Cheating the students

So of course the Atlanta cheating scandal keeps unfolding. So far four employees in Atlanta have lost their jobs. Bunches more have been told to quit or be fired, as 178 received letters to this effect from the current superintendent. Eighty-two teachers and principals have admitted that they erased answers and altered answer sheets.

Look, the superintendent was seen as a miracle worker and won National Superintendent of the Year. The gains that Atlanta reported during the TEN YEARS it is presumed that cheating has gone on (basically since the start of No Child Left Behind) were astounding, and yet no one really dug into it until now? Please.

What really disgusts me is that you know that cheating has gone on in other places but so far, I have only heard about Chicago, Atlanta, and DC. And I love that Arne Duncan is shocked! SHOCKED! by the whole idea that high-stakes testing will lead to cheating.

This just in: Memphis schools may be shut down

The city of Memphis owes the schools district millions of dollars. So the board decided to shut down the schools' August 8 starting date:

Classes for Memphis City Schools will not start this fall until the City Council deposits $55 million -- the amount the city has budgeted for schools from tax revenue -- in the district's account, school board members decided Tuesday night.

The board voted 8-1 to delay the start of the school year indefinitely, putting the system in the limelight as the district attempts to force city leaders to make good on funding promises.

"We've been patient; we've cut 1,500 jobs," said board member Tomeka Hart. "We're not going for everything. We're not saying give us everything you owe. We are just saying we have to have the money in the bank from our city so we can pay our bills.

"It's a difficult situation they are in but we can't continue to sacrifice our difficult situation to help them out of theirs. We did not create this situation, and we are a governing body as well."

City Council president Myron Lowery said several of the funding issues are tied up in court and therefore not negotiable right now.

"The council supplies less than 10 percent of almost a billion-dollar school budget," Lowery said. "They have voted to delay for having less than 10 percent in hand. That is ridiculous."

He blames the problem on poor communication between Supt. Kriner Cash and Mayor AC Wharton.

School employees will not be paid until school starts, throwing thousands of Memphians into a quandary, including Sarah Harper, who said, "as much as I would like to get paid, as much I need to get paid, let's not muddy the water about what the real issue is. Our children are being made the pawns. The city of Memphis needs to fund Memphis City Schools and fund them now. Demand they make this right.

"We've got to have the money. If we don't have it, we can't open the doors," she told the board, her voice rising with emotion. "I will guarantee you this city would be up in arms if they have to teach their children at home or find somewhere for them to go."

The vote came 21/2 hours into the emergency meeting, with impassioned arguments on both sides from members of the teachers union.

Cash said the board had spoken but said it was no victory.

"Our children need to be in school. I can't tell you that passionately or emphatically enough. I am going to keep fighting to get a resolution," he said, but made no promises. "What's next? I expect the city to be in touch with us."

Earlier, Wharton was perplexed by the board's discussion to delay, telling the City Council that money to fully fund the district had been set aside.

"The money is in the budget -- no ifs, ands or buts about it," he said. "On Friday, I stated to Dr. Cash that we have fully funded Memphis City Schools for the fiscal year 2012. The money is there, point blank. I don't know how to state that with any more clarity."

Wharton was visibly upset, at times pounding the podium in the council chambers.

The district says the city has shorted it $151 million over four years, including $78.4 million for the 2011-12 school year.

The city has not approved the district’s budget, required by state law. The district is to submit its budget to the state by Aug. 1. School had been scheduled to start Aug. 8.

If MCS cannot produce an approved budget showing the city is paying its fair share for schools by Oct. 1, new Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman told Cash on Tuesday that he would withhold state funding for MCS.

At 50 percent, the state is the largest provider of funds for public education in Memphis.

MCS board president Martavius Jones cast the lone vote against the move to delay the start of school after talking on the phone with Wharton during a recess in the meeting.

"I didn't get a commitment from him. I tried," Jones said, adding that the best solution would be one that didn't hurt taxpayers. "The city is going to have to take this out of their reserves (and) that will make borrowing costs go up, which hurts taxpayers."

While the city has approved the money, it has not been sent to the school system because the council has not yet approved the district's budget, as required by state law.

While Jones said he has never known the council not to approve the budget before school started, it was not approved until Sept. 14 last year, more than a month after the start of school.

