12/12/2006: Press Release - For Immediate Release
Public Statement Concerning Partnership Effort to Save Cleveland High School
Now is not the time to lose momentum for all of our partnership efforts
St. Louis, Missouri – December 12, 2006 – We understand that Cleveland High School will be a topic of discussion in the President’s report at tonight’s school board meeting. We feel it’s necessary to outline the progress of the partnership, and publicly announce our position at this important junction of the broad-based community effort to save Cleveland High School.
The Alliance to Save Cleveland High and the current SLPS Administration have been working together since August to implement the last board resolution (Section 5) to “prepare a comprehensive evaluation of the Cleveland building and engage in raising private funds to supplement School District funds for renovation of the Cleveland Building… to return students to Cleveland as soon as possible.” This partnership has been growing and has made important progress:
- The joint team, consisting of community architectural and engineering resources, and staff from Building Commissioner Deanna Anderson’s team, has completed its walk-through of the building and the final report is scheduled to be released after the holidays, along with the interim transition plan proposal for 2007. Our preliminary finding is that the majority of the issues at the building are related to routine maintenance.
- A Community Town Hall meeting, facilitated jointly by the Building Commissioner and members of the Alliance, gathered input from the community while building a shared vision on how to restore the building and return students to Cleveland.
- We rallied the 300,000 strong alumni organization during the 90th class reunion this fall, and continue receiving commitments from the alumni community for financial and in-kind donations throughout 2007.
- We signed an agreement and formally established a fundraising relationship with the St. Louis Public School Foundation.
- We are in the process of bringing trade groups and continuing education partnerships into the Alliance.
We are able to make this progress despite setbacks created by bad weather and man-made turmoil. Now is not the time to lose momentum for all of our partnership efforts. We believe strongly that any attempt to divert or diminish this school-community partnership is against the interests of the community and our children. We believe this partnership can become a successful model for implementation at other schools within the District. We ask you continue your support for the collaborative action to save our school, our children and our community.
- This public statement was delivered by Alderwoman Dorothy Kirner this evening at the St. Louis Public School Board Meeting.
- Updated 12/12/06 -
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This just in - agenda received this weekend by the staff of Alliance to Save Cleveland High indicates that SLPS Board President Veronica O'Brien plans to introduce a new resolution on Cleveland High School this Tuesday. The details of that resolution are unknown at this point. However we believe our effort to save Cleveland is at an important new junction this week that we are asking every one of you to make a conscious effort to attend the meeting to demonstrate that the will and power of the Cleveland community.
Mark your calendar now and plan to show your support for Tuesday 12/12/06: Meet at rear gates of Carr Lane Middle School, 1004 N. Jefferson at 6:30pm. Click here for directions. Looking for Alliance to Save Cleveland Poster with Cleveland picture on it.
Check frequently with us in the next 48 hours, especially Tuesday morning, either on the web (http://www.saveclevelandhigh.org/ ) or the hotline at 314.442.4551. We will update you the latest development as news comes in.
If you have information that you believe is valuable and important to our effort, please e-mail it to us at: info@saveclevelandhigh.org , or leave a message on the hotline number above.
Below is the complete agenda for the Board of Education meeting, Tuesday 12/12/06:
BOARD MEETING
(December 8, 2006) – The Saint Louis Board of Education will hold their Regular Monthly Board Meeting on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at Carr Lane VPA Middle School located at 1004 N. Jefferson Avenue. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in executive session and is closed to the public pursuant to RSMO §610.021 (1) and (3). The Regular Monthly Board Meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. and is open to the public. This notice is posted in compliance with RSMO §610.020. The agenda is as follows:
EXECUTIVE SESSION AGENDA
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Motion to move into closed session
4. Legal Matters
5. Personnel Matters
6. Motion to Adjourn
OPEN SESSION AGENDA
Call to Order
Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
We Are Up To Good Things
Public Comments
Superintendent’s Report
i) Presentation by Superintendent
ii) Finance Report
iii) Consent Agenda
President’s Report
i) Board Committees
ii) Cleveland Resolution
New Business
i) Resolution to direct Superintendent to present a proposed calendar of discussion items for Board Meetings in 2007 for discussion and possible amendment and approval by the Board.
- Updated 12/11/06 -
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Town Hall Meeting Opens New Phase in Saving Cleveland High
The Alliace to Save Cleveland High and the St. Louis Public Schools hosted a successful Town Hall Meeting on September 28, 2006, to kick off the partnership campaign to save and re-open Cleveland High School.
