People will be taking their hopes and frustrations about public education to the streets, rallying against reform efforts that include any kind of privatization.
“Free, public education is the cornerstone of a democracy,” reads the e-flyer. “Public education is under siege by those seeking to privatize it for a profit. Together, we will call for a more equitable system of public education for all and ensure literacy as a basic civil right.”
The Defend Public Education Rally will take place Wednesday, April 30, starting at 6:00 PM at the Old Courthouse downtown. It will feature Thunderheart, a group of traditional Native American drummers, and speakers, including:
- Rebecca Rogers, Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group, Acting for a Better Community Committee, Professor of Education, UMSL
- Ora Lewis-Clark, YMCA Literacy Programs, Advocate for Adult Literacy Education
- Donna Jones, Parent, member of the Elected School Board, St. Louis Public Schools
- Chad Beffa, SLPS parent, public school advocate, and candidate for State Rep (67th District)
- Byron Clemens, Regional Vice President, AFT Missouri
- Jackie Taylor, Literacy President Group
- Chuc Smith, Instead of War and Retired SLPS Math Teacher
- Cynthia Peters, World Education and The Change Agent
How can Chad Beffa run for State Rep. and collect donations while he is is in bankruptcy? Does he want to bankrupt our education system like he did his bank account while he runs around playing politics and leaves his wife to support three children? And is this the same Chad Beffa who tried to decertify the teachers organization in the city? Doesn’t sound like a public eduaction advocate to me.
Posted by good gov't | 29. Apr, 2008, 6:49 AMGood gov’t? Good grief. I think I saw one of your posts before attacking my friend and ignored it- even though it was hard to with your spelling errors. Chad has never tried to decertify the pitiful teacher’s union. You should speak on things you actually know about. Why would you dare bring his family into the race? Leaving his wife home to raise three kids? You see, your ignorance of Chad is evident because you have no idea what sacrafices he has made to be an actual upstanding moral citizen that raises a family. I am assuming you are attacking his family now because no one else has one.
I am assuming you work for one of the other candidates, otherwise you would not be seeing him as a threat and posting anonymously. I would suggest you contact Chad yourself instead of posing rhetorical questions to make him seem as if he is anything but upstanding.
You see, Chad is not seeking the position to hold someone hostage in Jefferson City because he wants to buy a judgeship, he is running for the right reasons- to serve the people. That is why I and others encouraged him to run after seeing the morally bankrupt candidates- one of which you most likely work for.
Finally, if Chad was not a proper education candidate who actually knows what is going on, why would he have the endorsement of Dr. Diana Bourisaw? Simple, he attends the school board meetings, reads the contracts that the SLPS has been screwed on, and has real ideas to fix the SLPS- not charters and vouchers like all of his opponents support. I have never seen any of the other candidates at a school board meeting before knowing Chad was in the race. I never saw the other candidates help elect parents who knew the problems of the district to the school board. I never saw the other candidates fight as the Mayor and his Republican allies took over the SLPS. Sounds like a champion of education to me- not just advocate.
Also, you may want to tone down the bankruptcy mantra, as you have no idea of the circumstances. Candidates that live in glass houses should not throw stones. There are a lot of people who have financial difficulty out there. Pay attention to what he has done. He has built his business back up after being screwed by St. Louis and of course a couple of lawyers to become more profitable than ever. I should know, I am also one of his clients and he has saved me $97,000 so far.
I heard his speech tonight and it was wonderful. I did not see any other candidates at the PUBLIC EDUCATION RALLY.
KISS
Sarah
SLPS Parent
Beffa Supporter
Posted by sarah tynes | 01. May, 2008, 12:57 AMAnnnnd, where did you hear this?
Posted by Turd Ferguson | 01. May, 2008, 4:58 PMI hope Chad will address the issues of who is appointed to the state board of education, and just what a politically right wing organization they have become under Blunt. Beginning with the Construction contracts for Christ Alan Keyes delegate, with two failed appointments of Blunt being added and subtracted to that group dominated by 25 million dollar republican contributing fat cat Peter Herschends—-and maybe he can enlighten us about how well the new Texas can charter school at 4700 Goodfellow sponsored by the state is performing.
Posted by kjoe | 02. May, 2008, 4:58 PMJoe,
My friend told me about your question on the Can academy. I am sure by now you have heard they are going belly up. Just another example of haphazard ideas financed by wealthy Republicans who are seeking to privatize any government function they can.
Yes, your reports are exactly correct about their problems at the school. I had a parent explain to me about the fights at lunch time and the staff would not even step in out of fear for their lives.
If you look at the Federal budget and the largest parts of it, one could quickly surmise, that education is being targeted for privatization. The military budget and what has been privatized to contractors makes me sick. The Republicans and their many Democratic friends are happy to pay a civilian contractor in Iraq trained by US forces almost five times what they pay the soldier that trained them- something smells funny. They take the largest budgets and say we can do that “more efficiently” and privatize the service. What strikes me as odd, is why is it that we can not study their methods- if they truly are “more efficient”, duplicate them, and cut them out and pay no profit?
CAN you imagine what kind of educational and health care system we would have if the war dollars were being diverted properly?
The appointments to the state board of education are as tainted as Rick Sullivan’s appointment to the SAB. FOLLOW THE MONEY Sullivan and McBride gave thousands just before the appointment. Then, to finally get sponsorship of his appointment, Sullivan lied to Joan Bray and said Dr. Bourisaw was part of the plan for stability. That lasted less than a week- right after Dr. Bourisaw gave her two year extension to the SAB for consideration.
