Historical April–May 2003 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The quality of a school system is the accumulative quality of its schools, which depends on their principals, who must provide leadership and empowering support for the teachers providing the education. Principals must: make sure their staff has sufficient resources; require high standards; recognize effective teaching; know what is going on in each classroom (with long hours before/after school for paperwork) and objectively evaluate and hold staff accountable.
All must believe that every student can learn, and deliver on it. Administrators above principals must be accountable for making sure the above is achieved.
The Board of Education must hire, and work with, a superintendent who will empower, provide support to, and hold these key people accountable; and improve results to, at a minimum, a system average of at-grade student achievement.
This will regain the confidence of the voters and legislators that providing more money is not pouring it down the drain, and gain the resources for the staff on whom we depend to educate our city’s children.
I personally know and recommend two candidates for consideration. Vince Schoemehl, with his experience, will require educational administrative accountability. Ron Jackson’s career has focused on improving children’s lives, and he’s led the recent effort to get area school systems to improve the education of minority students to eliminate the achievement gap.
He will not accept St. Louis city children achieving at lower levels than in competing systems.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2003.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2003_04.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
