s c h o o l c l o s i n g u p d a t e o n p r o j e c t a p p l e s e e d . o r g / u c i t y
Victory's War Against ParentsST. LOUIS, MO., November 30, 2006 - At the direction of University City Superintendent James Victory, email from Project Appleseed in University City to approximately 300 teachers and staff was illegally intercepted and censored by the School District of University City last Monday (Nov. 20). The email contained a survey asking District employees to gage the job performance of the superintendent and school board. Much of the survey is based on the same questions asked by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as part of the district's accreditation.
Instead of receiving survey information, teachers and administrators alerted Project Appleseed that they received blank email. District email filtering software deleted all content and blocked some email altogether. Project Appleseed employed countermeasures and the email eventually made it to most teachers and staff. Dozens of surveys have been completed and the deadline has been extended to December 8. It is important to note that no other group in the district has been targeted for this kind of censorship and exclusion. It is hoped that lawyers for the district have advised the superintendent to halt the illegal practice.
"This isn't an isolated incident. This is a rogue superintendent. He is systematically engaged in a silent and undeclared war against parents. He is breaking laws that promote and protect parents in public schools. He grants a particular class of individuals and groups the right to engage in parental involvement activity but denies other individuals and groups the same right. He does this with the full support of the school board. It is very simple. If he didn't have board support he wouldn't be superintendent," said Kevin Walker, president of Project Appleseed, and a district parent.
The district's attack on Project Appleseed is unprecedented and violates the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, the Missouri State Board of Education's Model Policy on Parent/Family Involvement, the Missouri School Improvement Program Standards (MSIP), and the School District of University City's Parental Involvement Policy. The legality of the attack poses First and Fourteenth Amendment Constitutional problems for the district as well.
Project Appleseed warned
Victory in July of 2006 not to violate federal, state, and
local parental involvement laws. The organization has received
constant complaints from parents, teachers, administrators, and
former school board members, about Victory's conduct and the
lack of concern from current school board members.
"This is the kind of superintendent who says one thing and does another. On Saturday morning he's paying lip service to parental involvement with the "Parent University" mess - in which 15 people showed up. Then on Monday morning, he's violating our right to be involved in U. City schools. We don't want lip service. We want to hear the opinions from those who are educating our children," said Mr. Walker. The Missouri State Board of Education policy states that schools and parents must work together as knowledgeable partners in educating children. It promotes regular, two-way, meaningful communication between home and school. State policy says the district must include parents as full partners in decisions affecting their children and families.
Mr. Walker has twice been voted one of the ten most influential people in American education. He advised the Clinton White House and helped write the ground breaking parental involvement provisions in Title I of the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. The legislation was reauthorized by the United States Congress under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Mr. Walker is expected to testify before Congressional committees in the House and Senate on the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind in 2007. He is also a former member of the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri.
According to the National School Boards Association's Center On Public Education, school districts have a solemn duty to obey the law. In fact, school board members take an oath in which they swear - as public officials - to uphold state and federal laws.
Compliance is a fertile source of litigation.
If someone believes that the school district is violating a parent
or community member's right to be involved, complaints
can be filed at the district and state level. Another way
of challenging the district is to file a lawsuit in federal court.
Plaintiffs with a compliance lawsuit are generally claiming that
the district has failed to meet its legal obligations in some
way. The district, for its part, has to prove that the actions
taken are justified and meet either the precise letter of the
law or the intent.
Appleseed, a separate nonprofit organization with a network of independent public interest law centers, recently issued a report - It Takes a Parent, Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act. The report calls on federal, state, and local officials to do a better job of abiding by the parental involvement sections of the No Child Left Behind Act. Considering the growing number of legal complaints from parents about James Victory and the School District of University City, Appleseed is the help that parents and community members need to gain access to effective legal representation in Missouri and defend their rights in University City.
Appleseed recruits talent from
America's top law firms and corporations to work pro bono - educating,
advocating, and filing impact litigation. Appleseed works at
the local level, establishing and networking independent public
interest law centers. Local Appleseed Centers have the expertise,
the flexibility, and the independence to listen to unheard voices,
uncover injustices, and win the battles no one else fights. Appleseed
Centers work both independently and collectively, bringing their
own experiences to create local solutions that are nationally
relevant.
The stakes are not just legal
compliance, but an opportunity to incorporate parents as a key
resource to propel student learning and narrow the academic achievement
gaps.
"Without better informed and involved parents, all of the testing and data is just a lot of paper -- the proverbial tree in the forest that no one hears," said Linda Singer, Appleseed executive director. "Spectacular things can happen when parents become knowledgeable advocates for their child's learning and first-line supporters of public schools."
projectappleseed.org THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT St. Louis, Missouri
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