But the environment this year is different, said school board attorney Dorsey Hopson, because the council's legal position in the merger with Shelby County Schools is that the city schools no longer exist.

Well, the school district is certainly right about one thing (left unspoken): The second parents will have to scramble around for day-care (which unfortunately many parents feel is the primary function of school districts rather than promoting learning), they will hold their elected city officials's feet to the fire.

Is it just me, or is this a faulty headline?

I was arrested by the headline to this article: "Most teachers favor inclusion for autistic students!"

Then I read further. Let's see if you spot the problems that set off alarms for me:

The majority of general education teachers support the notion of including autistic children in a regular classroom environment, a small new survey suggests.

Overall, the eight general education teachers surveyed expressed positive views of inclusion for children with autism, but they felt additional resources would help ensure success in a mainstream classroom.

Survey co-authors P. Rosen and E. Rotheram-Fuller, of Temple University, and D. S. Mandell, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, are scheduled to present the findings Wednesday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.

The teachers surveyed worked in a single, large urban school district. Each had between one and four students with autism already present in classrooms that catered to an average of 25 students. The majority of the autistic students spent at least half a day enrolled in a general education setting, according to a meeting news release.

On average the teachers had more than 10 years of experience, although specific work with autistic students ranged from none to 15 years.

The preliminary results revealed that all the teachers shared a positive perspective on including autistic children in an otherwise standard classroom setting.

Doing so was completely appropriate for 44 percent of students, and somewhat appropriate for 33 percent of students, they said. And as a whole, those surveyed indicated that they felt most of the autistic students (66 percent) would do well to remain in their current classroom situation.

However, for 22 percent of students, inclusion was considered somewhat inappropriate, and for one-third of students, a different, more restrictive environment would be better, the teachers said.

Regardless of their views, the teachers generally expressed confidence in their ability to handle autistic students, while at the same time observing that not all of the children were adequately prepared for the demands of a general education environment.

Overall, the participants suggested that more resources were needed to help promote social interaction between autistic students and their healthy peers. Also necessary: continued support from special education teachers and training in how to meet the demands of individual education plans, they said.

Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary because it has not been subject to the scrutiny required for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Okay? Now here's what I see:

Eight general education teachers in ONE large urban school district is hardly the basis for a sweeping statement about all teachers. And this study hasn't even been peer-reviewed yet.

How in the world can one extrapolate widespread support from such a small sample from one school district? What subjects do these teachers teach? What grade levels? Is this school district also majority-minority and economically disadvantaged beyond what is common in a typical school district in America?

Now, it may be that most teachers DO support inclusion of autistic students in regular classrooms. I personally support the inclusion of any exceptional student in my class if they receive adequate support from special education professionals and if they do not detract from the learning environment to the detriment of other students. This includes my advanced placement classes, as long as they can maintain the level of scholarship necessary for an advanced placement class. I have had several students who have been diagnosed within the autism spectrum, and some placements have worked well.

Some have not.

But I would prefer to see the study authors cast their nets a whole lot wider before such sweeping claims are made.

Thoughts?

Holy Guacamole! Michelle Rhee resigns!

Hot off the wire this morning came the news that DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has resigned.

My first reaction was, "oh, look, another example of her not being able to stick with one thing for more than a couple of years," but then I thought, "what am I saying????"

Apparently the writing was on the wall when her partner in crime Adrian Fenty lost the primary for mayor earlier this year in DC.

From the edweek blog "District Dossier" by Dakarai Aarons:

District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced this morning that she is resigning after three and a half years in the job.

"I put my blood, sweat, and tears into the children of the District of Columbia," Rhee told a news conference. She thanked the parents in the district, as well as the teachers, with whom she has frequently had a contentious relationship.

Rhee said she hadn't determined her next step but planned to take "a little time off." Her goal, she said, was to serve the children of this nation.

She is confident, she said, that the policy changes she pushed during her tenure would continue after she departs, including the implementation of a new teacher contract and new teacher evaluation system.

"The best way to keep the reforms going is for this reformer to step aside," Rhee said. She added, "this was not a decision we made lightly."

You can follow the link to read the whole thing.

