School is lesson in innovation – City Garden Montessori is the kind of homegrown school advocates say is needed in St. Louis – 3 Dec 2008 P-D

The city’s newest public school opens each morning beneath a south St. Louis church.

For years, City Garden Montessori was a private, tuition-charging preschool.

This fall, it started a free neighborhood charter school – one of the first specialized charters in St. Louis and the first to target students from specific neighborhoods.

And in a city where charter schools are generally large and managed by out-of-town companies, City Garden is the kind of homegrown school advocates say is needed in St. Louis.

Now, four instructors teach 53 elementary students in two of the church’s basement halls.

Classrooms are busy – almost chaotic – teeming with children working on their own. Kindergartners lie on the floor calculating subtraction and division with blocks and beads. Six- and 7-year-olds pour oil and molasses into science beakers. A teacher helps younger students sound out words.

“It is one of a kind,” said Marshall Cohen, director of the charter school Lift For Life Academy, who liked City Garden so much, he enrolled his daughter in preschool there. “That’s what the charter movement was about. A small school where you can change things on a dime if they’re not working.”

A decade ago, when lawmakers and activists proposed starting charter schools in Kansas City and St. Louis, they said that such independent, tuition-free public schools would change the cities. They could experiment with teaching, find what works, and force low-performing city school districts to shape up.

Charter schools have grown, booming to 17 campuses here and more than 9,500 students, or roughly one-quarter of the city public school population.

But that burst generally hasn’t brought innovation with it. Instead, most of the charter schools here enroll hundreds of students from all over the city and aim not to innovate but to provide a conventional college-prep education.

“Most of them look like traditional public schools in St. Louis,” said Jocelyn Strand, the state’s director of charter schools.

Montessori schools subscribe to a different vision for education. Children are generally given short lessons focused on hands-on academic activities.

Then the students work on their own, experimenting with blocks, beads, maps and a variety of manipulatives that teach academic skills, under a teacher’s supervision.

Traditional education, said Trish Curtis, City Garden’s director, expects all students of a given age group to learn at roughly the same pace. “But kids don’t all have the same set of skills,” Curtis said one recent day at her school, beneath Tyler Place Presbyterian Church, at 2109 South Spring Avenue.

City Garden is not the first public school to use Montessori techniques. But it is the first St. Louis charter school to break from traditional grade-level classes and desk-based school work.

Curtis said she kept waiting to hear complaints from parents.

But they’re not coming, she said.

Brian Connor is thrilled. His daughter is practicing division in kindergarten. “She is learning 200 percent more than I thought she would,” he said.

Many parents agreed. They said they loved how their children were learning at their own pace. They said they loved the school’s racial and economic diversity. They are clearly enthused by their new school.

In St. Louis’s charter school movement, however, enthusiasm has not necessarily led to academic success: Many have boasted of waiting lists and strong parent participation, but just a few have outperformed the St. Louis Public Schools on state tests.

And although Curtis has run City Garden’s preschool for more than a decade, this is her first foray into publicly financed schools, a subject she acknowledges she doesn’t know well.

But the school’s sponsor, St. Louis University, is watching closely, said SLU Assistant Provost Steve Sanchez. The university even evaluated City Garden this summer, helping the school prepare for its opening. And Sanchez said SLU would continue to evaluate City Garden as the school grew.

Curtis said City Garden would add 25 students a year, growing to 175 in about five years.

Most will come from the homes near the Shaw neighborhood school – parents within the geographic area will get first priority during enrollment.

Children and families, Curtis said, should be able to walk to their school.

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City Garden Montessori Charter School

What: A public, tuition-free, neighborhood school

Targeted attendance area: Kingshighway to Grand Boulevard; Magnolia Avenue to Highway 40

Grades: Kindergarten through third this year; with a grade added each year

Budget: $700,000 this year

FUNERAL SCHEDULED FOR SLAIN 6TH-GRADER – 25 Mar 1997 P-D

The funeral for slaying victim Crystal Brooks, 13, will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Friendship Baptist Church, 5997 Etzel Avenue, at Clara Avenue.