Deana Anderson, the Interim Superintendent and Building Commissioner for the District, met with nearly 100 members of the Cleveland community, at the grand Auditorium of Grover Cleveland High School. She announced that the school district is committed to partner with the community, to find financial solutions to fix the building, and to return students to "the Castle" as soon as possible.
More news to come - check out local media coverage for the meeting:
Cleveland High School might not close forever.
A few months ago, the school board said renovating Cleveland would cost too much, but now the plan has changed. The district is saying now Cleveland could stay open if the people pushing for it will push up their sleeves
and help... Fox2 News.
Supporters of "The Castle" are keeping
their fingers crossed that the shuttered south side high school might be reopened. They plan to meet Thursday night
at the Cleveland High School Auditorium...KSDK News Channel 5.
"This would be a pilot partnership program for re-birthing the school"...STLToday.com
6/14/2006, KWMU News (NPR Radio): Cleveland High loses students... for now by Maria Hickey
Students at Cleveland High School will be moved to Pruitt Middle School next year, but it could be a temporary move.
The St. Louis School Board voted Tuesday night to remove the more than 600 students from the run-down building but also to maintain it.
(read full story)
6/13/2006, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Neighborhood hopes to keep Cleveland High standing tall by Steve Giegerich
With good reason, the neighborhood surrounding Cleveland High School assumed that the distinctive turrets that lend the building the moniker of "old castle" would stand tall above the Dutchtown community for time immemorial.
"It's such an institution, we just assumed it would be here forever," said Debbie Irwin, executive director of the Dutchtown South Community Corporation. "It could be a case of not appreciating something until it's gone."
6/7/2006, The St. Louis American: Neighborhood fights to keep Cleveland by Bill Beene Of the St. Louis American
School could be out permanently at Cleveland NJROTC Academy High School due to deferred maintenance that has triggered a health hazard.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Creg E. Williams recommended that the 600-plus students at the school be moved to Pruitt Military Academy Middle School.
6/7/2006, Suburban Journals, South City Journal: Group organizes to save Cleveland High School by Shawn Clubb
Adopting the slogan "Cleveland. Our history. Our community. Our future," a group has organized to coordinate community efforts to keep Cleveland High School functioning as a school.
School Board President Veronica O'Brien, who attended the Alliance to Save Cleveland High rally Monday, questioned whether the group would be able to secure enough funding to fix the building and add the modern technology infrastructure that is needed for education.
The alliance is made up of community members and organizations including the Downtown Dutchtown Business Association, Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Association, Dutchtown South Community Corporation and Cleveland Staff-Alumni Association, as well as some city aldermen.
6/5/2006 PUB DEF Weekly: Video: New Alliance Says Cleveland High School And (and Should) be Fixed. By Antonio D. French (click on the photo to play)
6/5/2006, KSDK NEWSCHANNEL 5: Community Rallies to Save Cleveland High School.
Community Rallies To Save Cleveland High School
(KSDK) - The St. Louis school board hasn't made a decision on the future of one school. But one group wants the board to know where it stands.
The people are community leaders, staff members and alumni of Cleveland High School and they all believe this 90-year-old school should be saved from closure.
Structurally, they know the school needs work. But at a rally outside Cleveland Monday, they said the district can't give up on the heart of the neighborhood.
Debbie Irwin wants to save Cleveland, "School is important to a community, it's one of the centerpieces to a community. We have a lot of history here. We feel that the program here is a good program, a good program for the neighborhood."
Cleveland is the area's only military-style high school.
The district says costs to repair to the building could run into the millions.
6/5/2006, KTVI Fox 2: Group Trying to Save Cleveland High School
GROUP TRYING TO SAVE CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL
A group called "The Alliance To Save Cleveland High" is trying to save the St. Louis high school. Their action on Monday is in response to superintendent Creg Williams' proposal to move students from the high school to other schools because the building needs $20 million in repairs. Those trying to save the school say it's too important of a piece of the neighborhood to tear down.
6/5/2006, KWMU News (NPR Radio): Group Lobbies to keep Cleveland High open
Group lobbies to keep Cleveland High open
ST. LOUIS, MO. (2006-06-05) A group in south St. Louis is trying to prevent the city school board from closing Cleveland High School.
