by Susan Turk
March 17, 2010—St. Louis—The SLPS General Operating Budget was frozen on February 26. On Monday, March 8, memos circulated to SLPS administrators and staff, informing everyone of the procedures to follow to request emergency expenditures only and of the status of spending requests that were pending on February 26.
According to one memo, “All voucher requests, travel requests, requisitions, and purchase orders related to Funds 110, 120, 140, 360, 230, 640, 299-AZ, and 290-AZ have been rescinded. These items have been purged from the system.”
Further on it says, “A procedure has been established to process urgent spending requests for the balance of FY 2009-2010. However, you are strongly urged to limit spending to essential items.” A FY 2009/2010 General Operating Budget Freeze Exception Request form was attached to the memo. Extra-service pay covered by the GOB has also been frozen.
The freeze has been implemented to help diminish this year’s $10 million budget deficit. The only extra service pay still approved is for Team Leader / Department Head Extra Service, employees who staff high school and middle school metal detectors before the beginning of the school day, Academic Afterschool & Saturday School Programs (through March 26th Only) which means they will stop once MAP testing starts, After School Liaisons (through March 26th Only) which will also stop once MAP testing starts, Athletic Coaches for the Public High League Only and Night School (through April 30th Only).
The effects of the budget freeze are numerous. Transportation for field trips has been a casualty. Last week students from Kennard and Mckinley were left high and dry when they were expecting busses to take them to the annual Equations tournament at Washington University. Had there been the courtesy of advanced warning, alternate plans could have been made to transport them, such as asking parents for assistance. Instead, on the days of competition, Kennard staff were forced to scramble and beg at the last minute for busses to get their students to the event. But the Mckinley team was not as lucky. They missed it. The district pays entrance fees for the participants. The fees paid amounted to $3,000 for Kennard alone. The money paid for Mckinley’s participation was wasted since the students did not attend. The competition pits our students against students from suburban schools. Since the SLPS participants usually produce several winning teams, this is a major PR event for the district.
The annual harp performance at a senior citizens home provided by students from Central VPA High School may be cancelled due to the loss of transportation. This is another PR opportunity for the district.
Some teachers have refused to work on the new gifted curriculum required by the Accountability Plan. They were to be paid $25/hour for their work. That expense pales in comparison to a bid of over $3 million for the work from an outside company which the district rejected.
Afterschool sports at middle schools appear to be cancelled. Substitute teachers are no longer being provided when teachers are absent.
The budget deficit was caused by cuts in disbursements from the state due to lower tax revenues. Every school district in the state is affected. The last time the state caused a budget crisis, during the 2002-2003 school year, the elected Board of Education was criticized by Mayor Slay for being fiscally irresponsible. Curiously, no one is mouthing off about the SAB spending like drunken sailors.
The Cloudy Law
by Susan Turk
March 11, 2010—St. Louis—A little too much trust is laid in the Sunshine Law. It is full of loopholes big enough to protect any public body that wants to conduct its business out of the public eye. If you were under the impression that Missouri’s open meetings and records law obligated governmental bodies to notify the public of meetings 24 hours in advance, be apprised that MRS section 610.020.2 requires 24 hours notice “unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical”. According to MRS section 610.020.4, “When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four hours’ notice, … the nature of the good cause justifying that departure from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes.” If the body includes their excuse in the minutes, they are off the proverbial hook. (italics ours)
The SAB held a special meeting today without notice. Phone calls to district offices an hour before the meeting found staff unaware that a meeting was to take place. Once district officials became aware that a reporter wanted to attend the teleconference meeting, a last minute effort was made to allow her to listen in as it was about to start at 4 p.m. But the reporter did not learn of the opportunity until after the meeting had ended. Having been told by administration staff the hour prior to the meeting that there was no meeting scheduled, she was unavailable at that time.
The Good Cause
The special meeting was held to expedite approval of a contract, which was said to be listed on the April 1, 2010 Consent Agenda. The item had been added to the consent agenda for that meeting after it had been printed, so it was not listed on the agenda available at the March 9 meeting meaning the public and probably most staff were unaware of the subject matter. Consent agendas for subsequent meetings are included in the prior meeting’s agenda. But it was moved up to the business of the March 9 meeting because of its urgency. We were told that it concerned a community engagement contract with Unicom. According the SAB Chairman Rick Sullivan, the community engagement project was urgent because, “This is a critical time of the year especially with enrollment,…We need this communication with the community… as quickly as possible.” Those remarks gave the impression that the project had something to do with enrollment. PR firms are sometimes hired to assist with the summer back to school effort. If that were the case, this would be a good time to hire a firm. But, critically urgent?
