South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

New Lindbergh superintendent to continue school district’s ‘history of excellence’

Lindbergh one of top districts in Missouri
Jim Simpson
Jim Simpson

The Lindbergh School District’s new superintendent plans to continue the district’s “history of excellence” in academic achievement and fiscal stewardship.

The Board of Education recently announced that Joplin R-8 School District Superintendent Jim Simpson will become Lindbergh’s superintendent, effective July 1.

Simpson will replace Superintendent Jim Sandfort, who announced in April 2006 that he would retire at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. Simpson, an educator for the past 19 years, has served as superintendent of the Joplin School District for seven years.

During a recent interview with the Call, Simpson said the biggest challenges he will face as Lindbergh superintendent will be to continue the district’s “history of excellence” and “to make sure that we meet the challenges that may come our way in the future.”

Lindbergh is one of the top school districts in the state, according to Simpson, and one of less than a handful for which he would consider leaving Joplin.

“… I’m very, very familiar with all the very fine school districts that are known for being excellent in the state and there was just one, two or three that I would actually even leave where I am in Joplin,” he said. “And when Lindbergh came open, I said to my wife and myself: That doesn’t happen very often. That only happens once in a great while. So the planets are aligned and that district has always been known in my mind and to the state. So that became the opportunity.”

Lindbergh has an excellent record of fiscal stewardship, Simpson said, adding that he has done a preliminary review of the district’s finances.

“… Lindbergh is in no financial difficulty,” he said. “That being said, I look forward to coming up to speed with long-term projections and working with (Chief Financial Officer) Pat Lanane and working with the rest of the team on the central level to see exactly what they see as challenges and what they see as areas that we might need to focus upon. So I’m going to really listen and let them bring me up to speed on those kinds of things. I know in terms of finance for public schools, we’re always at the mercy of legislation in Jeff City. And there is, as most of us know, property tax is the most painful tax on our citizens and our patrons and so as the real-estate bubble has driven those taxes higher and higher — both good and bad.

“If you’re selling property and it’s higher, it’s a good thing, but if you’re holding your property and paying taxes, then it’s a very painful thing … and all the other things with the senior-citizen side of the question. I know that Jeff City and the legislative process is very attuned and focused now on some reforms as they may or may not see in property-tax assessment and so that’s something that’s very important for south county school districts because, as all superintendents in south county know much better than I, they are not just a little bit funded locally, they are almost totally funded locally …”

“So anything that goes on with capping that source of revenue off, there is no ‘Plan B’ source. I mean in some ways, all the eggs are in one basket and so that’s something that’s not only a financial challenge for Lindbergh, but that’s certainly a financial challenge for all school districts that are heavily local funded through property assessment. And we’ll be watching that, too, and trying to find that compromise be-cause all of us are acutely aware of the pain of property taxes, especially if they’re going up rapidly. And we’re also stewards of children’s education so we’re going to try to do that balance thing. We’re hoping Jeff City does that balance thing.”

As proof of Lindbergh’s fiscal stewardship, he cited the district’s tax rate of nearly $3.15 per $100 of assessed valuation.

“There’s no doubt that the patrons of the Lindbergh School District have benefited probably from the beginning, but certainly for many, many years, they have benefited from excellent stewardship and restraint because there’s many districts in the state who have tax levies well over $4.50,” he said. “… Lindbergh has been the opposite, trying to make sure they keep that almost rock bottom … That’s a great benefit for patrons here and very much compliments to our board and boards of the past.”

Asked about the challenges of continuing to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Simpson said, “I think of the No Child Left Behind Law and I think everyone says the next phrase out of their mouth on that law is that it is a noble law and that it really forces us — as that should — to look at subgroups, leaving no subgroup behind. Which really means we need to look at our data not in a holistic way, but in a way in which looks at each and every group of students to make sure — the holistic data may look healthy, but we have to make sure that all the subgroups, as you know, are healthy.

“Now that’s a noble thing and no one can speak against that I think with any kind of conviction. Where the challenge for public schools — no matter how good a public school you are — is the idea can all children be proficient by 2014? And that is a concept that may be more noble written and said than in any way practical or attainable.”

Simpson compares meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind to a goal of eliminating all traffic fatalities on state highways by 2014.

“It would be so noble by 2014 to have zero traffic deaths on Missouri highways. Who could be against that? And yet, if we don’t achieve that, in this analogy the federal government would pull all our federal money for road construction. But in a black-and-white and concrete analysis, people know so many variables are involved and they say: That is a noble thing, but can it be practical? Can it even be logical? Can we really say there’s not going to be any single traffic deaths in the Missouri roads in 2014? …”

Given so many variables — equipment failure, drunken driving, inclement weather — he continued, “That’s a noble goal and we should go that direction, but should we pull the federal money and punish the state if it’s not achieved? And most people would say: That would be so unfair. And not only that, it would probably make more fatalities down the road because we would have the money to keep our bridges and roads and everything — infrastructure — in repair and we’d actually have the reverse happen and we’d start having more fatalities.

“So No Child Left Behind, when we start talking about children, education and student achievement, the variables are endless. They’re endless — family situations — what has happened to that child in their early life, the windows of the mind and how they’ve been open at the right time and the right information and skills have been able to have been attained by that child …

“So the question is at 2014 it is almost certain that No Child Left Behind will run into the same brick wall as if we said there will be no traffic deaths in the state of Missouri in 2014. So we leave it up to our politicians on the federal level because that is where No Child Left Behind originates. The states are at the mercy of the federal government and their funding to implement what the federal government feels is appropriate in terms of the sanctions, the punishment and so forth and the requirements.

“We leave it up to our politicians with our input and guidance as much as they request of us to try to understand how this law may be modified before we hit that brick wall.”

More to Discover