District officials say the building is unsafe because of water damage and other maintenance issues. And it needs $20 million dollars worth of repairs.
But retired social studies teacher Mike Pfefferkorn says closing Cleveland or using it as anything other than a school would hurt the neighborhood.
"Social institutions are people, and schools are people," Pfefferkorn said. "They're communities within their own. And those kinds of things you need to keep a healthy environment in a broader neighborhood. This isn't simply just this general area right here. This is the entire south side."
A group called the Alliance to Save Cleveland High says the district's $20 million repair figure is high, and it wants an independent maintenance review.
However St. Louis Public Schools spokesman Tony Sanders says finances are tight, and keeping kids safe is the district's main priority.
"We know that there's a lot of historic value in the building, that different community groups are concerned about the building closing," Sanders said. "But our biggest concern has been the students."
The school board is likely to decide the future of Cleveland High sometime this month.
6/1/2006 NEWSCHANNEL 5: Sharon Stevens reports on Cleveland High and interview with Debbie Irwin (DSCC) and John Chen (DT2). Watch Video. Group Rallies To Save South St. Louis High School
(KSDK) - A new effort is underway to save a deteriorating south side high school.
The Alliance to Save Cleveland High School was holding its first meeting Thursday night.
Less than a month ago, Saint Louis school Superintendent Creg Williams called for students to be transferred to a safer environment.
The alliance was meeting at the Dutchtown South Community office. Cleveland alumni are part of the group but it also includes neighborhood associations, conservationists and local merchants.
John Chen and his wife opened their business in Dutchtown South about a year ago. Chen loves the area and even though he did not attend Cleveland High School, he says the school is important to the city's south side community.
Chen and other merchants are collaborating with the Dutchtown South Community Corporation to keep Cleveland open.
Inside Cleveland, you can see peeling surfaces, battered windows and other problems. They are the reasons why Superintendent Creg Williams wants students transferred to another building in the fall. He says it would cost too much: $20-million to repair Cleveland.
Supporters say they do not want students and staff in an unhealthy environment. But they don't want the school to be closed or sold. Next week, the Alliance to Save Cleveland High will announce its own proposal for dealing with Cleveland. Chen says, "We would like to have the students temporarily relocate while we fix the building, finding a way to repair the building and we'd like to see students come back and Cleveland High School reopen."
The issue is expected to come before the school board at its next meeting.
Up until 1981, Cleveland was a neighborhood school. Through the school desegregation program, it became Cleveland Junior Naval Academy. Its students wear uniforms and come from all over the city.
Mark your calendar now and plan to show your support for Tuesday 12/12/06: Meet at rear gates of Carr Lane Middle School, 1004 N. Jefferson at 6:30pm. Click here for directions. Looking for Alliance to Save Cleveland Poster with Cleveland picture on it.
Check frequently with us in the next 48 hours, especially Tuesday morning, either on the web (http://www.saveclevelandhigh.org/ ) or the hotline at 314.442.4551. We will update you the latest development as news comes in.
If you have information that you believe is valuable and important to our effort, please e-mail it to us at: info@saveclevelandhigh.org , or leave a message on the hotline number above.
Below is the complete agenda for the Board of Education meeting, Tuesday 12/12/06:
1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Motion to move into closed session
4. Legal Matters
5. Personnel Matters
6. Motion to Adjourn
Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
We Are Up To Good Things
Public Comments
Superintendent’s Report
i) Presentation by Superintendent
ii) Finance Report
iii) Consent Agenda
President’s Report
i) Board Committees
ii) Cleveland Resolution
New Business
i) Resolution to direct Superintendent to present a proposed calendar of discussion items for Board Meetings in 2007 for discussion and possible amendment and approval by the Board.
| Cleveland High School might not close forever. A few months ago, the school board said renovating Cleveland would cost too much, but now the plan has changed. The district is saying now Cleveland could stay open if the people pushing for it will push up their sleeves and help... Fox2 News.
|
| Supporters of "The Castle" are keeping their fingers crossed that the shuttered south side high school might be reopened. They plan to meet Thursday night at the Cleveland High School Auditorium...KSDK News Channel 5.
|
|
"This would be a pilot partnership program for re-birthing the school"...STLToday.com
|
Students at Cleveland High School will be moved to Pruitt Middle School next year, but it could be a temporary move.
