Reelect George Lenard to University City School Board

04/05/2023

Thank you all for your support and congratulations to the winners of yesterday’s election!

They are all excellent choices and I’m confident that once fully adjusted to board routines their experience, contacts, ideas, and energy will be great for the district. I have offered to talk with them anytime.

I will now enjoy full retiree status for the moment, but likely offering to help others with education issues and perhaps other political work. Maybe there’s a “senior statesman” role for me somewhere! All suggestions welcome!

04/04/2023

TODAY’S THE DAY! PLEASE COME OUT AND FILL IN THE BOX BY MY NAME!

U CITY FRIENDS:

Please select me as one of your choices tomorrow to help lead the School District of University City. Five people are seeking three seats. I think we agree on almost all issues. Fortunately, none have extreme views such as book banning and restrictions on teaching certain subject matter.

EXPERIENCE COUNTS

I distinguish myself from the others based on my experience serving on the Board since 2014, including during the selection process that led to the hiring of Dr. Hardin-Bartley as superintendent.

My experience can provide continuity while the Board adjusts to the retirement from Board service of Lisa Brenner, who has been a very active and helpful Board member.

There has been great progress in many aspects of district operations, and I’m proud of my role in supporting these changes.

Your decision takes place against a background of challenges to public schools unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime—charter schools, vouchers, and censorship on topics of vital interest to our students. Inflation and possible recession add economic uncertainty.

My experience and knowledge can help provide stable leadership in the face of such challenges. I’ve had extensive training, including book studies about Board governance with the Superintendent and Board.

SOME OF MY PRIORITIES

Academic achievement for all students must continue to underpin Board decisions. High expectations and academic rigor are essential. Covid left too many students lagging. Catching up will require extraordinary efforts. We must continue to provide high quality, relevant, and engaging instruction by highly qualified staff, despite a national trend of educators leaving teaching more quickly than they can be replaced. Successful teacher recruiting, training, and retention are essential.

I support improved equity in funding, instruction, student, services, and activities among our schools. This includes support of the new but mighty One U City organization.

I also support recent college and career developments, including:

--An early-college program in which students earn college credit towards an associate degree at no cost while in high school

--Project Lead the Way

--U City leadership of a new regional Community Impact Center funded through the Regional Business Council and Community Impact Network to serve the entire St. Louis region with supports for academic assistance, workforce training programs, mindfulness, and social emotional learning.

As a retiree, I’m sensitive to the financial burdens of operating a quality district, successfully advocated against tax increases, and encouraged use of outside funding from grants and donations.

MY QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:

--Helped develop the district’s evidence-based Learning Reimagined model and its strategic plan.

--Helped lead Board legislative advocacy.

--Represented the district on the City’s Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board.

--Served on most Board committees, including those involving policies, facilities, finances, compensation, and benefits.

--Earned Advanced Board Member certification from the Missouri School Boards’ Association.

--Endorsed by the University City Education Association.

--Endorsed by the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, which promotes an equitable community by supporting anti-bias and anti-racist approaches to education and community.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

04/03/2023

U CITY FRIENDS:

Please select me as one of your choices tomorrow to help lead the School District of University City. Five people are seeking three seats. I think we agree on almost all issues. Fortunately, none have extreme views such as book banning and restrictions on teaching certain subject matter.

EXPERIENCE COUNTS

I distinguish myself from the others based on my experience serving on the Board since 2014, including during the selection process that led to the hiring of Dr. Hardin-Bartley as superintendent.

My experience can provide continuity while the Board adjusts to the retirement from Board service of Lisa Brenner, who has been a very active and helpful Board member.

There has been great progress in many aspects of district operations, and I’m proud of my role in supporting these changes.

Your decision takes place against a background of challenges to public schools unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime—charter schools, vouchers, and censorship on topics of vital interest to our students. Inflation and possible recession add economic uncertainty.

My experience and knowledge can help provide stable leadership in the face of such challenges. I’ve had extensive training, including book studies about Board governance with the Superintendent and Board.

SOME OF MY PRIORITIES

Academic achievement for all students must continue to underpin Board decisions. High expectations and academic rigor are essential. Covid left too many students lagging. Catching up will require extraordinary efforts. We must continue to provide high quality, relevant, and engaging instruction by highly qualified staff, despite a national trend of educators leaving teaching more quickly than they can be replaced. Successful teacher recruiting, training, and retention are essential.

I support improved equity in funding, instruction, student, services, and activities among our schools. This includes support of the new but mighty One U City organization.

