Founding
memo to Vern Moore outlining project organizational structure
of the University City High School Capital Campaign.
projectappleseed.org
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
TO: Dr. Vern Moore, Supt.
FR: Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l. Dir.
DA: June 1, 2004
RE: Lion Heart Recreation & Alumni Center
Vern I have attached background & contact information on the alumni and community members who are meeting with us on the UCHS recreation center project. Four broad-based planning teams will set goals and develop strategies for the complex:
- UCHS Alumni Foundation &
Capital Campaign Start-up
- Concept & Construction
- Facility Administration & Marketing
- Special Event Planning
Architect Greg Mayes will be part of the Concept & Construction Team but could not be profiled at the time our staff put this info together.
cc: Beth Bender, Principal
NOTE:
Concept & Construction Team Members
Design Work Session Scheduled for
June 7, 2004, 7:00pm
UCHS Advisement Center 2nd Floor
Confirm availability with Lee Kincaid
leemkincaid@sbcglobal.net or
Phone: (314) 567-3714
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2004 16:09:40 -0500
Subject: UCHS recreation center project
From: "Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l Dir., projectappleseed.org"
<kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org>
To: <vmoore@u-city.k12.mo.us>
projectappleseed.org
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Our timeline has been set back a bit due to my 30 day absence when I joined John Kerry's staff in Iowa. We have been working hard to catch-up and we are making progress. Attached you will find an updated copy of the Scope of Work Document and the Management Plan and Timeline.
- I have asked Maury Poscover UCHS 62', a partner in the law firm of Husch & Eppenberger, to assist in the establishment of the UCHS Alumni Foundation.
- Tom Bailey, UCHS parent and owner of the Missouri Black Expo will work with the Special Events Team to begin the process of securing future concert dates for two Nelly (Cornell Haynes Jr. UCHS 93') fund raising events.
- Greg Mayes volunteered over the holidays to further refine the sketches that were created on December 11. These sketches will be turned into architectural renderings and illustrations by Adam Kruvand....
- And please welcome Adam Kruvand (UCHS 93') a partner in Studio2a (http://www.studio2a.net) to the Concept & Construction Team. Adam lives in Chicago and has stepped forward to provide the architectural illustrations that we need to sell the project. He visited UCHS over the holidays. Studio2a's work is all-encompassing, and includes, but is not limited to, web design; commercial video effects; high resolution architectural and computer animations; and superior quality architectural renderings and illustrations. Its work has been featured on ESPN, CNN, and local news affiliates, as well as in USA TODAY, architecture and trade journals.
"The value of seeing a project years before its completion is immeasurable. In my experience there is one firm combining this capability for computer animation with both video and architecture experience and that is Studio2a. Adam Kruvand combines education, experience and fluency across both of the mediums of video and computer animation but brings an understanding of architectural design that is critical to the contribution this work can make." - Phil Hofstra, Principal, HOK Sport.
- Many alumni and community members have very kind in making contributions to Project Appleseed over the holidays. To maintain transparency in everything that we do, all donors will be posted on projectappleseed.org/ucity.html in the next week. In addition our 990 IRS tax returns will be posted.
We deeply appreciate the work everyone has provided.
Kevin
From: Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l Dir., www.projectappleseed.org
<kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org>
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2005 15:57:59 -0600
Cc: Vern Moore, Jerry Sincoff , Bob Winters, Tony Thompson,
Greg Mayes, Ted Christner, Kim Loomis, Beth Bender, adam kruvand,
Barb McGhee (School Board), Alex Tryson, Maury Poscover
Subject: UCHS Update
Project Appleseed October 12, 2005, Request to
Superintendent James Victory to be placed on the Board of Education
Agenda. Request went unanswered.
projectappleseed.org
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Dr. Victory-
Welcome to University City. I wanted to familiarize you with our work on the renovation of the high school. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in the coming weeks. We ask that the District put this project on the Board of Education's November 3rd meeting agenda as a point of information - if there is room.
I look forward to meeting you.
Thanks,
Kevin Walker
Top 10 education organization
in the United States of America - Teacher magazine &
Parenting magazine. #1 ranking in Google for 'parental
involvement in public schools'.
User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/11.2.3.060209
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 07:03:16
-0500
Subject: UCHS Capital
Campaign
From: "Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l Dir. projectappleseed.org"
<kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org>
To: <jvictory@u-city.k12.mo.us>
Message-ID: <BF7265B6.9A5F%kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org>
Thread-Topic: UCHS Capital Campaign
Mime-version: 1.0
projectappleseed.org
THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Hi-
I am asking the superintendent (Dr. Victory) and the board of education for the opportunity to present the plan for UCHS at its November 3rd meeting at the McKnight administrative building. I know I have to touch base with many of you individually to catch up and I will do so.
I want to schedule a meeting
during the week October 17 for the purpose of preparing the presentation.