It will be very interesting to see what exactly WILL happen now that Rhee's tenure has come to an end. I imagine she will not stay out of the limelight for too long, either, since there are speeches to be made and book contracts probably waiting to be signed. She will doubtless continue her teacher-bashing ways, because that's what both parties in politics have seized upon rather than actually look at the other side of the performance question-- and by that I specifically mean everything from administrative disconnects to unmotivated family and students as well as poor curriculum sacrificed on the altar of testing. I could go on, but I think you get my drift.

Adios, Ms. Rhee. I doubt we've seen the last of you.

Michelle Rhee makes nice

NYC Educator has the link to a WaPo article where Michelle Rhee says she never meant to imply it was all the teachers' fault over in the DC Public Schools.

No kidding.

Here's news: it's hard to keep superintendents in urban settings.

Yup.

The story:

St. Louis is looking for its eighth school superintendent since 2003. Kansas City is on its 25th superintendent in 39 years.

Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years — which educators say isn't enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform.

"Would you buy Coca-Cola if they changed CEOs every year?" asked Diana Bourisaw, who left as St. Louis superintendent in July after two years in the top job. "The answer is no. I wouldn't."

On Friday, Kelvin Adams signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis district worth $225,000 annually plus bonus incentives, a day after his hiring was approved by a state-appointed board that oversees the district.

Adams figures he can buck the trend of superintendent turnover.

"I am absolutely focused on one thing — student achievement," Adams said.

Academic accountability is the new national mantra in public education, and low-performing districts are placing high salaries and higher demands on their superintendents — who find themselves caught between factions of publicly elected school boards, teachers' unions and parent groups.

"I consider that to be the toughest job in America," said Dan Domenech, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based American Association of School Administrators.

The school board in Kansas City has gained a reputation for micromanaging the district and end-running its own superintendent even as test scores languish year after year.

One school board member abruptly quit this past week, and in a resignation letter scolded her colleagues for not doing enough to address the district's accreditation problems and their "continued demonstrations of micromanagement and defensive posturing."

"This is clearly not a board that is interested in reforming its practices to achieve strong educational outcomes for our students," said board member Ingrid Burnett, "and I can no longer justify my involvement to myself or to my constituents."

Even superintendents with strong track records aren't safe. Rudy Crew, honored by his peers for improving schools in Florida's Miami-Dade County, was effectively fired by his board this month when the remainder of his contract was bought out.

Critics said he mismanaged the budget and didn't build ties with communities. He was there four years.

The 2006 study by the Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of some of the nation's largest urban public school systems, reported an average salary of $208,000 among the nearly 60 urban districts it examined. More than half of those superintendents got a car or mileage allowance, more than one-third got financial bonuses, and 2 percent received a housing allowance.

Yet it's not unheard of for a big-city opening to draw only a few dozen candidates — a testament, experts say, to the job's professional and political demands. Thirty-five people applied for the St. Louis job.

"With all the challenges they're facing, they're looking for somebody who can walk on water," said Stan Paz, a former superintendent in Tucson, Ariz., and El Paso, Texas, and now vice president of McGraw-Hill Education's urban advisory resource team.

Atlanta went through five superintendents in 10 years before Barbara Hall arrived in 1999, said school board member Katy Pattillo. She feels the district has made significant academic progress since Hall's arrival.

Pattillo said the Atlanta school board attended "governance training" to better define the roles of people involved in education and improve communication. Atlanta also worked to get community and business support for the district of 50,000 students and its leadership. Hall now boasts of academic gains every year since 2000.

In St. Louis, Adams — a first-time superintendent arriving from New Orleans, where he was chief of staff of the Recovery School District — takes over a district that hasn't been as fortunate.

Urban flight to the suburbs has plagued St. Louis since the 1950s. The population, more than 850,000 in 1950, is now about 350,000 — a loss of tax base that one superintendent after another has struggled to overcome.

The situation got so bad that last year that the Missouri Board of Education stripped the district of accreditation, saying it came up short academically and financially.

A three-member board was appointed last year to oversee the district. But the locally elected school board remains in place and its members are vocal, though largely powerless, and often second-guess the state panel's moves.

Bourisaw was hired in 2006 by the elected board. When the state-appointed board took over, members decided that with the new oversight the job should be advertised. Bourisaw was encouraged to reapply but declined.

Bourisaw said urban districts often face issues like poverty, immigration, frequently moving or homeless students and safety concerns that extend beyond education.