Visitation will be from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Reliable Funeral Home, 3964 Washington Boulevard

Crystal was fatally slashed in the neck late Wednesday or early Thursday in the alley behind her home in the 4000 block of Russell Boulevard, in the Shaw neighborhood.

Families Advocating Safe Streets, a grass-roots anti-crime group, will place a yellow and black ribbon near the scene today at 11 a.m.

A neighbor of Crystal’s, Martiez Davis, 19, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder, attempted rape and armed criminal action. Authorities believe that a kitchen fork, found in some bloody clothing Davis had hidden, was the weapon used. The fork had been taken from the fast-food restaurant where Davis worked.

Investigators believe Davis acted alone, although he told them a second man was with him.

Crystal was a sixth-grader in the Parkway School District

POLICE ARREST NEIGHBOR IN STABBING DEATH OF GIRL, 13 – SUSPECT, 19, WAS FUGITIVE IN KANSAS CITY ROBBERY – 24 Mar 1997 P-D

Authorities believe that Martiez Davis, 19, fatally stabbed his 13-year-old neighbor, Crystal Brooks, in the throat when she fought off his sexual advances, police said Sunday.

The murder weapon may have been a kitchen fork, police sources said

Davis, who made a partial admission to the killing, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted rape and armed criminal action. He was being held in City Jail without bail.

Crystal was killed late Wednesday or early Thursday in the alley behind her house in the 4000 block of Russell Boulevard, in the Shaw neighborhood. The suspect and victim lived just two buildings apart, and they were among a group of many young people on the street earlier Wednesday evening.

After most of the group had gone into their homes, police believe Davis approached Crystal on her front porch about midnight. He talked her into going behind the house, where he tried to have sex with her, police said.

Crystal’s body was found shortly before 6 a.m. the next morning, after her mother discovered her missing when she went to awaken her for school.

Davis quickly became a suspect after a neighbor gave information to detectives.

Police Chief Ron Henderson, speaking at a news conference Sunday, praised neighborhood residents’ cooperation with the detectives. “I can’t emphasize this valuable assistance enough,” he said.

“When the police and the people in the neighborhoods work closely together, the bad guys can’t beat us.”

On Friday, detectives learned Davis was wanted by Kansas City authorities for a robbery committed during a party last year. Davis was arrested Friday on the fugitive charge while detectives built their murder case, working around the clock.

Davis has a criminal history that includes an arrest for a weapons violation in 1995, but he has never before been arrested on suspicion of a violent crime.

Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that someone else may have been involved in the attempted rape and killing.

Henderson and Capt. Dave Heath, the homicide division commander, delivered the news personally Sunday morning to Crystal’s mother, Annie Hickman, that a suspect had been charged.

“She was very thankful,” Henderson said

`SHE WOULD HAVE FOUGHT’ – SLAIN GIRL RESISTED ATTACKER – 22 Mar 1997 P-D

n her final moments, Crystal Brooks probably fought with her attacker, who apparently had difficulty killing her, a deputy medical examiner said Friday.

The 13-year-old St. Louis girl also may not have been raped, deputy medical examiner Phillip Burch told police Friday

Crystal was killed and her body left in an alley behind her home in the 4000 block of Russell Boulevard either late Wednesday or early Thursday. Crystal’s cousin found her in the alley, partly nude. Police discovered some of her clothing strewn throughout the neighborhood.

Police said Friday that they were investigating new leads, but they had no suspects.

Eight detectives were working on the case Friday.

Burch told police that Crystal’s throat appeared to have been cut with a sharp instrument, such as a piece of glass. And, judging from the body’s condition, it appeared that Crystal’s killer may have had a difficult time overpowering her.

Burch said that the initial physical evidence did not indicate that Crystal had been raped.

Police sources said, however, that Burch’s tests were still under way and that the police were doing their own physical analysis.

