On Wednesday July 28, 2010 the Elected Board of Education held a special meeting at the Carpenter Branch Library and approved the following resolution:
RESOLUTION ON THE PROPOSED SCHOOL BOND ISSUE ON THE AUGUST 2010 BALLOT
Whereas, SAB member Richard Gaines has implied that the elected St. Louis Board of Education supports the school bond issue on the August 3 ballot; and
Whereas, the operations of St. Louis Public Schools are in the throes of a financial crisis that is forcing the district to increase class sizes; eliminate teaching positions and support services; and reduce courses, summer school and enrichment activities and bonds cannot be used to hire teachers, reduce class sizes, increase enrichment activities or expand pre-school or otherwise solve the district’s financial crisis; and
Whereas, the state appointed board (SAB) has a record of poor fiscal management and consistent with that is running a misleading campaign for the bond issue and has declined to publicly specify how and where the bond money would be spent; and
Whereas, there are lingering questions about political or personal favoritism in awarding construction- related contracts by the SAB;
Therefore, be it resolved that the elected St. Louis Board of Education clarifies that it does not support the school bond issue on the August 2010 ballot.
Be it also resolved that the elected St. Louis Board of Education authorizes the officers of the board to disseminate this clarification to local news media and answer any questions the board may receive about it.
It should be noted that at its July 13 regular monthly meeting, the Board of Education considered a different resolution opposing Proposition S. That resolution failed on a tie vote of 3-3. Because one board member, the tie breaking vote, was out of town, some board members thought a special meeting should be called to reconsider the issue. The resolution above was on the resolution which was presented on July 13. It was a new resolution. (Editor’s note)
Some people have asked me for my take on Proposition S, the school bond issue on the ballot in St. Louis.
I know that for some people the decision is an easy one, regardless of what position they take. Some of you have seen the editorial in the St. Louis American or the email from Jeanette Mott Oxford. On the other side is the position of ACTION Reunion 2010 (see attached).
For me, the decision has not been a simple one.
There is no doubt that the schools need money. Whatever the cause, we’ve seen both cutbacks and increased deficit spending every year for the last few years. Schools have been closed, courses cut, class sizes increased, and reductions made in classroom materials, enrichment materials and activities. By any measure, the learning experience has become more impoverished.
Will this bond issue change that? No, absolutely not. The bonds cannot be used for teachers, teaching materials, field trips or anything that is part of operating schools to provide education.
In most areas of life, except possibly for politics, when there is a serious problem, people try to figure out what is the cause and what will most help. If someone is seriously ill, doctors don’t just do what whatever is easiest, they try to figure out what will most help. If a factory has quality problems, people don’t do whatever is easiest, they try to find out what is causing most of the problems and what will it take to fix that thing. If a building is condemned, people look first at what it will take to make it habitable, not what it will take to make it pretty. Usually people look to do what is effective, not what is easiest or most visible.
Less than a year ago, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released an analysis of what is wrong with education in St. Louis Public Schools. They covered everything from curriculum problems to the absence of help for students, who are having trouble learning, to a sky-high dropout rate (27%), and so on.
The SAB could have asked voters for approval to spend more of their taxes on fixes to those problems, instead they are asking voters for approval to spend their taxes on buildings. They opted to do what is easy and visible instead of what is effective.
Now, some people will say, “what about the computers, don’t our children need computers?” The school district currently has thousands of computers collecting dust because the SAB cut out the jobs of teaching children how to use computers and closed computer rooms across the district. What is the point of buying something you can’t use, because you can’t afford to hire anyone to use it? And as the recent controversy around Shirley Sherrod illustrated, teaching students how to use computers involves much more than simply teaching how to turn them on and push some keys; it also involves teaching how to evaluate and analyze information you find.
What about hazard materials, such as lead? The SAB has already touted how it abated all lead and asbestos hazards in St. Louis Public Schools. Superintendent Adams told the elected school board that, if the bond passes, the money will be used to reimburse the capital fund that already paid for the hazardous materials abatement. In other words, the work has already been done and will not be affected by passage or defeat of the bond issue.
Some people will say, even if the bond is exactly what school children need most, don’t we need the jobs? I think that is a red herring. If the SAB asked voters for the okay to use more of their existing taxes for operations, for fixing the things that DESE said needs to be fixed, that too would create jobs, and instead of temporary construction jobs, they would be long-term jobs that improve the community and help prepare more young people for the future.
To me, this bond issue is not about the children. There have been so many false and misleading statements made by those campaigning for the bonds that I don’t know what it is really about. It could be about patronage or about giving people in power something to point to so they can claim that they are “doing something,” or both, or something else entirely different, but it is not about the children.
But that is just me. I recognize that honest people can in good faith reach different conclusions. I urge you to reach your own.
Sincerely,
Peter Downs
Calendar
August 5, Thursday, regular bi-monthly SAB meeting, 6 p.m., 801 North 11th Street, room 108
August 10, Tuesday, regular monthly Board of Education meeting, 7 p.m., Carr Lane VPA Middle School Dance Studio, 1004 N. Jefferson
August 19, Thursday, regular bi-monthly SAB meeting, 6 p.m., 801 North 11th Street, room 108
Please note, The Schools Watch has a new mailing address,
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Our email address continues to be SLS_Watch@yahoo.com
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