"I don't believe the quality of children's education should be determined by the ZIP code they live in," she said.

"School boards like to hire someone to come in and rescue the district, and one person can't do that."

After a decade in St. Louis, Lori and Eric Peterson and their children are moving to the suburbs because they feel the school district has let them down.

Already this school year, fourth-grader Isabella has once arrived home an hour late because the fill-in bus driver didn't know the route. Third-grader Zain is worried his grade may still be split into smaller groups, potentially taking him away from classmates he began the school year with.

Lori Peterson said she has complained, but to no avail.

"Do we stay and try to prove a point that we're 'city' people?'" she asked. "Or do we leave because that's in the best interest of our children?"

Let me answer that last question for you, Mrs. Peterson: You run like hell. And by the way, the second you change your residence from a city zip code, your car insurance will drop like a moose in the sights of Sarah Palin.

Let's remember that St. Louis is a school district which has had a board president whose children attended a nearby school district in a tonier part of the metro area and another board member who claimed that someone had spiked her soda pop with cocaine and who tried to place hexes on those she considered her enemy. My hand on my heart. You can't make stuff like that up. And this new oversight board appointed by the governor of Missouri consists of people with very little first hand knowledge of public schools. Not surprisingly, the head of the special board is a housing developer who sent his kids to parochial and Catholic schools and who lives waaaaay out in the 'burbs.

Kansas City schools were infamous for building gigantic marble entryways and Olympic-sized indoor pools yet still being unable to stem white flight or to draw suburban kids to their magnet schools. Omaha schools famously tried to redistrict along racial lines. Tulsa Public Schools just fired a superintendent who was an authoritarian jerk out of touch with the needs of the people who lived in the district, which encompassed both urban pockets of poverty and suburban upper-middle class Beemer- drivers.

In my opinion, most superintendents (and most principals) need to focus on instructional needs first, last, and always. They need to work in partnership with, not in opposition to, the people in the trenches doing the teaching and the learning. They should have a minimum of ten years' teaching experience, and five years as a head principal under their belts.

But, hey, what do I know? I've just spent nearly forty years of my life in school in some fashion.

Jeez, now I'm depressed.

The St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education bites the dust

The state's Special Administrative Board has now taken over operations of the St. Louis Public Schools.

Rick Sullivan, CEO of the Special Administrative Board, said Superintendent Diana Bourisaw will stay on —and the district's longtime law firm, Lashly and Baer, will be out.

Cole County Circuit Court Judge Richard Callahan late Thursday paved the way for the board to take office when he denied a bid by five St. Louis School Board members for a temporary restraining order to halt the state intervention.

Attorneys for the school board and the state Attorney General's Office will return to Callahan's court at an as yet undetermined date to present further arguments in the case. At the hearing, the school board will seek an injunction to permanently stop the transitional school district.

"We certainly haven't been thrown out of court yet, we just had a motion denied," said Johnny Richardson of Jefferson City, the board's attorney. "Regardless of what happened tonight, this is the first step in a long battle."

Jim Morris, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said Callahan's order supported the State Board of Education's decision to remove the district's accreditation and replace the elected school board with the new board.

"The court affirmed the standards and process that we used to evaluate the school district," Morris said. "We believe the data clearly show that the St. Louis Public Schools have been losing ground in academic performance. We also feel that state action was not only justified but necessary to get this school district back on track."

Lawyers for the school district again on Thursday said that chaos would accompany a state takeover. They attacked the laws that describe the state intervention as flawed and contradictory, introducing the possibility of a power struggle between the district's existing board and the new board.

But Paul Wilson, an assistant Missouri attorney general, told the judge that St. Louis schools had been warned in no uncertain terms about what it needed to do to avoid a state takeover.

Sullivan's view
In a wide-ranging interview before the denial of the restraining order, Sullivan on Thursday steered the focus to the future. He appealed to the community to join the new board in a regional effort to turn around a school district wracked by years of political turmoil, financial instability and, most importantly, failure in the classroom.

The new board plans to meet publicly for the first time this morning at the St. Louis Science Center. Fellow board members Melanie Adams and Richard Gaines will join Sullivan at the meeting.