I also support recent college and career developments, including:

--An early-college program in which students earn college credit towards an associate degree at no cost while in high school

--Project Lead the Way

--U City leadership of a new regional Community Impact Center funded through the Regional Business Council and Community Impact Network to serve the entire St. Louis region with supports for academic assistance, workforce training programs, mindfulness, and social emotional learning.

As a retiree, I’m sensitive to the financial burdens of operating a quality district, successfully advocated against tax increases, and encouraged use of outside funding from grants and donations.

MY QUALIFICATIONS INCLUDE:

--Helped develop the district’s evidence-based Learning Reimagined model and its strategic plan.

--Helped lead Board legislative advocacy.

--Represented the district on the City’s Economic Development Retail Sales Tax Board.

--Served on most Board committees, including those involving policies, facilities, finances, compensation, and benefits.

--Earned Advanced Board Member certification from the Missouri School Boards’ Association.

--Endorsed by the University City Education Association.

--Endorsed by the Missouri Equity Education Partnership, which promotes an equitable community by supporting anti-bias and anti-racist approaches to education and community.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

03/28/2023

As I traverse various U City neighborhoods knocking on doors in support of my campaign for reelection to the school board, one of the most common questions I hear is about right wing efforts to censor school books.

So far, nobody I’ve spoken with supports censorship of this sort, which is unsurprising since it flies in the face of fundamental American values of free speech and academic freedom.

Let me be clear: I oppose such efforts and oppose our district removing books pursuant to the censorship law passed by the Missouri legislature unless and until all legal challenges have been resolved in favor of the law. The ACLU is currently litigating the new Missouri law, and I share its constitutional concerns.

https://abc17news.com/news/2023/02/24/aclu-missouri-library-groups-sue-over-new-school-book-law/

Certainly, parents can and should have input into what their children read, and for this reason our district has a procedure by which book choices may be challenged. But I trust that the library book decisions are being made by trained professional librarians, who have access to reviews and recommendations to aid in such decision making.

I similarly oppose state or federal efforts to interfere with local control of schools by prohibiting the use of specific topics and materials in instruction.

In 2021, as U City voting delegate to the Missouri School Boards’ Association’s annual conference, I led our Board in preparing a proposed amendment to the association’s list of lobbying positions designed to strengthen support for local control of such decisions without explicitly mentioning the hot topics of “critical race theory” and the “1619 Project.” I was pleased that this amendment passed, strengthening association lobbyists’ efforts to oppose reactionary censorship laws.

By MARGARET STAFFORD Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and two library associations are suing over a new Missouri law that bans sexually explicit material from schools. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the ACLU argues that the law violates the due ...

03/26/2023

Over the years, I have known many water polo players at UCHS, including my son-in-law, Jon Stark! I’m glad we’ve found we can continue to maintain strong athletic programs by joining with other smaller teams. This was pioneered by the UCity Field Hockey team, which now includes players from two other schools. Now the water polo program is growing with the addition of Webster players.

Our University City High School water polo team has joined forces with the Webster Groves School District high school team! Their first competition was held this week. We love the opportunity to partner with other schools/districts so students can compete and continue doing what they love. Go Lions and Statesmen!

03/23/2023

More recognition for the excellent work of Superintendent Hardin-Bartley. I was one vote on the Board that unanimously selected her to begin serving in 2016, and have appreciated the opportunity to work with her as a Board member ever since. When you see exciting, positive changes in the District, they are being implemented with Board approval, but most of the credit goes to District administration and staff. As a Board, we provide guidance and accountability, but progress normally moves forward with the Board and Superintendent operating as a “team of eight,” rather than top-down by Board edict.

We are honored to announce that our incredible superintendent, Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, was selected by the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA) as the recipient of the annual Robert L. Pearce Award for 2023! Dr. Hardin-Bartley was among one of eight MASA region superintendents nominated for this prestigious award that recognizes dynamic leadership in education. She received the award last night at the Missouri School Public Relations Association (MOSPRA) spring conference. Thank you, Dr. Hardin-Bartley for your dedication to our District. Congratulations!

03/16/2023

Looking forward to attending this forum as a candidate and answering questions from the public.

One U City would like to invite you to the University City School Board Candidate Forum on Tuesday evening, March 28, 2023. Meet and hear from the five candidates for the upcoming school board election in April. To submit a question for the candidates online, please visit www.ucityschools.org/BOEForumQuestion. Questions will be accepted until one week prior to the event. Register to attend at www.ucityschools.org/BOEForumRegistration.

