Another shining example of throwing money at schoolz in futile attempt
to enhance DAFN education -- fallz flat on itz IQ-75_OOWBreeding_Face.
Combine hopelessly incompetent DAFN managerz with intellectually feeble
studentz, and the outcome is pathetically predictable:
stltoday.comSt.+Open ↗
Louis+City+%2F+County/F9939FCB305ABDEE86256E5600262E29?Open-
Document&Headline=Promise+Unfulfilled **********************
exZZZZZZZZZZZZZerpt *************************** Promise
Unfulfilled - 03/14/2004
The idea was bold enough to attract national attention,
along with dozens of families seeking an escape from failing
city schools.... In a matter of weeks, the crowd of parents
was promised, two schools would open with the BEST
COMPUTERS, the most ENERGETIC TEACHERS and not a penny in
tuition. And before the coming school year was through, at
least four campuses would welcome up to 7 percent of the
city's public school children.
Nothing of this scale had ever been attempted in urban
education, much less on such a breakneck timeline. In fact,
the whole project might have been dismissed as a hoax if so
many reputable players - not to mention a $20 million line
of credit - weren't behind it....
More than two-and-a-half years later, the promises of that
August afternoon HAVE NOT BEEN FULFILLED.
Two campuses of the St. Louis Academies did manage to open
just weeks after the 2001 announcement. The schools now
operate as charter schools serving about 600 children and
drawing more than $4 million from the state each year.
But the DREAM of providing an academic oasis to thousands of
students HAS BEEN ABANDONED....Today, the schools face the
possibility of being closed for mismanagement.
State regulators and the university responsible for
overseeing the academies have CONCERNS OVER MOST EVERY
ASPECT of their operations - from their financial
management, to their academic performance and the
qualifications of their teachers.
Furthermore, the schools have hired numerous employees who
are relatives or church associates of a board member....
The St. Louis Academies were born of a collaboration that
was so uncommon that the project became the darling of many
national education reformers before the schools even
opened....
AT THE HEART OF THE PROJECT WERE SEVERAL PASTORS FROM THE
Church of God in Christ - THE FASTEST GROWING *African-
American* CHURCH IN THE NATION...
But behind the scenes, the collaboration that had launched
the schools was already breaking down....Those involved
with the St. Louis Academies say pinpointing exactly when
the schools began to falter is difficult ....disagreements
over how to run the schools cropped up within months of
opening. Those disagreements, she said, were accompanied by
a turnover in leadership....Since 2002, more than a third
of the school's 85 staff members have left, according to
school records.
"We didn't have a chalkboard to write on. We didn't have
textbooks," Droney recalled. In that environment the schools
have run afoul of several state laws that ultimately could
shut them down. High teacher turnover, for example, has put
the schools in violation of a state law that requires 80
percent of a charter school's teachers to have teaching
certificates. At one point, 42 percent of the academies'
teachers did not have permanent teaching certificates or had
certificates that had expired, the state's most recent
"school report card" shows. Compare that to St. Louis Public
Schools, which had 12 percent of teachers without regular
certificates, or the state average, which is 3 percent.
Of the staff members who remain, many are relatives of the
schools' founding pastors or have connections to their
churches. Sandra Goins, for instance, was the
administrator in charge of the schools' South Campus. She
is also, according to state records, a board member at
Williams' church. Goins' two sons and a daughter-in-law
also were hired by the school, as was Williams' son and
his sister-in-law.
There have been enrollment problems, too. At one point last
year, more than 14 percent of the students were not city
residents, ineligible to attend because they lived in north
St. Louis County and even Illinois. The schools had to give
up more than half a million dollars in state aid for that
violation of state law.
More recently, the state sought the return of $27,873 in
federal grant money because the school could not document
how the money was spent.
The bookkeeping problems run even deeper, according to Rolla
Chancellor Gary Thomas. He said the RECORDS were in such
DISARRAY that auditors had told him that they had trouble
doing a proper audit of how the academies spent their $4.7
million budget, primarily from state and federal funds. The
audit is now three months overdue....
Meanwhile, student test scores are WELL BELOW the state
average, as well as BELOW those in other St. Louis district
schools....
***********************************************************-
***********
DAFN_Geneticz is the Common Denominator of Failed_Schoolz.
Supreme Court 1954, Brown vs DNA, a total LOOZer -- AN iq-75
MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE money on...