Sullivan, who said he will not accept the salary he is entitled to under the statute that permits the city schools to operate as a transitional school district, promised that he and the board will not act impulsively.

He pledged that the community will play a major role in helping to find solutions for what he characterized as a crisis of regional proportion.

"There is no quick fix, there's no silver bullet. It is going to take the full engagement of the community and it is going to require the community to understand that this is going to take time, a lot of time," he said.

Sullivan said the board will meet with neighborhood groups, political organizations, churches and any and all other parties committed to improving public education in the city.

The new board, he said, is taking office without a plan to rectify the district's woes.

Sullivan said the lack of a blueprint is by design — his design.

"I know people are dying for answers and I know there are high expectations," he said. "But we also would have been criticized if we came in here with a plan. No one has a preconceived handbook about how this is going to work. Today, we begin work on that plan."

Sullivan's own efforts began immediately after Gov. Matt Blunt tapped him to serve as CEO on March 22.

Since then, Sullivan — with no previous experience in education — embarked on a crash course that included discussions with, by his own estimate, between 400 to 500 people.

The list included St. Louis teachers and principals, national educational experts and consultants and city and St. Louis County residents.

Conversations with state and private sector education officials, Sullivan said, could lead to economic incentives — tied to improved student performance — that would help the district reduce its $23 million deficit.

The trail also led him to school leaders in Chicago; Montgomery County, Md.; and Houston.

He spent three hours in Atlanta with that city's highly regarded superintendent, Beverly Hall.

Although his fact-finding mission did not yield specific reforms, it did provide Sullivan with a set of academic priorities including an emphasis on pre-kindergarten education.

"The focus the next four to five years has to be on improving high school scores," he said. "And that has to start in the lower grades, beginning with preschool."

Bourisaw stays
The administrator overseeing the board's initiatives as it undertakes its new responsibilities will be Bourisaw, hired last summer as the district's sixth superintendent since 2003.

During her tenure, Bourisaw has weathered personal attacks from one board member. In the past month, she has also withstood personal agendas imposed on her by others on the board.

"I'd like to see how she'll function without standing in the middle of the coliseum," Sullivan said.

He praised Bourisaw as an "expert educator and a wise person who is very, very dedicated to the kids."

The new board's support of the superintendent, however, comes with a caveat.

"We will also remain objective in accessing her achievements. She will be held accountable just as the board itself will be held accountable by the stakeholders of the St. Louis Public Schools."

Callahan's decision ends, at least for now, the district's long association with attorney Kenneth Brostron and his law firm, Lashly and Baer.

Sullivan said he has taken steps to bring in other lawyers to replace Brostron, who this week led the elected school board's legal challenge.

"Lashly and Baer cannot represent the Special Administrative Board while it is taking steps to the delay the full implementation of the (new board)," he said.

I wish that I could say that having a complete novice in public education (who sent his kids to parochial schools and who is part of the junta of housing developers that control the entire state to its detriment) will be a good thing, but I will say that it can't be a WORSE thing. The schools are already in complete disarray, and the real needs of the students (to get an... what's that word? education) are completely ignored.

More educational malfeasance along the Mississippi River...

The superintendent of the Rivervew Gardens school district, in suburban north St. Louis County, has been charged with theft, tax-evasion, and --WOW-- suspended WITH pay:

St. Louis County prosecutors on Friday charged Riverview Gardens School District Superintendent Henry Williams with two counts of stealing and three counts of attempting to evade income taxes.

The charges allege that Williams, 65, wielded power to establish a pattern of theft and deception from January 2003 through December of last year.

Together, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 37 years.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch said Williams, through his attorneys, agreed to surrender at the St. Louis County Justice Center by Friday evening. Bond has been set at $50,000.

McCulloch said the first felony theft count involved more than $100,000 in payments that Williams ordered, including interest on his personal loans.

The second count involved about $1,000 in reimbursements for fake travel expenses and double-billing district credit cards.

The prosecutor also said Williams told the school district to pay at least $60,000 to an annuity account in an attempt to evade paying income tax.

Williams filed fraudulent Missouri income tax returns for 2003 through 2005, asserting he made as much as $87,000 less than his actual income in a given year, the charges allege.

Williams, 65, was suspended Tuesday after the Post-Dispatch reported that district records show he diverted at least $85,000 extra to his retirement and insurance accounts.

