urbanSTL

SLPS asks employees to return all district credit cards after audit.

https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/12/13/ ... ter-audit/

"In a release, the district says it is asking all district credit card holders to return their cards to the District Chief Financial Officer. The move, announced Thursday night, comes days after an audit that examined spending, hiring practices and pay. The audit reviewed over 1,100 credit card transactions, totaling $260,512 in charges. There were 637 questionable transactions, totaling approximately $148,000 (or 60%) of the total charges"

TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote: ↑

Dec 13, 2024

Having read numerous articles / reports, I believe the termination was for cause, however I have not read how SLPS went from massive budget surplus to massive budget deficit anywhere.

The Covid ERA fed $ infusion artificially inflated their budget. Unlike the City and ARPA, there the $ isn’t part of the general budget, SLPS was. So once it was out the the door they had a deficit but the district still has $200,000,000 cash on hand

TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote: ↑

Dec 13, 2024

Having read numerous articles / reports, I believe the termination was for cause, however I have not read how SLPS went from massive budget surplus to massive budget deficit anywhere.

Reportedly there was a $6700 outing to Top Golf which is great for Top Golf and a wonderful day out but not so great for the kids that had no way to get to school.

The corruption in this city makes us Chicago-lite.

Serious question.  Why haven't any charges been filed against the offenders? Or have they?

$3600 for candles.

SLPS employees aren't city employees. They are SLPS employees.

Well deserved. Nothing more detrimental to the city’s stability than SLPS. SLPS set the City back a decade in two school years. I hope the state takes over and cleans house.

Reminder, the greatest threat to the future of public education IS POORLY MANAGED PUBLIC EDUCATION. St. Louis is almost on par with the disaster that is Chicago Public Schools right now.

Lawmakers float possibility of state intervention in St. Louis Public Schools

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/edu ... 620f1.html

“Come see for yourself what really is happening in SLPS,” Cousins said during the Senate hearing. “We’re trying to figure out how to help SLPS and the city of St. Louis fix the education system.”

L-O-L

The state is too worried about the police to see the actual issues.

addxb2 wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2025

Reminder, the greatest threat to the future of public education IS POORLY MANAGED PUBLIC EDUCATION. 

I think it might be the diminishing funding (headed to private/charter/home schooling), constant attacks on curriculum and overall false attacks on schooling in general.

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

addxb2 wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2025

Reminder, the greatest threat to the future of public education IS POORLY MANAGED PUBLIC EDUCATION. 

I think it might be the diminishing funding (headed to private/charter/home schooling), constant attacks on curriculum and overall false attacks on schooling in general.

SLPS has well over $300M in yearly funds. Funding is not their issue. It's definitely management.

SLPS teachers I've spoken to tell me stories about how they buy the same crap every year, use very little of it, and then buy more the next year. They have stockpiles of supplies yet keep on buying more.

Another reality is that it's extremely hard to keep good teachers for a multitude of reasons.

Auggie wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

addxb2 wrote: ↑

Jan 28, 2025

Reminder, the greatest threat to the future of public education IS POORLY MANAGED PUBLIC EDUCATION. 

I think it might be the diminishing funding (headed to private/charter/home schooling), constant attacks on curriculum and overall false attacks on schooling in general.

SLPS has well over $300M in yearly funds. Funding is not their issue. It's definitely management.

SLPS teachers I've spoken to tell me stories about how they buy the same crap every year, use very little of it, and then buy more the next year. They have stockpiles of supplies yet keep on buying more.

Another reality is that it's extremely hard to keep good teachers for a multitude of reasons.

Maybe by paying them more and eliminating headaches dealing with what they can legally say in a classroom?

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

Auggie wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

I think it might be the diminishing funding (headed to private/charter/home schooling), constant attacks on curriculum and overall false attacks on schooling in general.

SLPS has well over $300M in yearly funds. Funding is not their issue. It's definitely management.

SLPS teachers I've spoken to tell me stories about how they buy the same crap every year, use very little of it, and then buy more the next year. They have stockpiles of supplies yet keep on buying more.

Another reality is that it's extremely hard to keep good teachers for a multitude of reasons.