The St. Louis School Board voted Tuesday night to remove the more than 600 students from the run-down building but also to maintain it.
(read full story)With good reason, the neighborhood surrounding Cleveland High School assumed that the distinctive turrets that lend the building the moniker of "old castle" would stand tall above the Dutchtown community for time immemorial.
"It's such an institution, we just assumed it would be here forever," said Debbie Irwin, executive director of the Dutchtown South Community Corporation. "It could be a case of not appreciating something until it's gone."
School could be out permanently at Cleveland NJROTC Academy High School due to deferred maintenance that has triggered a health hazard.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Creg E. Williams recommended that the 600-plus students at the school be moved to Pruitt Military Academy Middle School.
Adopting the slogan "Cleveland. Our history. Our community. Our future," a group has organized to coordinate community efforts to keep Cleveland High School functioning as a school.
School Board President Veronica O'Brien, who attended the Alliance to Save Cleveland High rally Monday, questioned whether the group would be able to secure enough funding to fix the building and add the modern technology infrastructure that is needed for education.
The alliance is made up of community members and organizations including the Downtown Dutchtown Business Association, Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Association, Dutchtown South Community Corporation and Cleveland Staff-Alumni Association, as well as some city aldermen.
Community Rallies To Save Cleveland High School
(KSDK) - The St. Louis school board hasn't made a decision on the future of one school. But one group wants the board to know where it stands.
The people are community leaders, staff members and alumni of Cleveland High School and they all believe this 90-year-old school should be saved from closure.
Structurally, they know the school needs work. But at a rally outside Cleveland Monday, they said the district can't give up on the heart of the neighborhood.
Debbie Irwin wants to save Cleveland, "School is important to a community, it's one of the centerpieces to a community. We have a lot of history here. We feel that the program here is a good program, a good program for the neighborhood."
Cleveland is the area's only military-style high school.
The district says costs to repair to the building could run into the millions.
GROUP TRYING TO SAVE CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL
ST. LOUIS, MO. (2006-06-05) A group in south St. Louis is trying to prevent the city school board from closing Cleveland High School.
District officials say the building is unsafe because of water damage and other maintenance issues. And it needs $20 million dollars worth of repairs.
But retired social studies teacher Mike Pfefferkorn says closing Cleveland or using it as anything other than a school would hurt the neighborhood.
"Social institutions are people, and schools are people," Pfefferkorn said. "They're communities within their own. And those kinds of things you need to keep a healthy environment in a broader neighborhood. This isn't simply just this general area right here. This is the entire south side."
A group called the Alliance to Save Cleveland High says the district's $20 million repair figure is high, and it wants an independent maintenance review.
However St. Louis Public Schools spokesman Tony Sanders says finances are tight, and keeping kids safe is the district's main priority.
"We know that there's a lot of historic value in the building, that different community groups are concerned about the building closing," Sanders said. "But our biggest concern has been the students."
The school board is likely to decide the future of Cleveland High sometime this month.
(KSDK) - A new effort is underway to save a deteriorating south side high school.
The Alliance to Save Cleveland High School was holding its first meeting Thursday night.
Less than a month ago, Saint Louis school Superintendent Creg Williams called for students to be transferred to a safer environment.
The alliance was meeting at the Dutchtown South Community office. Cleveland alumni are part of the group but it also includes neighborhood associations, conservationists and local merchants.
John Chen and his wife opened their business in Dutchtown South about a year ago. Chen loves the area and even though he did not attend Cleveland High School, he says the school is important to the city's south side community.
Chen and other merchants are collaborating with the Dutchtown South Community Corporation to keep Cleveland open.
Inside Cleveland, you can see peeling surfaces, battered windows and other problems. They are the reasons why Superintendent Creg Williams wants students transferred to another building in the fall. He says it would cost too much: $20-million to repair Cleveland.
Supporters say they do not want students and staff in an unhealthy environment. But they don't want the school to be closed or sold. Next week, the Alliance to Save Cleveland High will announce its own proposal for dealing with Cleveland. Chen says, "We would like to have the students temporarily relocate while we fix the building, finding a way to repair the building and we'd like to see students come back and Cleveland High School reopen."
The issue is expected to come before the school board at its next meeting.
Up until 1981, Cleveland was a neighborhood school. Through the school desegregation program, it became Cleveland Junior Naval Academy. Its students wear uniforms and come from all over the city.