On Thursday, the news got worse for Williams and the district when a state audit reported that the superintendent was overpaid by $158,400 during his tenure, and that the district had wastefully spent $12.4 million in the past three years.

In a masterpiece of understatement, the article states that, "Auditors chalked up the debacle to lack of oversight, improperly prepared budgets and poor planning."

The district has been on a steady slide for years, but the real temblors began rumbling when the state audit was released last week.

A scathing state audit revealed Thursday that the leaders of Riverview Gardens schools have bilked the district for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They've sent contracts and jobs to friends and family, spent money on artwork and theater tickets and travel, and left district bank reserves almost entirely empty.

In the wake of such evidence, the board announced that it had stripped Superintendent Henry Williams of his duties, sent him home and started the process to fire him. His hearing will be April 18.

Missouri Auditor Susan Montee said her team found problems in every aspect of district finances.

"What astounded us was how fast they misspent money, rather than how much," Montee said. "We found that so disheartening."

And, according to Superintendent Williams, it's all just a gross misunderstanding, and no doubt completely unfair, too:

The Riverview Gardens School District superintendent charged last week with felony theft and tax evasion portrayed himself on Monday as a victim of mistreatment. He questioned a state audit that found he had bilked the district of almost $160,000.

In his first public statement since the scandal broke last week, Henry Williams, 65, predicted that he would be vindicated.

"I am deeply saddened and utterly dismayed by my recent mistreatment by the Riverview Gardens School Board and the reverberations that their actions have had on government officials and the local media," he says in a faxed statement.

"Without question, this is certainly not the first time that sensational allegations have been levied against an individual, only later to be proven false when scrutinized and sanitized by the light of truth."

Apparently, Mr. Williams' contract requires him to be caught actually using a handgun in the commission of the hold-up requires many layers of bureaucracy to be navigated before he actually could be terminated (emphasis mine):

Riverview Gardens School Board members said Monday they are considering firing Superintendent Henry Williams, following revelations that Williams has directed an extra $85,000 in district money to his retirement and life insurance accounts.

Board President Gilda Hester emphasized that no decision has been made. The board, she said, has asked the district's lawyer, Cindy Ormsby, to prepare the necessary paperwork.

"The board has instructed her to let us know how this violates his contract, and options for the board to consider," Hester said.

If Ormsby recommends that the board fire Williams, "then we will act on her recommendation," Hester said.

Ormsby said the board has scheduled a closed meeting for Thursday, immediately following a public session at which State Auditor Susan Montee will present findings of an audit of district policies and finances, among other things.

The board could choose to fire Williams that night, members said.

But Hester said the board could make a decision earlier. A regular board meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. today.

Williams was not available to comment. He told staff and board members he was admitted to the hospital early Monday and would be out of the office until at least today. His attorney, Larry Deskins, said Williams had "an issue."

...Some board members said they welcomed the opportunity to remove him.

"I'm saying to them, this is what we need to right the ship," said board member Tommie Pierson, who said as many as 10 residents called him personally to discuss the payments.

Ormsby, the district's lawyer, said such revelations alone would not nullify Williams' contract. But if the board believes the allegations, it could fire him for cause, she said.

The board has tried to remove Williams before. Last May, the board suspended him after the Post-Dispatch revealed district payments to Williams' girlfriend. A shift in power brought him back a week later. Hester, Marlene Terry, Michael Person and Jennifer Erby voted in his favor.

Jim Morris, spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said Williams also could face discipline from the state.

The Riverview Gardens School Board could pass a resolution stating Williams is guilty of misconduct, and could request the state Board of Education take disciplinary action against his licenses, Morris said.

Williams holds certificates to be a superintendent and an elementary educator.

The state board would hold an administrative hearing, Morris said, at which the district would present its case, and Williams would defend himself.

Of course, this is the same board which voted to renew Mr. Williams' contract last year, so we'll just have to wait and see what actually happens. But during his tenure they have lost two-thirds of the points they had earned toward accreditation. That should have sent up flares somewhere.

And I am sure there are more lawsuits in the works.

St. Louis public schools circle the drain

Yesterday, the St. Louis City Public Schools was officially stripped of its accreditation and placed under the control of the state. Students and parents converged upon the meeting of the State Board of Eduation at which the decision for takeover was made and, over their protests, the deed was done.

