By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, February 16 at 6:56 PM
READ IT HERE FIRST
The St. Louis Teachers and School Related Personnel Union, Local 420, has endorsed Peter Downs and Donna Jones for school board.
In a letter dated Feb. 14, the union's leaders say, "Both Peter and Donna are proud parents of children who attend the St. Louis Public Schools... We believe that [they] will move our district forward." The letter also says that the duo have been endorsed by The St. Louis Labor Club as well.
The endorsement by the teachers union of the two outsider candidates is not entirely unexpected. After endorsing all but one of the candidates backed by Mayor Francis Slay in 2003, the union has become a vocal critic of several moves made by the board majority. The rejection of Slay's latest picks, Board President Darnetta Clinkscale and recent appointee Jim Buford of the Urban League, can also be interpreted as a rejection of the mayor's leadership.
In an email this week from MayorSlay.com, the mayor says, "The reforms proposed by the Board over the past three years have not been uniformly popular – or, even, immediately successful. Some groups, including some district employees, feared for their jobs. Other groups favored different changes or disliked some of the proposed changes. Yet, there is plenty of evidence that improvements made by the Board are now beginning to take hold – and that children are learning."
Many parents and teachers disagree though, pointing to the slide further away from accreditation since the mayor got involved in the schools.
Attached to the union's letter of endorsement is a flier that reads, "Get off the Clinkscale Slide!" It shows how the district had 64 points towards full accreditation (just 2 points shy of the needed 66 points) in 2003 when the Slay slate took over the district. SLPS now has only 39 points.
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