I recently did a Radio Show as a contestant for the Dave Glover Show Survivor contest. I mentioned a few things from my “Stack of Stuff” and I promised to post them .
PLEASE go to the 97.1 FM Talk Website, sign up to be an Insider, and vote for me in the Dave Glover Show Survivor contest (voting ends Friday, 2/23/2007 at Noon CST). As promised, here are links to my stack of stuff . . .
CHIEF ILLINIWEK CONTROVERSY
Chief Illiniwek’s last dance set for Feb. 21
By Christine Des Garennesof the Champaign-Urbana, IL News Gazette
Friday, February 16, 2007ST. LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN DISARRAY
Statement by Gov. Blunt on St. Louis Public Schools
Gov. Matt Blunt, Missouri Governor
Thursday, February 15, 2007State Board of Education Reinstates “Transitional
School District” for the St. Louis Public Schools
Missouri State Board of Education Official Statement about the Takeover Decision
Thursday, February 15, 2007Let’s Get Real
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Commentary (read below)
Friday, February 2, 2007We understand the concerns of the hundreds of people who packed a three-hour public hearing earlier this week to voice their opposition to a pending state intervention in the running of the St. Louis Public School district. To many parents, teachers and others who care deeply about the district, the idea of the state essentially nullifying the elected School Board and giving partial control of the schools to an appointed committee seems sacrilegious.But let’s get real.
Given the district’s dire straits and tumultuous history, decisive action needs to be taken. A transitional school district is the best of several options to address the multitude of problems facing St. Louis public schools. Outrage against the plan is misplaced.
Opponents of the transitional school district have argued that it disenfranchises voters. It’s true that under the plan, the elected School Board would be stripped of its decision-making power. The board’s governing functions would be taken over by a three-member appointed committee. The important point is that the transitional school district is temporary. State intervention is what it is: a last-ditch course of treatment designed to resuscitate a critically ill patient. The School Board repeatedly has failed to carry out its responsibilities and now emergency measures are required to restore the district to good health. Accreditation, finances and student achievement need to be addressed immediately.
As for all the sturm and drang at the meeting this week, where was that passion and concern last spring when there was a school board election? We hope interest remains high and that future elections attract more than the scant, scandalous 12 percent of voters who turned out last time.
Education officials and community leaders are acting responsibly by stepping in and taking decisive action when they see a school district in crisis; it is their duty to do so. Ultimate responsibility for ensuring that children in Missouri receive a decent education belongs to the state Board of Education.
Critics of the transitional school district have asked for more time. But the district’s problems, which include a looming financial crisis, declining academic achievement, unstable leadership and falling enrollment, are long-standing. Too much time has passed already; childhood is fleeting.
Some have pinned their hopes on Superintendent Diana Bourisaw. They want to give her more time to turn the district around. We wish we had more confidence in her ability to do so. But the district’s problems are so long-standing, deep-rooted and systemic that no one person, however gifted, can turn it around in a matter of months.
To Mayor Francis Slay and Gov. Matt Blunt we have this to say: You’ve heard the anger, distrust, disappointment, frustration, loss of faith, sense of betrayal – much of it directed at you. You can’t let your shrillest critics stop you from carrying forward the hard, unpopular work ahead. But neither can you ignore the serious message beneath the shrillness. The stakes are high; we’ve all had enough of failure. It’s up to you to exercise due diligence by selecting men and women to the appointed board who have the best interests of St. Louis schoolchildren at heart and who are willing and capable of doing the job well. Don’t let the schoolchildren down.Section: Editorial
Page: C10
Copyright (c) 2007 St. Louis Post-DispatchStatement by Gov. Blunt on St. Louis Public Schools
Missouri Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education Core Data As Submitted by
Missouri Public Schools
November 29, 2006O’Brien Needs To Resign
Resignation Petition for Veronica O’Brien, St. Louis Public School Board Pres.
January 31, 20072005 MO Schools in School Improvement and Restructuring
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education –
No Child Left Behind Data
August 02, 2006A Recipe for Failure:
A Year of Reform and Chaos in the St. Louis Public Schools
Marilyn Ayres-Salamon
Published by Trafford on Demand Publications
Published March 30, 2006DEMOCRATS’ ANTI-TROOPS RESOLUTIONS, ETC. Senate to Stay in Session This Weekend for Iraq Resolution Vote
Fox News Channel Story by Major Garrett and Trish Turner
Thursday, February 15, 2007Quotes From the House Iraq Debate
Associated Press Story via Fox News Channel
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Iraq The Model
Online Blog by Mohammad & Omar, longtime residents of Baghdad, Iraq
Provides Updates on the Troop Surge & other things in Iraq not Covered by
the Ancient MediaCongressman Murtha Crafts Bill to Prevent Iraq Troop Deployments
By Greg Simmons of Fox News Channel
Friday, February 16, 2007House Passes Resolution Opposing Bush’s Plan to Send More Troops to Iraq
By Fox News Channel’s FOX News’ Major Garrett & Jim Mills, and the Associated Press
Friday, February 16, 2007WAR ON TERROR American Citizen Charged With Training in Somalia With Al Qaeda, Learning to Become Homicide Bomber
By Ian McCaleb of Fox News Channel
Click Here to Read the Criminal Complaint (pdf )
Wednesday, February 14, 2007ANCIENT MEDIA NEWS
New Mexico Radio Station Won’t Use ‘Unnamed Officials’ Quotes in News
NewsBusters Online Blog Posted by Warner Todd Huston
Friday, February 16, 2007LOCAL EVENTS PROMOTED ON THE BIG B ZONE The St. Ferdinand Catholic Church Fish Fry
The Best Fish Fry in St. Louis!
Fridays from 3:00 – 7:00pm in the St. Ferdinand Catholic School Cafeteria
Florissant, MO