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William Shirley says he wants a board that will listen. Shirley, who has filed for a seat in the Ladue School Board for the April 3 election, said that if he is elected to the Ladue School Board he would bring a different points of view to the table.
“(I will offer) an ability to listen; listen to the voters, listen to the members, listen to the residents of the school district,” Shirley said.
Shirley is both an engineer and an attorney. For 11 years he worked for several firms as an engineer, including Monsanto. For the last 23 years he has worked as a private practice attorney, focusing on civil, criminal and environmental law.
This is not Shirley’s first election. He ran for city council in Olivette in 1995, although he did not win. He has two children, both who have graduated from the Ladue School District.
Shirley said that, with his experience, he can take a careful look into issues from multiple perspectives.
“For example, with respect to the One-on-One Computer Initiative, I would look at what are the true needs and issues of this program,” Shirley said. “What are the manpower needs? Infrastructure needs? Financial needs? I think it is important to look into all of those before a decision is made.”
Shirley said that, if elected, he will always have an open door for discussion.
“If I get elected, they (voters) will have someone who will listen to them,” Shirley said.
Dave Cole
11:41 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Seeking and listening to input (administration, teachers, students and the community) is a must-have quality in a school board member and I appreciate Mr. Shirley bringing that quality to the forefront.
The one-to-one initiative was a good example where feedback was not even sought. I find it amazing that the teachers (all of them, not just the ones on the technology committee) were not asked for their opinion on the program. Without teachers on board, the program will undoubtedly fail.
Mr. Shirley provides great questions about manpower, infrastructure and cost of the program. I hope the board carefully considers these questions and listens to community input.
flyoverland
1:21 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
I wonder if he will listen to the taxpayers who think they are being taxed too much?
richmstl
2:11 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Hey flyoverland - why don't you run for the board?
flyoverland
7:50 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
The truth is at this time, I am unable to spend the time. I recently had a private equity firm offer to fund a new start up for me and I had to decline that, too. It is a thankless job, for sure. The problem with this board, rich, is that it has become too concentrated in one city, five of the seven live in Olivette and five of the seven are current of former teachers. It is a major job to run against the local educational industrial complex. They have the ability the use our tax dollars to frame their case and we estimate it would cost over $30,000 to beat them. The only way this district will be cleaned up is if the parents re-take the board. A blue-ribbon parent ticket could win. I am not a district parent. It will be interesting to see if the entrenched group backs this guy, or whether their candidate has yet to file.