Interesting article in the NY Times. I wonder if parents have/will have a similar experience here (a good charter school in the city versus a mediocre public school in the county).
Stix Early Childhood Center (pre-school to 2nd grade) is an excellent school. I wish I had known about it before I shelled out for private education. It is located just east of BJC.
Four months have passed since Diana Bourisaw became St. Louis School Board President Veronica O'Brien's handpicked choice to lead the city schools out of a morass of poor test scores, high dropout rates and violence that has plagued the district for years.
Today, the two women are barely on speaking terms.
Many believe continuing instability in a district now operating under its sixth superintendent in less than four years will convince the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education it has little choice but to take over Missouri's largest school district.
Bunch of IDIOTS playing with the future of the kids in our community. No wonder the city schools are so messed up. Reflection of the people running the board and the district.
Board elections and Sup selection is like choosing which lunatic should run the asylum.
While I would prefer to still have Creg Williams running the show, I'm thinking that Bourisaw is not the district's biggest problem. Apparently Veronica O'Brien is incapable of working with anyone.
KWMU aired an opinion this morning that extolled the virtue of our democratic system regarding the city school board. If I want to be a patriotic American, I realize that I can't be against 'democracy', but this just isn't working (oh, and it apparently hasn't been working for some time).
Not to digress too much, but the conversation regarding No Child Left Behind on NPR was somewhat enlightening. What I took away from it was that we can't expect equal performance for all public schools (even if they were to be equally funding). The barriers to success for those raised in poverty and broken homes are too great.
I think this is hilarious. I thought Creg Williams was doing what needed to be done. Cracking skulls, making major moves, etc.
O'Brien stabbs him in the back (and Slay) and now her so called "Junkyard dog" Bourisaw (quote from when Bourisaw was hired-O'Brien said "We need someone who will fight the mayor, like a junkyard dog") is now not on speaking terms with her.
Obviously Obrien thought Bourisaw was going to be her patsy, but how things change so quickly in the SLPS.
O'Brien sure tried to convince everyone that Williams was the problem with the school district and that Bourisaw would fix everything. This new development between the new superintendent and the president of the school board clearly shows that the problem lies with O'Brien.
SO.. did anyone else see the article in Sundays paper about CHARTER schools in the City? Seems like they're extremely succesful and parents/kids are flocking to them. They are even pulling their kids out of the Magnet schools in favor of the Charter schools. Tell me how this competition is bad again?? Local control = better test scores. Interesting... Tell me how everyone should be FORCED-essentially- to go to a public school??? MORE CHARTER SCHOOLS!
Ihnen wrote:KWMU aired an opinion this morning that extolled the virtue of our democratic system regarding the city school board. If I want to be a patriotic American, I realize that I can't be against 'democracy', but this just isn't working (oh, and it apparently hasn't been working for some time).
Wow. I think Iraq is a better example of democracy than our school board.
I would've liked to have heard that opinion piece. I bet it was priceless.
I heard some discussion regarding our school board on NPR. Someone called in and noted that we were paying for a school Sup we suspended (or fired) last year AND for O'Brien, who may be fired soon. His point was we are paying 200K+ to people to FAIL at their jobs in six months, and wanted to know how he could apply for the job (since he could fail as bad as the other 2 and also collect 200K)
The St. Louis Public Schools have many issues: low overall test scores, high drop-out rate, deteriorating buildings, high turn over rate for superintendent and a divided school board. But the most immediate problem is that of School Board President Veronica O'Brien. Admittedly, I supported her re-election to the board in 2005. I have few regrets in how I've voted over the years but this is certainly one of them. Thankfully I never voted for Nader so you can't blame me for helping Bush get elected.
As a regular member I don't think O'Brien was so divisive but perhaps I am wrong there? I'd like to think the two sides of the current board would work to find some common ground to build upon, but as long as O'Brien is around I don't see how that is even remotely possible. O'Brien is making the whole thing about herself and what she wants --- not leading a discussion about problems, coming up with solutions and as a community selecting the best resolution(s).
Until the board and the sup learn their respective boundaries, put their egos aside and do what's beat for the kids, our city schools are bound for failure.