SAB Member Richard Gaines objected to approving the contract on March 9th because Unicom had not fulfilled the minority and women’s owned enterprise inclusion requirement in the RFP. The district requires a 25% minimum minority and women owned business involvement in all contracts. There were only two bids responding to the RFP. The other was identified Tuesday night as The Vandiver Group partnering with David Mason Associates, a minority owned firm. They were not the lowest bidder, however. In fact we were told that their bid was either 50% or $50,000 higher than Unicom’s bid. In the past Mr. Gaines had opined that the lowest bid was not necessarily the best bid because business should be given to companies that reflect the community we serve. Both Mr. Gaines and SAB Member Melanie Adams argued for not approving the contract with Unicom before the minority requirement was met partly because promises to meet the requirement after approval had not been kept in the past.
Both Rick Sullivan and Supt. Dr. Kelvin Adams favored Unicom. Aside from its being the lowest bid, the committee, which reviewed the bids had given more points to Unicom because their proposal fit the RFP better. The only part of the RFP with which they had not complied was the minority and women’s business inclusion piece. Melanie Adams agreed with Richard Gaines, however. So Dr. Adams suggested that Unicom be given 48 hours to amend their proposal to meet the moe/woe requirement. That meant the SAB would have to hold a special meeting within 48 hours. They knew that Tuesday night. But, their excuse for not posting the meeting, was that they did not know when they would meet until they received a fax from Unicom at 3:12 p.m. Thursday.
It’s difficult to second guess their intent, but that seems like a very lame excuse for not posting the meeting or making it possible for the public who might want to listen in with less than a minute’s notice.
The special meeting ended well. Unicom, who bid $72,000 for the work did revise their proposal to include a minority owned business E’ Little Communications Group which would sub-contract for $18,000 of the work and a woman owned business, 501 Creative, which would sub-contract for $3,600 of the work. The contract with then was approved. E’ Little is owned by former SLPS Public Information Director Johnny Little.
What concerns the Watch, however, was that SAB Members Richard Gaines and Melanie Adams preferred to award the contract to Vandiver and Mason who bid $128,355.50, solely on the basis of minority inclusion. That bid was in excess of $56,000 more than Unicom’s bid.
The district is desperately trying to close a $10 million dollar budget deficit for the 2009-2010 school year. They are facing a $57 million deficit for the 2010-2011 school year. That SAB members would consider giving a PR contract to a firm that bid $56,000 more than the lowest bid under these dire circumstances gives one pause to consider if they are genuinely concerned about the budget situation. Minority and women business inclusion is a noble goal. But if firms who practice inclusion know that they have two votes on the SAB no matter what they bid or whether or not their proposal best fits the RFP, they have no incentive to attempt to be the lowest or most competitive bidder.
Then to, the financial situation is so dire, that the district has been canceling field trip transportation even to academic competitions for which the district has paid participation fees. The $56,000 difference in those two bids would have paid for a lot of buses. As it is, the SAB did the right thing and approved the lower bid.
Subsequently the Watch learned that the contract would not be paid out of GOB funds, which are currently frozen. So, it is not competing with field trip funding. But how it is being funded is still a mystery, as is the need for urgent approval.
Curious about the need for urgency, the Watch requested the precise wording of the agenda item from the Communications Dept. on Friday, March 12. It follows.
“To approve a contract with Unicom Arc, Inc. to design and implement a Community Engagement Program to receive public comments and input on a Facilities Improvement Plan for the period March 2010 through August 2010 at a cost not to exceed $80,000.
Funding Source: “
Well, that has nothing to do with enrollment. It looks like the district is preparing to survey the community. That could only be urgent if they were planning to do so in the very near future.
And as for the topic, a Facilities Improvement Plan, the Watch has been concerned about the results of a related project, which dealt with this subject, the holding of focus groups to determine whether community support existed for a bond issue which would free up the $21 million allocated for buildings and grounds maintenance from the General Operating Budget. This rare idea for a new source of revenue for the district came from Richard Gaines. The outcome of those focus groups was not promising, however. Apparently, they indicated that citizens remembered, that funding from prior bond issues used to renovate HVAC systems was wasted when schools were subsequently closed and sold, and were not likely to vote for another facilities improvement bond issue.
Because the Board of Election Commissioners needs 8 weeks notice to prepare for an election and the next available date would be the August primary, the SAB has until June 1 to decide whether or not to ask for voter approval. So, again why the sudden urgency and why the secrecy? Ten years ago, when the parties who wanted to end federal court supervision of the SLPS arranged for a sales tax to partially replace funding that would be lost when federal supervision ended, it had to be approved by city voters. A PR campaign to gain approval was directed by non-other than Jeff Rainford. Part of the media blitz included a month of daily editorials in the Post-Dispatch supporting approval of the tax. Each day a different student’s photograph topped the editorial. Three weeks into the campaign citizens were polled to determine whether the campaign was working. Opposing points of view in the form of letters to the editor were not published in the Post until after the poll reassured those pushing for approval that they had successfully swayed public opinion. And indeed the tax was approved.
