Whew, so long as it's not Velma Bailey.

I have a headache.

Arch Pundit,

Why the headache? What name-brand aspirin will help?

Marlene Davis is an idiot with no people skills; ripe to be paid for and picked off by the various developers and other interests in the 19th ward. What else is new?

And those would be very nice shoes . . .

Ms. Davis is neither an idiot nor without considerable charm. She'd be a good alderwoman. And to become an alderwoman, she'd have win an election.

It is clear from some of the posts ^ that the very thought of Mike's successful campaign for a citywide office is stirring up the bottom of the gene pool.

You're wrong publiceye. Marlene's just like Ida Woolfolk. Lackeys for McMillian and thieves. Only around to make money off the 19th ward citizens and keep the illusion going about Mike being a real man. I know for a fact that McMillian's group cheats on their endorsements. At a vote in the Rodney Hubbard and Anthony Walker race, Marlene was caught throwing away some of Hubbard's votes. You won't be able to trust that ward's endorsements ever if she's involved.

Samantha your comments, that insinuate that McMillan is not a real man makes me wonder if you feel this way because he rejected you. If so you should get over it.

Theodore McMillian was the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge who passed today. He was a giant among men. His story should be told in every local school.

Michael McMillan is the alderman from the 19th seeking to become the next license collector.

What gives me a headache? Marlene Davis yelling at parents in the middle of school board meetings because they dared to challenge her.

LOL, if yelling at a school board meeting were disqualifying, no one who has ever spent a Tuesday night downtown could be an alderman.

Besides, yelling at school board meetings is probably a pretty good warm-up for a Board of Aldermen filibuster.

Has there been more than one filibuster at the Board of Aldermen in the past twelve years?

Yelling at parents who are taking a role in the child's education is a lot different than yelling at adults fighting over jobs or perceived slights...

Purdy was a huge improvement in that he at least always treated parents with respect--Darnetta has continued that.

I think I need new glasses. ArchPundit saying something positive about Purdy....

Switching gears, though, the best thing Darnetta [and Archibald and Jackson] could do for Superintendent Williams is to resign. She carries herself in a dignified manner and came in with good intentions. Parents will continue to regard her, Archibald and Jackson as Mayor's office "talking point readers" [Shelly Smithson's RFT piece for newcomers]. When lost, trust is rarely regained. Slay would still get to appoint their replacements.

This 35% magnet set aside will be seen by reasonable people as a further attempt to depopulate North St. Louis.

It's true that Purdy and I disagree on most things, but after assuming the President's position he did tone down the fighting on the Board. Not perfect, but a big improvement. I've also often given him credit for running against the racist CofCC slate in his first election.

It's also pretty damn cool that he caught Satchel Paige.

===This 35% magnet set aside will be seen by reasonable people as a further attempt to depopulate North St. Louis.

I'm sorry, but I'm not following this--how is it an attempt to depopulate North City? Currently the problem at many magnets is that lack of African-American applicants is reducing the total number of slots due to the ratio requirements. If African-American students aren't applying for magnets at high enough rates now, how does that lead to a depopulation of the North Side.

The larger problem no one seems to be able to notice is that South Saint Louis isn't just white.
http://stlouis.missouri.org/census/Census2000Report2.pdf

The South East portion of the City is undergoing a radical change in population. Part of the problem of centering politics around race and the North-South split in Saint Louis is that it severely neglects a portion of the African-American population in South City where population levels are far more stable in than in North City. Much of that stability is migration of African-American residents. By only viewing the geography of race as North and South in the City, the fastest growing areas in terms of African-Americans are being ignored in terms of their needs.

If anything is going to depopulate North City it's the coming end of the VITP.

And the dramatically increased African-American population of South City is also why it doesn't make sense for Roosevelt to be the neglected southside catch-all, while Vashon hogs the attention.

Correction--I screwed up--the problem in most magnets is a lack of white students. So North City African Americans would probably lose slots.

Vashon is an important project, Brian. Roosevelt is important too, but the attempt with Vashon is to integrate reform from elementary to high school. While the attendance zone still dips into south of downtown for Vashon, a high school in that area is needed and it faces more pressing problems. Vashon as a high school was falling apart at the seams and not only were academics a problem, but the discipline situation was threatening to make it all even worse.

Roosevelt will be getting lots of attention this summer.

Attention is needed, and the sooner the better. All non-magnet public schools need to integrate reform from elementary to high school, not just schools feeding into Vashon.

And as population trends show, Roosevelt will continue to have a hard time, if it remains the only non-magnet high school for all of the southside.

Dr. Williams, a newcomer, deserves credit for realizing that Vashon is, in many ways, the District's face -- and its future.

Vashon's problems -- construction, leadership, attendance, staffing, safety, achievement, divisive booster groups, personalities, graduation -- reflect many of the District's own problems.

It has a loyal and vocal base of alums -- who can't quite agree on much. Its public profile is higher than Metro's -- despite the fact that five randomly selected Metro students would outpoint the entire senior class of Vashon in any competition that didn't involve a whistle. So, addressing Vashon's problems head-on and creatively makes great sense.

If Dr. Williams and his Board majority can fix Vashon, they can fix the District.

Vashon's problems are not separate from the city, but reflect the city. If the students' parents had good jobs, there would be a lot fewer problems at Vashon. Superintendent Williams is definitely to be applauded for reducing the overcrowding there. He should also be applauded for trying to get his board to give him the alternative [behavior problem] schools that he wants. Those were the absolute last two schools in the district that should have been closed.

Williams and *his* board majority?

The same board majority that closed the alternative schools that Williams now wants?

These people are as much as hindrance to him as a help, and when the honeymoon is over it would be hard to see the supe and the majority marching in lockstep.