St. Louis parents hit school overhaul

Boston Globe ^ | September 8, 2003 | Stephanie Simon

[Cincinatus' Wife]

ST. LOUIS -- The school district was broke -- and failing. Half of all high school freshmen quit before graduation. Less than 7 percent of juniors scored "proficient" on a state reading and writing test. In desperation, the school board took a radical route: It handed control of public education to a corporate-turnaround company from New York.

[mewzilla]

They want their schools to be community anchors.

Sounds like they were anchors all right. Around the kids' necks.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, and the country.

[AD from SpringBay]

Half of all high school freshmen quit before graduation. Less than 7 percent of juniors scored "proficient" on a state reading and writing test...

The head of the teachers union...said she thinks the quality of education "is going to be suspect this year" because the new administration had poisoned the atmosphere.

This head of the teacher's union is a dumba$$. The quality of the education was already suspect and the atmosphere was already poisonous. Unless she was thinking 50% high school freshmen retention and 7% high school junior reading proficiency was acceptable. If you close your eyes and breath deeply on this one you can almost smell the graft.

[DeFault User]

have "disrespected" the black community by ripping apart a district run for years by black educators serving a black student population.

They "served" them by achieving a phenomenal dropout and failure rate? That definition of "served" is not in my dictionary.

[happygrl]

$60 million dollars in savings, with no reduction in the numbers of teachers, but a reduction in the class size of primary grades.

Give the man a cigar.

[y2k_free_radical]

And their children will continue to be second class students and citizens

[Steve_Seattle]

"She and other protesters say that the New Yorkers -- led by Roberti, who is white -- have "disrespected" the black community by ripping apart a district run for years by black educators serving a black student population."

"The school district was broke -- and failing. Half of all high school freshmen quit before graduation. Less than 7 percent of juniors scored "proficient" on a state reading and writing test."

They've "disrespected" the community by trying to improve schools in which half the students drop out and only 7% meet minimum proficiency requirements? Where was the anger and rage at that abysmal record of failure?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Wasn't it St. Louis, in a bizarre attempt to draw fleeing whites back, that poured hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars into their school system to have state of the art, gold-plated everything? I guess they should have poured all that money into good teachers (not the stuff LIBERAL schools of education are manufacturing) instead of the usual educrat experiment.

[Pikamax]

"She and other protesters say that the New Yorkers -- led by Roberti, who is white -- have "disrespected" the black community by ripping apart a district run for years by black educators serving a black student population.
"

oh they did a fine job it seems in the past.

[mewzilla]

It might make business sense to privatize food service and custodial work. But to parents, that means hundreds of neighbors will lose jobs with benefits.

That quote should answer your question. These people have, by and large, gotten what they wanted over the years and their kids are paying for it. Nice people.

[Steve_Seattle]

This whole affair just goes to show that the black leadership is more concerned about protecting the turf that it's carved out than in improving the lives of people in the black community. The motto seems to be, "To hell with the kids, just give us the pork and the power."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

They "served" them by achieving a phenomenal dropout and failure rate? That definition of "served" is not in my dictionary.

They're ticked off because someone is messing with their fiefdom. Dallas is another district that has strangled education in the name of "this is our turf" idiocy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[ArGee]

You have missed the point. Schools do not exist to give an education to children but to give jobs to people who otherwise have no marketable skills.

If some kids get educated, that's a positive side benefit, but not one to make a big deal over.

Shalom.

[BallandPowder]

Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

From a local perspective, the local protester organizers included (The REv $Harmpton). They are angry that after the schools closed they had over 1300 excess employees sucking money out of the system. At todays protest there were about 400 people, and they are reporting minor absences from students boycotting.
Even the local Black Ministerial Alliance (Local LARGE congregations) were behind the overhaul since schools had gotten so bad under the last school boards administration. What is REALLY sad is that they found places for all the bad teachers so not one of them lost a job.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A cry in the black education wilderness***The great disappointment of my ongoing crusade to foment a revolution in black education has been the lack of a response, and even hostility, from black leaders in this community. Naturally, I expected everyone to drop what they were doing and hop onto my education movement bandwagon. ***

[Herodotus]

indeed...it's all about reducing class size...that is a SIGNIFICANT first step.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

From a local perspective, the local protester organizers included (The REv $Harmpton). They are angry that after the schools closed they had over 1300 excess employees sucking money out of the system. .........What is REALLY sad is that they found places for all the bad teachers so not one of them lost a job.

A good example of the power of the NEA. It's way past time the NEA was viewed as the Democratic Party arm that it is and drop all this nonsense that they represent education and exist for the children.

[Steve_Seattle]

This is also why blacks are so reluctant to bolt the Democratic Party - they can throw their weight around and be "players," even if Democratic policies ultimately do nothing to improve the black community.