Danforth-Freeman should define stability for St. Louis schools
St. Louis’ civic dynamic duo — civil rights attorney Frankie M. Freeman and Washington University Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth — has been pressed back into service on behalf of St. Louis Public Schools.
Missouri Commissioner of Education Chris L. Nicastro has asked them for independent advice on the best way to move the district forward.
The decision to do so is timely and wise. Dr. Danforth and Ms. Freeman’s advice, if it replicates the tenor, soundness and incisiveness of their past recommendations, could result in St. Louis Public Schools’ best chance in decades to achieve lasting stability.
Ms. Nicastro’s predecessor, the late D. Kent King, first asked Ms. Freeman and Dr. Danforth to lead a five-member committee to study the district in 2006.
The committee’s recommendations have had a huge impact on the district. They led the state Board of Education to withdraw the district’s accreditation in 2007. The city’s elected board of education was stripped of authority in favor of a three-person Special Administrative Board appointed to run the district.
Last week, Ms. Nicastro asked Ms. Freeman and Dr. Danforth to continue their work; all of their committee’s original members — Donald M. Suggs, publisher of the St. Louis American newspaper, attorney Ned O. Lemekmeier and Michael M. Middleton, a deputy chancellor and professor of law at the University of Missouri-Columbia — have agreed to continue their service.
The committee has been given broad authority to consider what comes next for St. Louis Public Schools. What measurements — in terms of student achievement, financial stability and other criteria — will signal that the district is ready to be returned to local control? Where should that transition lead? Should the district be returned to a locally elected board of education? Or would the city’s children, and the stability of the district, be better served by some form of appointed board?
Ms. Nicastro correctly emphasized that no one should expect quick action on state oversight. St. Louis Public Schools’ progress — including any return to local control — is a long-term project.
She made clear that reconvening the Freeman-Danforth committee should not be seen as a slight to the Special Administrative Board that is overseeing the district. She voiced “support and confidence in the board and Superintendent Kelvin Adams,” but noted that, by its very nature, the SAB is not a permanent arrangement.
The Freeman-Danforth committee will present its findings and recommendations by next fall — leaving adequate time before the state Legislature’s 2011 session to ready legislative proposals.
The committee’s meetings will be open — with plenty of notice to the public, and opportunities for all interested parties to be heard. It could have a major impact on the district — this time for the long term.
Dysfunctional school board leadership was a huge factor in the intractable decline of St. Louis Public Schools. Electoral politics have been driven by special interests, resulting in a see-saw of board control. Inattentiveness and uncontrolled egos led to administrative and financial chaos, frequent turnover in superintendents and other education leaders and a loss of public confidence.
The state takeover, and the appointment of the SAB, restored good order to the administration of St. Louis Public Schools. The Freeman-Danforth committee’s central challenge is to recommend a permanent system of stable governance for St. Louis Public Schools. All other progress and reform depends on it.
Thirty years too late. This had to be fixe 30 years ago.
What you refer to as a see-saw of board control has been up-down-up:
Mayor Slay hand-picked a board which made terrible decisions based on corporate agendas, replaced by a board voted in by the people–despite being outspent 7 to 1 by Slay’s people– a board which had the courage to confront Floyd Irons, whose superintendent Bourisaw gained support of the teachers, replaced by a board set by the same people with the corporate agenda who had been defeated at the polls. One of their first actions was to ignore Bourisaw’s warning not to deal with Texas-Can, and when her advice was proven dead on accurate, they fired her.
I have already written to the Danforth member from Columbia, asking him to talk to several specific people about the unsolved murder of Tim Bacon—a murder which involved 12 bullets, and which looks like it could have been ordered by the forces demanding the state takeover.
I doubt the Danforth committee will be quite so trusting of the people who manipulated them in 2006 this time around.
A Parochial King and a Civil Rights attorney, in charge, Makes one want to say Hmmmmmmm.
All they need now is a veiled prophet.
It restored such good order that we still aren’t even partially accredited, we still can’t meet our budget and the kids are still suffering for it(fewer schools-larger class sizes).
Nice job!
The parents/people of the city saw the destruction that electoral politics(Mayor Slay’s board)played in driving our district to unaccreditation. That’s why we took matters into our own hands and elected parents with children in the district to the elected school board. Then, promptly, the board’s power was revoked and turned over to the SAB. Which as it stands, has done virtually nothing to move us any closer to accreditation or improve test scores. My vote, as a parent, is to turn it back over to the elected board. At least, this specific board, is made up of parents who have a vested interest in the outcome of their decision-making. But that’s right-I don’t get a vote anymore.
William Danforth and Frankie Freeman are two very well qualified and classy people. What is truly sad is that there does not appear to be anyone in this generation equally qualified and classy.
Nice post i must say. Good effort but i think it is too late. This has to be started earlier. Thanks
slight revision:
What you refer to as a see-saw of board control was 1.Mayor Slay hand-picked a board which made terrible decisions based on corporate agendas, 2. replaced by a board voted in by the people–despite being outspent 7 to 1 by Slay’s people– a board which had the courage to confront Floyd Irons, and whose superintendent Bourisaw served longer and gained wider support of the teachers and parents than any other superintendent, 3.replaced by a board set by the same people with the corporate agenda who had been defeated at the polls. (including one of your paper’s largest advertizers)
One of their first actions was to ignore Bourisaw’s warning not to deal with Texas-Can charter school, (which fell apart after only 7 months), and when her advice was proven dead on accurate, they fired her.
I have already written to the Danforth member from Columbia, asking him to talk to several specific people about the unsolved murder of Tim Bacon—a murder which involved 12 bullets, and which looks like it could have been ordered by the forces demanding the state takeover.
I doubt the Danforth committee will be quite so trusting of the people who manipulated them in 2006 this time around.