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Special education panel meets, tells elected board members it will look at special board

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 9, 2009 -The panel charged with helping to determine the future of the St. Louis schools began its work Wednesday with no shortage of advice from members of the elected city school board whose power it helped to take away.

Dr. William H. Danforth called the first meeting of the five-member committee that was reconvened last month by Chris Nicastro, Missouri's commissioner of elementary and secondary education. The same group issued the report that led the state in 2007 to take accreditation away from the city schools and put the system under the control of a three-member appointed administrative board.

The committee's statement

"The St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) are important. The future of St. Louis and in fact of the entire region depends on the effectiveness and quality of the education provided in St. Louis city. It is well known that there is no magic bullet; no single policy or program will guarantee a first-rate education. Among the many important factors are: stability in leadership and direction, dedicated and able teachers who like children, adequate resources, orderly classrooms, and supportive families.

"Thus running a complex, urban school system is a daunting task. Fortunately, everyone including teachers, administrators, staff, school board members ... wants to help support and improve the SLPS. There may be differences in opinion, but all with whom we have ever talked want what they believe is best for students.

"We understand our responsibility to be an important part of the whole. Our goal is to come up with a plan that we believe will most likely result in a permanent governing body of able people, who are dedicated to the welfare of the students and accountable for the success of the SLPS and with a sensible and realistic means for ending up there, taking into account the present circumstances and with appreciation for the advantages of stability and consistency."

In its meeting Wednesday at Harris-Stowe State University, Danforth said the issue of the appointed board versus the elected board is one of many that the panel will have to look at. "I have assumed that the Special Administrative Board was a temporary arrangement and would not go on forever," he said.

Besides Danforth, the committee includes co-chair attorney Frankie M. Freeman and members attorney Ned Lemkemeier, Dr. Donald Suggs, publisher of the St. Louis American, and Michael Middleton, deputy chancellor of the University of Missouri at Columbia.

They adopted without discussion a general statement about the importance of the city schools and how they should be run, as well as the crucial relationship between the future of the schools and the future of the city itself.

But the generalities were brought down to earth when they asked for comment from the small audience observing their meeting. Among the audience were three members of the elected board that continues to meet monthly even though it has no direct role in running the school system.

Elected board member David Jackson said the problem with the current arrangement is that members of the appointed board are not required to be accountable.

"The SAB doesn't have to answer to anyone," he said. "They do not have to answer to the public. They do not have to answer to DESE," the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

He praised the work of Superintendent Kelvin Adams, noting that he was not simply a yes man for the special administrative board as some had feared. But, he said, the administration of the district needs to return to the voters, and one big step that should be taken is to make sure the state school board has a member from St. Louis, which it does not have now.

"Without representation," he said, "it's kind of hard to move forward. We have no one on the state board who really understands St. Louis."

Elected board member Rebecca Rogers, an education professor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, cited several urban areas whose governance could be used as models for whatever new format may be used in St. Louis, including Atlanta and Broward County in Florida.

She suggested that perhaps a member of the elected board and of the special administrative board could be included in the deliberations of the Danforth committee.

And elected board member Donna Jones told the committee, "I hope you all consider the ramifications of not allowing the public to choose" who is in charge of the schools.

Noting that school-age children are dropping out and ending up on the street, where they too often become victims of violence, Jones said:

"I really am hurt. It brings me to tears. ... Kids don't feel grown-ups care about them anymore.

"I'm praying. I'm going to get on my knees tonight. I really am."

Noting that Danforth had suggested the committee take another public survey on issues facing the city schools, Jones said, "If you're going to do a survey, you really have to have parents and students. Nothing else is going to work."

Dale Singer began his career in professional journalism in 1969 by talking his way into a summer vacation replacement job at the now-defunct United Press International bureau in St. Louis; he later joined UPI full-time in 1972. Eight years later, he moved to the Post-Dispatch, where for the next 28-plus years he was a business reporter and editor, a Metro reporter specializing in education, assistant editor of the Editorial Page for 10 years and finally news editor of the newspaper's website. In September of 2008, he joined the staff of the Beacon, where he reported primarily on education. In addition to practicing journalism, Dale has been an adjunct professor at University College at Washington U. He and his wife live in west St. Louis County with their spoiled Bichon, Teddy. They have two adult daughters, who have followed them into the word business as a communications manager and a website editor, and three grandchildren. Dale reported for St. Louis Public Radio from 2013 to 2016.