday of the month, will not be meeting in November, because…