BTW, I heard that O'Brien sends her kids to Clayton schools.
loftlover wrote:Some top down scrutiny is way over due. Can't the State step in?
What exactly would this accomplish?
When things have been this bad for this long, I think a wholesale change in direction is necessary. Change itself is an accomplishment. If this were a business, those in charge would have been fired decades ago.
Until the board and the sup learn their respective boundaries, put their egos aside and do what's beat for the kids, our city schools are bound for failure.
BTW, I heard that O'Brien sends her kids to Clayton schools.
And typographical errors will continue to populate our humble message board!
bsharmastl wrote:BTW, I heard that O'Brien sends her kids to Clayton schools.
That is true. And she lives in a manse on Lindell, so it's not like she can't afford a private school either. I think the Roberts Brothers' kids went to Clayton schools as well.
Until the board and the sup learn their respective boundaries, put their egos aside and do what's beat for the kids, our city schools are bound for failure.
BTW, I heard that O'Brien sends her kids to Clayton schools.
And typographical errors will continue to populate our humble message board!
Heh...... Too lazy to spell check
best.... ok...... though beat (dicipline) and kids in the same sentence might have resulted in no fight at the Galleria ......grin.....
bsharmastl wrote:BTW, I heard that O'Brien sends her kids to Clayton schools.
That is true. And she lives in a manse on Lindell, so it's not like she can't afford a private school either. I think the Roberts Brothers' kids went to Clayton schools as well.
Rich get richer cause they know how to best utilize (oh... I meant to type USE) our tax dollars
I just saw a documentary called "The Boys of Baraka" which is about a school in Africa that takes 20 students from the Baltimore Maryland public school system for an entire school year. I won't say it's a very entertaining documentary, but it was incredible to see how these kids changed in just a few months once they were removed from their rather troubling environment.
While I would like to believe that certain changes could help certain school systems that are struggling (e.g. vouchers, charter schools etc.), it's hard not to agree with some of the posts here that certain kids are somewhat unreachable because of the enviroments they grow up in.
I'm curious then if people think it's up to the school system to step up and make the difference (like the Barka school in Africa) or should it be up to social services or a community center (basically something other than the school) to help these particular kids.
My instinct tells me that when you ask a public school to take on this new responsibility, you risk having a school that does a lot of things poorly, rather than a few things well. Then again, if the school doesn't deal with the problem, who will?
Obviously, the easy answer is to say everybody should be involved, but as soon as you do that, the finger pointing may begin.
Just some thoughts in response to the movie.
Oh, and I should mention that, at least as far as the kids in the movie were concerned, the parent(s) were in large part struggling enough with their own problems to set the sort of examples we would all wish on any kid--the reason why an outside force seemed to be so vitally necessary.
Okay, so here's something that I've wondered for a while about public education in St. Louis and in general.
Why do we feel a need to let the government run the school systems?
Wouldn't it be so much easier to say, we'll provide you with what ever we would pay for your public education, and you can use that money to pay for private education. I guess that's kinda voucher like but for all schools, not just failing ones.
Plus, that would actually create an insentive for parents who want to send their kids to parochial schools to live in the city.
BT wrote:Okay, so here's something that I've wondered for a while about public education in St. Louis and in general.
Why do we feel a need to let the government run the school systems?
No one, but the goverment thinks they should run the school system. They spend more on public school systems, than the cost per student in private system.
Wouldn't it be so much easier to say, we'll provide you with what ever we would pay for your public education, and you can use that money to pay for private education. I guess that's kinda voucher like but for all schools, not just failing ones.
Plus, that would actually create an insentive for parents who want to send their kids to parochial schools to live in the city.
School education should be privatized, with "equal" goverment help based SOLELY on the education aspect and NOT based on the religious preference of the school system. If we decide to fund only parochial schools, etc., we open a can of worms.
The goverment should be an overseeing (auditing) authority.
I am sure you have noted these are just my thoughts. I am not even sure what the logistics of privatizing schools would be, so none of the above mentioned suggestions may have any base to stand on.