Maybe by paying them more and eliminating headaches dealing with what they can legally say in a classroom?

I think most of the teacher turnover has less to do with pay and more to do with the students. Sure, pay would help a little, but for what they put up with, I'd ask for $80k-$90k per year with benefits.

I did a service project at Compton Drew Middle School when I was in high school years ago, and in my 1 month, there were 2 fights on my floor (7th grade), I heard about an 8th grade teacher getting slapped by a student, Spanish teacher had her hair pulled, teachers getting called all kinds of insults and slurs, rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia.

The disciplinary system was joke.

On this front, there's not a lot the district can do. It's just the reality of being an extremely impoverished and segregated school district.

Kind of wild how just a year ago things were going well with SLPS public relations, etc.... the new bargaining agreement that bumped up pay quite a bit for teachers and staff was signed in March, iirc, and Dr. Scarlett had a pretty good reputation. I think it was around that time too though that the contracted bus company, which already was performing poorly, had the noose incident and things really took a turn for the worse from there on the transportation aspect.  

I can say from a parent perspective that the situation in the schools themselves hasn't really seemed to change all that much this year despite the drama downtown.  And while the projected growth in attendance for this year didn't materialize, it has stabilized a bit. It's also interesting to note how charters are struggling with enrollment,,, just this week it's been reported that Kairos has far less attendance than it projected and is laying off staff. Momentum Academy, which was called something else before it re-branded, is closing its Gravois Park campus. Unfortunately while charters are funded with public dollars, the public can't hold them accountable like it can SLPS via Board of Ed. elections. Same ballot as the Municipal General Election in April.

Auggie wrote:

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

Auggie wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2025

SLPS has well over $300M in yearly funds. Funding is not their issue. It's definitely management.

SLPS teachers I've spoken to tell me stories about how they buy the same crap every year, use very little of it, and then buy more the next year. They have stockpiles of supplies yet keep on buying more.

Another reality is that it's extremely hard to keep good teachers for a multitude of reasons.

Maybe by paying them more and eliminating headaches dealing with what they can legally say in a classroom?

I think most of the teacher turnover has less to do with pay and more to do with the students. Sure, pay would help a little, but for what they put up with, I'd ask for $80k-$90k per year with benefits.

I did a service project at Compton Drew Middle School when I was in high school years ago, and in my 1 month, there were 2 fights on my floor (7th grade), I heard about an 8th grade teacher getting slapped by a student, Spanish teacher had her hair pulled, teachers getting called all kinds of insults and slurs, rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia.

The disciplinary system was joke.

On this front, there's not a lot the district can do. It's just the reality of being an extremely impoverished and segregated school district.

I did this same program back in the day.

The biggest issue is certainly mismanagement.

They face the same teacher retention/hiring challenge as academia as a whole, and any district that caters to high percentage of impoverished students is certainly a more challenging teaching environment.

Yeah I'd say the biggest issue is management, which deserves focuse also because that's an actually solve-able problem, whereas public schools have to accept all students who are eligible to attend. Anecdotally, what I've heard from SLPS teachers is that the administration of the school district is a sh!t show and that makes it hard to what is already a hard job. 

Are administrators part of the same union as teachers?

I would assume not, management level is almost never part of a union in any workplace. Though I've also heard from teachers (that to be clear have very pro-union politics) that AFT Local 420 is also a mess. 

PeterXCV wrote: ↑

Jan 30, 2025

I would assume not, management level is almost never part of a union in any workplace. Though I've also heard from teachers (that to be clear have very pro-union politics) that AFT Local 420 is also a mess. 

Wonder how much they get in the way of things. I don't have any insider knowledge but have seen unions get in the way of correcting things. I've read some compelling arguments against unions in public institutions. I think they can work well in private companies while the companies are successful. Overall I think that could be part of the issue here but there are probably many factors. 

Count me very much against union busting as a solution to SLPS' problems. When you can think of an actual thing to criticize that the union did let us know. 

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/edu ... -top-story

Hahahah. What a joke. Blow it up. But please, no vouchers for school choice. When will taxpayers stand up!

WOW!
THIEVES!
Did they all but seal their fate for a NO vote on  any future tax increase plea?
"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."

~Frederic Bastiat