For the SAB to pay a PR firm $72,000, even if it’s donated money, without first making their case to the public is leaving the outcome up to chance. Something Jeff Rainford, for one, would never do. It seems that even when they are attempting to do something that would be helpful to the district, they go about it the wrong way. Were the bond issue to pass, it would eliminate more than a third of the $57 million deficit in the 2010-2011 budget by freeing up the approximately $21 in GOB funds currently used for buildings and grounds maintenance. It might also reimburse the district for the $8.44 million being spent on lead abatement and window replacement this year, making the statutory requirement that we balance our budget a possibility for the 2009-2010 school year.
One may conclude that for some reason, whose logic eludes all but the SAB, a shroud of secrecy was needed to protect this project.
Building Together: Art, Education and Democracy
Sunday, March 21, 2010 1 – 3 PM Plus 3 more biweekly sessions - schedule to be determined by participants 1627 N. 19th St (upstairs) St. Louis MO 63106 (on the corner of 19th and Madison)
All ages and people welcome – young people, students, teachers, community members, artists, grandparents!
A test-driven curriculum pushed the arts to the margins of our schools. Arts based projects at the forefront of our educational planning secure a strong future for our students. In this Inquiry to Action Group (ItAG) – Art, Education and Democracy – we will collaborate to create art in order to take a deeper look at our personal and community environment, a key part of social growth and understanding. Dail Chambers, teaching artist, will guide participants as they work together to create free-standing sculptures and participate in discussions focused on: art’s role in historical social movements ; multicultural arts; contemporary art activism and arts based collaboration in classroom activity. Through our inquiry, creation and action, participants will find ways to transfer basic art techniques & processes learned into their work as citizens, parents and educators. No previous art experience is needed. Participants are asked to bring one small to midsized item that is attached to an experience, place or memory. The requested item will not be used in making of artwork. People should commit to attending 4 sessions. About the Facilitator : Dail Chambers is a community based, teaching artist. She studied photography at St. Louis Community College Florissant Valley and received her BFA from Memphis College of Art in Clay, with a minor in Art History. Chambers’s artwork is centered around A frican art , women’s issues and social constructs. Most recently she has completed her Community Arts Training Institute fellowship. Chambers has curated numerous exhibitions, and founded the AIDS Project in Memphis TN. She is currently collaborating with National artist Carl Moore . Both artists will share the topic of “Moving Back: Our experiences living in the American “South,” generations after the Great Migration. The exhibition is to be held in St. Louis at the Vaughn Cultural Center, January 2011. Her two Spring 2010 shows include From the Center Now!, a national exhibition juried by Lucy Lippard, held in Chicago Ill; and Art as Activism juried by Yolanda Lopez , held in St. Charles, MO. This four-session Inquiry to Action Group is offered FREE by the Literacy for Social Justice Group with the support of the Doerr Center for Social Justice. It is part of a larger project called “Public Education, Public Voices.” To register, contact Kathryn Pole at 314 977-7107 or email kpole@slu.edu.
In November 2009, DESE Commissioner Chris Nicastro reconvened the Special Advisory Committee on the SLPS. They were given the charge to develop recommendations for a transition back to governance of the SLPS by an elected board. In response, the elected Board of Education formed its own transition planning committee to make recommendations for the transition to the Special Advisory Committee. A meeting notice for its next meeting follows. These meetings are open to the public.
BOARD MEETING
(March 16, 2010) – The Elected Saint Louis Board of Education will hold a transition planning committee meeting followed by a Special Board Meeting on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at Carr Lane Middle School, located at 1004 N. Jefferson Avenue. The transition planning committee meeting will begin in open session at 5:30 p.m. in the dance room and is open to the public. The Special Board will follow in the same room at 7:00 p.m. and also is open to the public. This notice is posted in compliance with RSMO §610.020. The agenda is as follows:
TRANSITION PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Transition plan discussion
4. Adjournment
REGULAR BOARD MEETING AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. FY 2011 Budget Discussion
5. Transition Planning Discussion
6. Adjournment
Calendar
March 21, Sunday, Art, Education, and Democracy: Building Together, 1-3 p.m., 1627 N. 19th St. (corner of 19th and Madison) March 23, Tuesday, Board of Education Transition Planning Committee, 5:30 p.m., Carr Lane VPA Middle School, 1004 North Jefferson Avenue, dance studio March 23, Tuesday, special meeting of the Board of Education, 7:00 p.m., Carr Lane VPA Middle School, 1004 North Jefferson Avenue, dance studio
April 1 , Thursday, regular bi-monthly SAB meeting, 6 p.m., 801 North 11th St. room 108
Please note, The Schools Watch has a new mailing address, P.O. Box 1983, St. Louis, MO 63118. Our email address continues to SLS_Watch@yahoo.com
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