New twist, same old yarn: O'brien calls for state intervention
...to eliminate the positions of people she no longer agrees with.
Ironically, one of the board's defenders has come under fire from Board President O'Brien as well, board member William Purdy.
Just over a month ago, Purdy defended the district in an open letter to the Post-Dispatch:
Re: “Chaos continues” (September 28). Let me assure your readers that any chaos exists primarily in your editorials. The St. Louis Public Schools are on a sound road to recovery after three years of plummeting performance that began in 2003. Further, the system is now firmly embarked on a plan to regain full accreditation.O'Brien is now accusing Purdy of being the puppet-master behind Superintendent Diana Bourisaw's insubordinate ways; a superintendent hand-picked by O'Brien as part of a palace coup.
Just hours before the (not-so) surprising ouster of former-Superintendent Creg Williams on July 14th, O'Brien dismissed claims that Bourisaw (who was hired as an auditor) was, in-effect, a superintendent-in-waiting in a conversation with Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown (P-D, July 16th).
To view the presentation that has gotten Bourisaw in so much hot water, go to the St. Louis School District's web page.
The presentation received mixed reviews from the state oversight committee.
Bourisaw is also getting mixed reviews at home. In addition to O'Brien's criticism that Bourisaw is too free-wheeling in her actions, members Robert Archibald and Ronald Jackson criticized Bourisaw's report as sugarcoating the state of the district.
If the meeting tonight is not packed then I will be very disappointed.
Posted by Douglas Duckworth on Tue., Nov 21, 2006 at 1:10 PMI generally hate to do this, but..
I told you so. That's in general not to Matthew in particular.
=I generally hate to do this, but
Does anyone here believe that bunch of crap? Is there any more self-grandiose, self-gloating imbecile on this website than the AP.
Posted by Chris on Tue., Nov 21, 2006 at 6:25 PMYeah, I believe it. Your attacks on Arch Pundit are tedious. If you have that big a problem with him then why don't you go face him down and talk to him like a man instead of taking anonymous shots on a blog?
Posted by kate on Tue., Nov 21, 2006 at 7:51 PMWell, I've heard the song, "Kiss Me, Kate," but this is the first time I've heard "Kiss Up Kate".
Kate must relish vindictiveness and personal put downs of others with different opinions too. Chris got it right. Kate, don't let the facts get in your way.
Posted by Brian on Wed., Nov 22, 2006 at 7:54 AMJust to clarify, the above poster is not me. I agree with Larry, but I feel very sorry for the students. As strongly as I felt O'Brien's Board would be a mess and didn't vote for her, Purdy or Downs, I still hoped for the best.
Posted by Brian on Wed., Nov 22, 2006 at 9:42 AMThe mayor's office originally appointed Obrien.
Archibald and Jackson want Bourisaw to fail so that they can say "I told you so."
A completely new board not appointed by the mayor's office would be nice.
All seven of them are too emotional, although to varying degrees. Thought Fowler was the only sane one until he got on the lawsuit.
Hinman did a good piece on why Irons did need to go, even if the board bungled it by saying he could still teach.
Posted by shoshanna on Wed., Nov 22, 2006 at 11:18 AM
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