Peter Herschend is a joke. I sat listening to his testimony in Jefferson City and could not believe my ears. He pointed out to everyone there it was on his watch that all of these schools deteriorated- yet he was just confirmed to another 8 year stint on the board. Oh yes, Blunt accomplished everything he wanted to accomplish, that is why he is not running for re-election. Fat cat Republican who could care less about city children who admitted he dropped the ball is praised for the wonderful job he has done on the State Board of Education- that should have been the headline.
Oh yes, let us not forget that Blunt has attempted to appoint pro charter and voucher people to the state board at every opportunity. I was at least thankful that Jeff Smith who is a charter supporter himself, had the vision to realize the state board of ed should have people in support of public education. He did not sponsor the Governor’s recommendation.
Let us not forget, the SLPS had no representative on the state board of education during the entire time they were being stripped of their accreditation based on the desegregation legislation that the state is not funding anyway.
Oh yes, and thank you Sarah. Turd- she heard it at the education rally this heading is under.
Joe, if you have any questions, feel free to email me at c.beffa@sbcglobal.net
Sincerely,
Chad Beffa
Posted by chad beffa | 17. May, 2008, 11:08 PMChad or Sarah?
I was curious as to what type of business Mr. Beffa is in?
Thank you.
Posted by Curious | 22. May, 2008, 4:28 PM“Also, you may want to tone down the bankruptcy mantra, as you have no idea of the circumstances. Candidates that live in glass houses should not throw stones. There are a lot of people who have financial difficulty out there. Pay attention to what he has done. He has built his business back up after being screwed by St. Louis and of course a couple of lawyers to become more profitable than ever. I should know, I am also one of his clients and he has saved me $97,000 so far.”
My understanding was Mr. Beffa has been unemployed for the past several months and prior to that ran a small private construction business. Where did the $97,000 in savings come from? Even if Mr. Beffa saved you 50% off of something (what that would be I have no idea)the cost would have been around $194,000. 30% savings is a little more undeerstandable, but then you would have had to invest around $325K to realize the $97K savings from that. Since Mr. Beffa does not appear to be working how is this possible?
Posted by John Rappold | 02. Jul, 2008, 9:25 AMI find this very interesting because just a week ago when Mr. Chad Beffa was at my door talking to me about his campaign, he stated that he worked for a Pharmaceutical manufacturing company here. Not one word about Construction business. Wonder why that was left out??? Your question about the money, and the large amount, is very interesting. I guess there are many explanations. But I for one am not a fan of hiding things, like owning a business, when running for an elections. Who the heck can one trust these days. What a choice, we have Colona, who works for the Porn industry. Landmann , who is a director for NARAL and beholding to them. That means she will be trying to push their wants over the rest of us. Beffa who lies and is in bankruptcy according to what i read hear. And Stelzer who about the worse thing I can see about him is that he taught over seas for a while. and I think Hubbard, which has been totally useless and only worried about self promotion. What a choice.. Its a tough call, but I am sure not voting republican. a choice between Porn, beholding to big money, bankruptcy and lies, another self promoting politician, and someone who taught over seas for a while. Hmmm, What would jesus do?
Posted by fan | 05. Jul, 2008, 8:42 PMJesus would want to find out the truth. Why don’t you call Beffa and ask about these concerns?
Posted by Turd Ferguson | 07. Jul, 2008, 8:25 AMFan,
On my literature that I pass out door to door it clearly has my business on there. I also do not believe I have told anyone door to door that I work in pharma- there usually is not time to discuss much. I have worked for pharma in the past and recently started helping out a business that I have previously done contract work with. So, I would love to know your address for clarification, because I personally think you just work for someone I know and also for a candidate in the 67th.
As for the construction business, it is residential consulting work that I do for people I know. I do not advertise and I do not seek clients. In this day and age when people see nothing wrong with bouncing an $18,000 check, it is imperative you know who to work for and who not to work for.
The dollar amount previously quoted by Sarah is basically finding a general contractor with experience in ICF work that bid her job that much lower. She found a contractor who was going to take her job with no experience in green or efficient building practices and sub the work out to a contractor who had the experience. Oh yes, the original contractor was still going to charge her for his bid plus the cost of the ICF sub contractor. For anyone who cares, ICF is Insulated Concrete Forms. The price can vary tremendously when using ICF building and “green” concrete- especially for the entire house.
Thank you Turd for the only correct answer on here- call or email me and schedule an appointment. I will come to your house and speak on ANY issue you would like to discuss. Please email me at any time, I answer over 70 emails every day- and no they are not all campaign related so don’t get excited posers. c.beffa@sbcglobal.net
I also thank those who sent me the information on the posts, but I urge you not to continue falling into the other candidate’s traps. This will be my last post, so if you have a question please email me. Oh yes, Jesus told me today you should vote your conscience. I tell you if you want things to get done in Jefferson City then vote for me.
Part of the reason I entered the race was because when I was in Jefferson City talking to out state legislators, they asked me if we could get a candidate they could work with. I searched the field and could not find one they will work with, so I entered the race. The other three reasons I entered the race is because I have a real plan for low cost health insurance that will be able to pass both the Missouri House and Senate, I would like to see alternative energy and green practices that cost little to nothing to be brought into Missouri and implemented into policy, and I saw none of the other candidates knew anything about how to actually fix the St. Louis Public Schools. Sure we can all criticize, but I have real plans to fix the schools.
Sincerely,
Chad Beffa
Posted by chad beffa | 07. Jul, 2008, 3:17 PMWhy this web site do not have other languages support?
Posted by yurtdisi egitim fuari | 19. Oct, 2008, 4:31 AM