Police suspect Crystal’s killer or killers knew her or were from her neighborhood because the body was found behind her home and she was last seen in her neighborhood with friends.

That theory is in keeping with what Beth Griffin has seen many times in cases of attacks against children.

Griffin, executive director of Citizens for Missouri’s Children, said th at violence against children frequently comes at the hands of family or friends because the youngsters trust and respect them.

“We try to teach them to be aware of strangers,” she said, “but there’s not a good way to teach them to be aware of violence that might be perpetrated by family or friends.”

Others who knew Crystal Brooks say it is unlikely that she would willingly go along with a stranger.

“She wasn’t the type to go off with someone she didn’t know,” said Tacompsy Hill, a former neighbor of Crystal’s family.

Hill lives in an apartment near Wyoming Street and Morganford Road, where Crystal’s family lived before they moved in January to their current home.

Hill’s children were Crystal’s friends, she said, and they had spent much time with her before Crystal’s family moved.

“After they heard about this, my kids said that she would have fought,” Hill said.

Friday evening, Father Moses Berry of Christ The Good Shepherd Eastern Orthodox Church led about 150 people in an emotional candlelight vigil in the alley where Crystal’s body was found

GIRL, 13, IS FOUND SLAIN IN ALLEY BEHIND HOME – POLICE SAY KILLER MAY HAVE KNOWN VICTIM, NEIGHBORHOOD – 21 Mar 1997 P-D

Friends remember Crystal Brooks as a bright, friendly middle school student who liked playing street hockey, jumping rope and performing in the drill team.

She was also a 13-year-old who grew up in difficult circumstances. Some of her family members were victims of violent crimes; others were accused of committing violent crimes

In recent years her family has moved several times. In late January, they moved into a home in the 4000 block of Russell Boulevard, in the city’s Shaw neighborhood and near the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Police say that Crystal Brooks was killed sometime in the night or early Thursday morning, and her body was left in the littered, red brick alley behind her home.

A cousin found her body about 6 a.m. Thursday.

Her throat had been slashed. Police are investigating whether she was sexually assaulted, because she was partially nude and her clothing was strewn about the area.

Police suspect that her killer or killers may have known her or have come from her neighborhood.

Thursday evening, St. Louis homicide detectives said they had no strong leads. They were re-canvassing the neighborhood, questioning as many people as they could.

This type of killing, police said, usually points to someone who knew the victim or who knew the neighborhood, because her body was found behind her house and she was last seen in her neighborhood with friends.

Police were trying to pin down Crystal’s movements on Wednesday night.

Before 9 p.m., she and some other neighborhood young people went up the street to the scene of a shooting.

About 9 or 9:30 p.m., Crystal ate dinner at home; later, about 11 p.m., her keys were found hanging in her front door lock.

Crystal’s mother, Annie Hickman, discovered her daughter missing about 5 a.m. when she went to wake her up for school. Hickman said she looked outside Crystal’s window into the back yard and saw nothing suspicious there or in the alley.

Several members of the household went out looking for Crystal.

Willie Hickman, Crystal’s cousin, found her body shortly before 6 a.m. in the alley.

The girl’s T-shirt and bra were found in a nearby parked car, and a coat was found down the alley. No weapon was found.

“She was a really sweet child,” said Crystal’s father, Bolivar Brooks. “Who would want to do this to a baby, not just mine but anybody’s?”

Crystal comes from a large family. Relatives said she had nine sisters and brothers. The parents do not live together, and sometimes Crystal lived with her father.

Before Crystal and some family members moved onto Russell in late January, they lived in an apartment near Wyoming Street and Morganford Road.

Crystal was a sixth-grader at Southwest Middle School in the Parkway School District. This school year was her first as a bused student in the voluntary desegregation plan.

“Crystal was making good progress, both socially and academically,” said John Siemers, a spokesman for the Parkway schools.

