• Fair or Foul: Good news for St. Louis schools, but not Rex

    sT. lOUIS pOST-dISPATCH
     

    tmessenger@post-dispatch.com

    FAIR: A gold star and a smiley face to the St. Louis Public Schools, which regained provisional accreditation from the state Board of Education on Tuesday. This is good news for students, parents, teachers, administrators and community leaders. It's a sign of progress, while still sending a message that the school district has a long way to go. The decision acknowledges the gains made under the Special Administrative Board's leadership, from financial solvency to increased attention on early childhood education. Now, get back to work. Seven out of 14 points on the state's grading scale may be progress, but there is much more work to be done. 

    FOUL: Meanwhile, sour Rex Sinquefield and his pro-school-reform group Children's Education Alliance of Missouri, get a dunce cap for trying to rain on the public schools' parade. The group issued a statement saying the provisional accreditation decision wasn't a victory for St. Louis families. It said the decision sent a message that "expectations are far too low." What part of "provisional" does CEAM not understand? This is what happens when a political organization furthers its ambitions by cheering for failure rather than success. Some of CEAM's ideas for improving schools are good. Rooting for failure, however, is worthy of after-school detention.