We have selected a fund raising consultant and a facility consultant
and I want to begin to give them the information that they will
need to complete their preparation. Please let me know of your
availability (not if you live in Chicago or Kansas!). The enclosed
file is 1.5MB. If you can't get it out of this e-mail, it can
be downloaded at -
http://www.projectappleseed.org/LionHeartScopeofWork.pdf.
Thanks,
Kevin
cc: Beth Bender, Kim Loomis, Barb Mcghee (School Board), Adam Kruvand Jerry Sincoff , Arnold Spirtas, Ted Christner, Gregory Mayes, Bob Winters, Tony Thompson, Alex Tryson, Tony Thomas, Ira Berkowitz, Anne Borman, Bryan Pearlman, Terry Schwartz, Tom Bailey, Ted Smorodin
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 11:56:00
-0500
Subject: UCHS Capital
Campaign
From: "Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l Dir. projectappleseed.org
To: info@projectappleseed.org
___________________________________________________________________________________
Information sent to Ellen
Bern
"Kevin Walker, Pres.
& Nat'l Dir. projectappleseed.org" wrote:
Ellen and Linda -
Thanks for asking about the capital campaign for the high school. I believe that we have come up with a good plan for the Board and we want to keep moving. But given that Beth Bender asked to use me as a reference for an opening in the Hazelwood School District, it is highly likely that key alumni will see her potential departure as very bad news. Such a development would set us back several years and I am more than worried.
We have been courting key alumni capable of giving large gifts or raising large sums. They are all single minded in their personal support for Beth. They have offered to help the high school but their support is partly based on her continued tenure.
This would include philanthropic leaders in the UCHS Hall of Fame like xxxxxxx xxxx and xxxxxx xxxxxx. Together they gave XXXX U. $55 million dollars in 2004 for the new arts building under construction. Big Beth fans. xxxxxxx xxxxxxx has told Beth he and his wife xxxxxxx xxxxxxx could raise $20 million. The xxxxxxxxxxx's have expressed their support for UCHS. They have already provided over $250,000 to District grads in previous years. xxxxxxxx xxxxx is an enormous Beth fan and would probably donate all the xxxxxxxxxx needed to xxxxxxxx the Natatorium and gyms. You can expect him to lead the charge to keep Beth. xxxxxxx xxxxxx is the Grand Dame of Philanthropy in St. Louis and her daughter is the xxxxxxxxx of xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx. Word will travel fast in the philanthropic / education community that Bender has left and the adverse affects will be felt. I could go on but you get the picture.
Right now retention is important. Also know that Lynn Beckwith Jr. is the lead Missouri School Board Assoc. search consultant for a new Superintendent in Jennings which will prompt Joylynn Wilson to apply and become a finalist (see http://www.msbanet.org/bd_services/super_search.asp?type=MOS ) . That opens Feb. 10th. We can expect Kirkwood will probably be knocking on Lynn Glickert's door - very hard. Losing these three will hurt - the heart of our line-up - but we could lose others too.
Sorry I couldn't stay for the chili.
Linda I know I owe you a phone call. Not enough hours in a day.
thanks,
Kevin
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 12:00:18
-0800 (PST)
From: Ellen Bern <ellenbern@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ellenbern@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: UCHS
To: "Kevin Walker, Pres. & Nat'l Dir. projectappleseed.org"
<kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org>,
Linda Fried-Ellis
I will share this letter with
Victory tomorrow. Ellen
projectappleseed.org THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TO: Ellen Bern CC: Kristen Sobotka, Joy Liberman Date: October 19, 2006
Dear Ellen -
Thank you for writing and calling. I must decline the invitation to meet with James Victory to schedule a time to go before the board to discuss the capital campaign for University City High School. Instead we will schedule a public session at University City Library in which school board members, city council members, and the general public will be given a 90 minute presentation on the concept.
I do not trust James Victory and I will not work with him in any manner. I asked Dr. Victory to meet with me on October 12, 2005 (a year ago) to discuss the capital campaign and he ignored my invitation and has been working to undermine this organization over the last year. I have every reason to believe that he is violating the federal parental involvement provisions of No Child Left Behind. A formal complaint will be filed on this issue with the District and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
I was not surprised this morning when Lynne Glickert informed me that she had resigned as Principal of Flynn Park. She is the first of many that will leave this District. James Victory's administration is a cancer that is growing on this school district and he must be removed before he damages the District further. Project Appleseed will lead the effort to remove this superintendent from this school district and any of the board members who support his continued tenure.
This isn't a threat. It is a solid promise. The board gave this organization a mandate in 1992 to be, "An independent self-perpetuating group interested in the overall welfare of District schools, that will maximize community involvement, develop fund-raising activities, monitor District progress, and perform studies and make recommendations to the District". This mandate guides the work we do in this community and I take it very seriously.
Sincerely,