Ebony Hayes, 12, a friend who lived across the street, said, “Crystal was so nice and funny and friendly. She’d always cheer you up if you were down.”

On Mondays, Ebony and Crystal played street hockey at the Sherman School playground, at 3942 Flad Avenue. It was part of a “keep the kids off the streets” program at the school, Ebony explained.

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the girls would go to Sherman for drill team practice and “double Dutch” rope-jumping.

Crystal had also been active in World Impact, a Christian ministry at North Grand Boulevard and Sullivan Avenue, where about 150 youngsters and teens participate in Bible classes, church services and summer programs.

“She was a really sweet girl, well-behaved and a little shy,” said Stephene Vandenbrink, Crystal’s Bible class teacher from 1992 to 1995.

“Just a precious child. She preferred to just play with one or two other children, or she would play by me. Her favorite activities were coloring and reading, or going to the park.”

Crystal’s older brother, John Allen, 20, was killed in a drive-by shooting in September 1995. Family members said another brother also was a murder victim, but homicide detectives could not confirm that.

Police said that another brother was in prison for murder, and that an uncle, Chester Hickman, was in jail on numerous charges as the so-called “Gate District Rapist,” who sexually assaulted at least seven women and girls last summer.

Crystal’s death has produced fear in the Shaw neighborhood.

“This certainly scares me,” said Fawn Gillespie, 42, a neighbor. “I’m not allowing my 11-year-old daughter to stay out late.”

“I’m afraid,” added the daughter, Aimee Gillespie.

The killing also was felt just one block over on Flora Place, an upscale neighborhood of large homes that seems far removed from 4000 Russell, which is a working-class neighborhood with a few deteriorating homes and vacant buildings.

Only the alley where Crystal’s body was found separates the two blocks.

“We had another murder in this alley that happened during a drug deal three years ago,” said Carl Hoffsten, 55, a Flora Place resident.

“There was a shooting in this alley two years ago. My roommate has been held up at gunpoint on Flora, and a lady was mugged on Flora.”

Still, Hoffsten said he was not ready to leave. “Will it take 20 murders? I don’t know. But I’m trying to save the neighborhood.

SLAIN BURGLAR SUSPECTED IN SEVERAL CRIMES – 16 Jan 1995 P-D

A burglar who was fatally shot Saturday night when he invaded a home in the Compton Heights neighborhood might have been responsible for a one-man crime wave, police said Sunday.

Police identified the dead man as Rodney Easton, 27, of the 3600 block of Russell Boulevard. Authorities said he matched the description of the culprit in at least four similar and recent home-invasion robberies – two in the Shaw neighborhood and two in St. Louis County. Police say Easton also might have been the gunman who recently abducted three women in separate incidents and ordered them to withdraw money from ATM machines.

Easton’s residence is close to several of the crime sites, police noted.

Easton was recently released from prison after serving nine years for burglary.

Easton was shot about 9 p.m. Saturday when he entered a home in the 3200 block of Hawthorne Boulevard. He was wearing a mask and was armed with a small pistol.

Duane Sanderson, 46, who was in the home with his wife and their infant granddaughter, shot Easton after the intruder took money and demanded jewelry.

LANDLORD BATTLE ADVANCES – JUDGE WON’T DISMISS SUIT BY SHAW RESIDENTS, CITY – 4 Oct 1994 P-D

In a struggle that could spread across the city, the Shaw neighborhood has become a battleground where St. Louis officials and residents are fighting a man they claim is a bad landlord.

The suit against the landlord, John W. Gorecki of Des Peres, is the first in which the city and neighborhood residents have joined forces. If successful, more suits could be filed.

On Monday, lawyer Edward M. Roth, who is representing the residents, said their cause got a boost last week when Circuit Judge Michael P. David rejected Gorecki’s request to dismiss the suit.

Roth said the judge’s ruling “marks the beginning of the end for real estate speculators who try to suck the life out of city neighborhoods by neglecting their properties and allowing them to become staging grounds for outrageous conduct.”

