Purdy on College Placement

Larry Handlin wrote an article in our last issue about the SLPS' MSIP declining scores. He mentioned Bill Purdy in the article and asked me to put Purdy's full response up here to give a better context to his remarks. Here they are:

--- Original Message ---
From: WPurdy1001@aol.com
To:
Cc:
Sent: Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:16:30 EST
Subject: Question on College Placement

>
>
> Larry:
>
> My time is very short as I about to leave for Chicago and will not
> return until the weekend.
>
> I have read some of your writings concerning the present board of
> education and I am quite aware that you have enthusiastically
> endorsed most, if not all, of their decisions that date back to the
> hiring of Alvarez and Marsal. You also have expressed unequivocal
> support for Mayor Slay and his educational team. I am also aware of
> your past personal criticism of both myself, Dr. Hammonds and the
> former board. But as a journalist, and not a public relations
> person for the board, I hope that you will approach the subject
> with objectivity. I appreciate the fact that you are seeking my
> input.
>
> Having said that, I do appreciate your interest in the city school
> district and I only wish that others paid attention to the
> education of our children. While we may disagree on some of the
> current board decisions, I am confident that both of us want the
> best for the children.
>
> Here are a few thoughts on the general subject
> of the MSIP:
>
> I will follow this brief email with several commentary and
> informational pieces concerning the MSIP.
>
> COLLEGE PLACEMENT
>
> * In order to receive points for the ACT the district students
> scoring 21 or above must show a 1% increase. That did not happen.
>
> *Last year there was no monitoring of the students taking the ACT
> and as a result, not as many students took the test and those who
> took the test did not do as well.
>
> * We lost points because the staffs who were in charge of running
> the college preparation program and getting the necessary data to
the state was eliminated. The job task was not reassigned and no
> one did the work. As a result, the district didn't have college
> placement points that we had in the past.
>
> *The board laid off so many staff before Roberti and the board knew
> what those staff members did. Amy Hilgemann was correct when she
> said, "When they took the guts out of downtown, they didn't care
> who did what, and it shows."
>
> * Staffs in the schools were overwhelmed due to the many
> disruptions and changes taking place within the schools and the
> district in general.
>
> * Also numerous high school teachers were replaced resulting in
> fewer high-level course offerings which traditionally have had
> smaller class sizes. (Advanced Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Foreign
> Languages etc.) High School principals could not afford to offer
> many small classes in these areas where few students already select
> these advanced classes. The pupil-teacher ratio had to be
> maintained at 28-30:1.
>
> * There was great chaos throughout the district as shock waves of
> destruction trickled down from 801 to the school houses of the
> city. The education of children took a back seat to the ambitions
> of politicians.
>
> *Teacher morale was and continues to be terrible.
>
> DROP OUT RATE
>
> *The alternative options were taken away in the high schools.
> Remember that early on, the board decided to close all of the
> alternative schools including the high school programs at King Tri-
> A and Des Peres. The remaining options were the outsourced programs
> that soon filled to capacity. There are now far fewer options
> available to work with problem students. (This is part of the
> problem that is facing school administrators such as those at
> Vashon.)
>
> * The retention specialists were not as closely monitored and some
> tasks may have slipped through the cracks.
>
> *The work study program was eliminated.
>
> *Principals were told to cut back on staff and many of the schools
> eliminated the upper-level options which in many cases included the
> vocational courses. Example, Beaumont had a culinary program. That
> teacher was cut.
>
> *We almost lost the points for the vocation courses and if that had
> happened, we would have been unaccredited.
>
> *Clerical help was reduced in the high schools and the maintenance
> of accurate record keeping of dropouts vs. transfers were an issue.
> Unless a student who transfers to another high school is properly
> coded as a transfer and attending another school, that student will
> show as a dropout.
>
> I hope that these thoughts are helpful,
>
> Regards,
>
> Bill