With one St. Louis student in custody and scores of other students and parents choking on tears of frustration, the State Board of Education on Thursday revoked the accreditation of the 169-year-old St. Louis Public Schools and voted to turn its operation over to a businessman with limited educational experience.

"I feel pain for them," state board President Peter Herschend of Branson said of the 150 St. Louis students and parents who crowded a state office building to protest the intervention. "But these young men and women have been denied a decent education by the system."

If the move is not blocked in court, the transitional school board headed by St. Louis County developer Rick Sullivan, chairman of McBride & Son Enterprises, will assume control of the city schools on June 15.

Some school board members have promised a lawsuit to throw out the state action.

Last week, a contingent of students skipped their classes to stage a sit-in of the mayor's office, demanding that he restore their accreditation. They claimed that a student had been told that admission and scholarship would be affected if the district lost its accreditation. A letter had been circulated among the students, allegedly written by a student in the district, that made this claim.

One of the students’ main concerns is that their college admissions, scholarships and financial aid will be impacted if the district loses its state accreditation.

St. Louis Public Schools are currently provisionally accredited. The state board has expressed concerns about the district’s academic progress.

Superintendent Diana Bourisaw spoke at the press conference held by the students this afternoon. She said district officials compiled a list of the first-choice colleges to which students have applied. Last week, district researchers began calling the admission offices of the schools on the list.

They have discovered two which have different admission requirements for students who graduate from unaccredited high schools -- the University of Kansas and Northwest Christian College. Bourisaw said they have contacted about 30 or 40 schools so far and plan to continue the effort next week.

Hmmm- TWO out of thirty or forty. Some teachers and other adults supported the sit-in, apparently as clueless as the students themelves about the fact that the STATE Board of education, not the mayor of St. Louis, makes decisions about accreditation.

Interestingly, the sit-in ended before this week's spring break holiday from classes. Because, you know, during spring break, people have PLANS.

Here's the problem. For years, the school district has been seen more as a source of jobs and easy cash to pilfer than as a place where education was a priority. The adults who have "managed" the district of 33,000 students have never placed the needs of children for an EDUCATION as their first priority. Last summer, the school board fired Superintendent Creg Williams after a mere 15 months on the job, as I wrote about here. The district has been through 4 superintendents since 2003, including a corporate "turnaround specialist" with no education experience who had formerly been in charge of clothier-to preppies Brooks Brothers.

The St Louis Public Schools have been viewed as a place to get a paycheck without having to do much; as a place where computers and iPods were purchased and then vanished into thin air, as a place where voodoo incantations were used against enemies and pitchers of water were thrown over the heads of subordinates, as a place where the most important bona fides for gaining a school board seat was how much you could game the system. Public school in the city of St. Louis has been promoted as a place to get a meal, or see a social worker, or hang out with your friends-- anything but as a place to learn.

The schools have been physically and intellectually crumbling for years. No one raised a hand to change things. Now, suddenly, after repeated warnings, when accreditation has justifiably been lost through the action of no one but the people running St. Louis schools, we see petulance and shocked disbelief. Not to mention fear that at last retribution and accountability may-- MAY-- be on the way.

Who knows if the state takeover will work? I'm not too sure that putting a wealthy white resident of the subrurbs whose children attended exclusive Catholic schools, and who has no formal experience in education, will establish any sort of credibility for the massive turn-around needed to turn the buildings belonging to the district back into SCHOOLS again. But, hey-- the president of the school board sent her own children to a chi-chi county school district through a voluntary transfer program, so she wasn't much of a stakeholder, either. The mayor's bumbling actions toward trying to get some sort of control over the district is what put the combative board president there in the first place. The parents have all too often demonstrated the most blase indifference to the failure to educate. But certainly the current set-up has led to nothing but fraud and the criminal denial of an education to the thousands of students who have had the misfortune of passing through most of the schools in the district.

What was that saying of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's? "Justice delayed is justice denied." We hear cries that the takeover is unfair. I really don't care about unfairness-- I'm more concerned with the morally indefensible injustice of maintaining a school district for the convenience of adults who fatten themselves at the trough while ignoring the imperative to EDUCATE the children for whom the district exists in the first place.

And let the lawsuits begin.