Gorecki was unavailable for comment. His lawyers declined to discuss the allegations.

The suit seeks $2 million from Gorecki and focuses on three of his buildings: two two-family flats in the 4100 block of Shenandoah Avenue and a four-family flat in the 4200 block of Russell Boulevard. All are in the Shaw neighborhood.

The suit seeks a ruling on the extent to which landlords can be held liable for their tenants’ behavior. The Shaw residents want David to bar Gorecki from renting to tenants who cause trouble. Gorecki, in papers filed with the court and at meetings with Shaw neighborhood leaders, has contended that he was unaware of his tenants’ conduct and shouldn’t be held liable for it.

A Shenandoah resident, who declined to give his name, said Monday that the 4100 block has been quieter since Shaw residents filed their suit in July. Outwardly, the block shows more restoration than decay.

Roth said the suit was unusual in that it focused on the behavior of tenants rather than the physical condition of rental property.

Shaw residents allege that “Gorecki properties have been the site of grossly disruptive and menacing misconduct.”

Fighting, rock throwing, loud music and intimidation of passers-by are among the incidents, the suit says.

Gorecki’s tenants have caused problems at the three addresses for two years, the suit says.

Tenants began leaving Gorecki’s building in the 4100 block of Shenandoah after a shooting in front of it in May wounded three children and an adult. A reporter who visited the buildings Monday couldn’t determine whether anyone lived there.

Gorecki had argued, unsuccessfully, that the city had no claim against him and lacked the legal capacity to sue. He had claimed also that he couldn’t be held responsible for his tenants’ behavior.

Stephen J. Kovac, the associate city counselor handling the city’s end of the suit, said David’s decision to allow the suit against Gorecki to proceed could mean more action against derelict landlords.

“This public-private partnership holds great promise for neighborhoods as an effective and efficient way to maximize city resources,” Kovac said.

Roth said David’s decision could be a potent weapon in the fight against landlords who “have either showed contempt or shrugged their shoulders in response to neighborhood complaints.”

MAN FOUND SLAIN IN CAR NEAR HIS HOME – 25 Nov 1992

A man from the Shaw neighborhood was found shot to death in his car Tuesday night, authorities reported.

Ocie Wade, 45, was found slumped in his car. The car was parked near the corner of Russell Bouelvard and Klemm Avenue, about one block from Wade’s residence, police said. He had been shot twice in the head.

Investigators said neighbors heard gunshots about 9:45 p.m. and called police.

Police have no suspects or motive in the shooting.

Acquaintance Arrested In Killing Of Couple – 15 Oct 1992 P-D

A 21-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in the killing of a woman and her boyfriend Tuesday in the Shaw neighborhood while the woman’s three small children and nephew were in the next room, police said.

The bodies of Marian Elaine Jordan, 25, and Rickal ”Ricky” Edwards, 22, were found about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday by police in the bedroom of their home in the 4200 block of Russell Boulevard, near the Missouri Botanical Garden. Police believe they were killed around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Homicide Sgt. Joseph Beffa said evidence found at the scene Wednesday indicates that the killings probably were drug-related.

Beffa said police will seek warrants today charging the suspect with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action.

Beffa said the suspect had been socializing at the Russell address with the victims and several other people. The suspect remained behind after the others left and shot the victims less than 30 minutes later, Beffa said.

When police got to the apartment, the children – 8, 6, 5, and the 1-year-old nephew – let them inside. One of the children told police, ”Ricky is hurt, and we have to get ready to go to school.”

NEW HOME FOR KELLER – 11 May 1992 P-D

Elsewhere on the p.r. front, Keller Associates has moved into a renovated, 1894-vintage building at 39th Street and Russell Avenue in the Shaw neighborhood.

Keller was founded 10 years ago by Janet Keller. Her husband, Tom, joined the company after his previous employer, the Aragon Cos., collapsed in 1989. Daughter Laura Garcia rounds out the family enterprise.