[imc-st.louis] Fwd: Protest Group Says The School Superintendent Selection Process is a Fraud. 9/22

[ben]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Protest Group Says The School Superintendent Selection Process
is a Fraud. 9/22
Date: 	Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:05:47 EDT
From: 	SLPSBOARDNEWS at aol.com
To: 	SLPSBOARDNEWS at aol.com


*For Immediate Release*

Date: September 22, 2008

To all News Media

From: ACTION ReUnion 2008

For Further Information Contact Percy Green @ 314.533.1686

* *

*Protest Group Says The School Superintendent Selection Process is a
Fraud. *



St. Louis, MO- “The selection process for superintendent of the St.
Louis public schools is a fraud and should not be accepted,” said* Percy
Green,* ACTION ReUnion 2008 spokesperson. When asked what concerned
parents and citizen should do, Green said “They should launch a series
of direct-action protest demonstrations at the *Special Appointed Board*
(SAB) and *St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay*.”



None of the three SAB finalists has adequate experience nor are they
certified superintendents in good standing. The SAB does not want a
bonafide superintendent for a reason. A good certified superintendent,
like *Diana Bourisaw*, former St. Louis public school superintendent,
demonstrated by performance her ability to officiate a public school
system effectively and with competence. All three current finalists for
superintendent should have had, at least, if not more experience and
credentials than Bourisaw.  The St. Louis public school system does NOT
deserve anything less. If the candidate pool could not top Bourisaw’s
qualifications, then Bourisaw should have been allowed to remain as
superintendent until some others with such qualifications became
available. A priority for most competent superintendents is to maintain
its state accreditation or regain it if lost.  Of course, that is
providing that the State of Missouri is fair-minded to all its public
school systems and not be wrongfully influenced by local corrupted
politicians, as is the case in St. Louis.





*Green* said he agrees with *Elected School Board* member *Donna Jones’
*earlier public statement that *Kelvin Adams* will be selected as
superintendent. Adams is the candidate that is most vulnerable to the
SAB’s deceit and deception because he could never become a
superintendent elsewhere of a district this large with so little
qualifications and experience.  He will become the *public school
superintendent in training.* In exchange, Adams will be so obligated to
the SAB for the opportunity that he will be nothing more than a
“clerk-like” figurehead for *Rick Sullivan*, SAB’s chief executive
officer. In other words, *Adams* will be a pass through for *Mayor Slay*
and *Sullivan* to further dismantle the school system by first trying to
break the teacher’s union, Local #420. Next, Adams will become the new
“front person” to advocate for the failing charter schools and voucher
programs whose owners make large contributions to Mayor Slay’s political
campaign. Green believes that the SAB never took the other two tainted
candidates seriously for the position. They were merely used as a decoy
to give their fraudulent selection process cover to select Adams.



Green said he suspects that all the SAB candidates are probably nice
people, but they lack what is needed for the St. Louis public school
system. Even the twenty-seven other alleged candidates that the SAB
refuses to identify are probably nice people. But as far as the public
knows, Green added, many of them could be more fit for the job then the
three that the SAB selected as finalists. The SAB cannot be trusted
because of how *Mayor Slay* and *Governor Matt Blunt* were used to
circumvent the authority of a duly elected school board.



For all the qualities that the SAB claimed they were searching for in a
qualified superintendent, they already existed with Bourisaw.  She had
experience and was certified in good standing prior to her selection by
the elected school board. In addition, during her two-year tenure, she
brought stability and closed the 25-point accreditation gap that she
inherited from Mayor Slay’s school board



majority to within two points. Had she been with any other public school
system other than St. Louis, she would have been given the opportunity
she earned to bring the system to full accreditation. Instead, the SAB
ignored signing her contract for a period and finally conveyed to her
that if she was to remain as superintendent that it would be in name
ONLY.  Bourisaw is too much of a professional to allow for a
questionable, unqualified board (the SAB) to take her responsibilities
and reduce her to a “figurehead” to destroy a school system that she
worked so hard to rebuild.



ACTION ReUnion 2008, was a former full-time protest organization in the
area for over 20 years, now acting as a consultant to other protest groups.



#





*This SLPS Board News Update is from the Public and Governmental Affairs
Committee of the Elected Board of Education and was created to help keep
you informed about what is happening in the St. Louis Public Schools.
Please feel free to forward this News Update to others who might be
interested. IF AT ANY TIME YOU RATHER NOT RECEIVE THESE E-MAILS _REPLY_
TO SLPSBOARDNEWS at AOL.COM WITH _"UNSUBSCRIBE ME"_*



-- 
Ben West
westbywest at riseup.net
http://savetheinternet.org