03/15/2023

Today’s photo shows the Hawthorne School Apartments to illustrate that real estate and facilities operation are two of many areas of school district business that don’t directly involve curriculum or other core aspects of the educational experience, but are equally essential to the school district operations overseen by the board.

When I joined the board in 2014, the decision to close and sell the Hawthorne and Delmar-Harvard elementary schools had already been made. I was disappointed to learn that the then-pending contract for the sale of Delmar Harvard did not mandate preservation of the historic buildings near the Loop.

Several legal and practical barriers to that sale arose, and I found myself representing the board in confidential meetings with the developer and the district’s administrators and real estate attorneys, a role in which my legal training was quite helpful. Of course, the school district’s attorneys provide needed legal advice, but an attorney board member is useful in “translating” such advice from “legalese” for other board members.

After several years of maneuvering and negotiating, Delmar-Harvard has finally been sold for development, with one building preserved.

Hawthorne School, in contrast, was a step behind in that there was no pending contract. I’ve always loved the architecture of the building and its location at the edge of a popular city park, so I pushed for a disposition that would preserve the structure. It took several years and a false start or two, but as the sign in the photo shows, the old school has been successfully transformed into apartments.

I was also serving on the board when the proposed sale of the McNair School came up. This sale was part of the planned development of the Costco store and other properties on Olive. This was not an easy decision, again drawing board and administrator time and attention to a matter not at the core of the education business. Again I served in the added role of board committee member during some of the lengthy period of planning and negotiations that ensued.

The sale of McNair was hotly debated, with well-articulated arguments pro and con on both sides, and even a spirited board meeting that felt like a protest, complete with picket signs. The district’s attorneys were quite involved and my legal training was again useful.

I know my vote to sell McNair upset many constituents—just as a vote against sale would have antagonized another vocal contingent. Such are the conflicting pressures an elected official often faces.

In the end, the sale made sense to me. The proceeds were above the market value our experts estimated, but more importantly, the sale avoided substantial ongoing maintenance and utility costs into the future. The building was to be used as a school again, not primarily an administrative building that used its space inefficiently. The current “new McNair building” on Olive houses administrative offices in a much more cost- effective manner. Other functions have been moved in ways making better use of other district buildings.

As I left the tense board meeting at which the decision to sell McNair was moved forward, I overheard someone expressing a reason to oppose sale I’d not heard amongst all the emails and public comments taking that position. This was that the building name was very meaningful to many, with Ronald McNair, an astronaut who died in the Challenger shuttle accident, being a beloved African American hero. For this reason, I supported using the name on the new administration building.

03/11/2023

Partnerships with many area non-profits enrich our schools in so many ways! And the arts thrive in School District of University City!

Last week, University City High School students had the opportunity to travel to Jazz St. Louis, a non profit organization committed to preserving the legacy of jazz. They enjoyed lunch and a performance before engaging in a question and answer session with the Bria Skonberg group. One of our brave students even volunteered to s**t along with the group near the end of their performance. We are so lucky to have wonderful St. Louis institutions supplement the classroom learning experience.

03/11/2023

This week I’ve been out daily knocking on doors of voters to promote my reelection campaign. Yesterday I was in a far corner of the district I’d never visited before, pleased to see quite a few signs designating households with active U City students. The gentleman answering the door here allowed me to place a sign in a very visible location, for which I’m grateful.

If you would like a sign, please let me know by inbox, comment, or email to [email protected].

03/08/2023

Today is the last day to register to vote in the March 4 election. If you have voted recently and were registered at your current address, no action is required. If you’ve never registered to vote in St Louis County or have changed addresses, you can check your registration status and/ or register online on the Missouri Secretary of State website: sos.mo.gov.

03/08/2023

This post on the school district’s library page reminded me that unfortunately the school districts in Missouri must comply with a recent law controlling the contents of school libraries.

While I understand the underlying concerns motivating this law, I want to be clear that I oppose legislative attempts to supplant the judgment of school librarians, administrators, and boards. Local control has long been a watchword in public education, and this changed only when politicians chose to gin up culture wars instead of addressing critical constituent needs, including more equitable state support for public education.

I have joined with fellow board members in advocating that local control be respected in the face of politicized challenges. We had a minor victory in 2021 in getting the Missouri School Boards’ Association’s lobbying guidance on local control strengthened.

If re-elected to the board, I will continue to support local control and oppose politicized efforts to dictate decisions historically made at the local level.

Today is International Women’s Day and the Barbara C. Jordan Library is celebrating with books about remarkable women.