MO State Board of Ed: The Puppet Master and Conflicts of Interest
How one man has had a lead role in the demise of Missouri Education for decades.
Who is Charlie Shields?
Charlie Shields has served on the State Board of Education since 2012 and has been the President of the Board since 2015.
Shields was previously the Senate President Pro Tem, the Senate Majority Floor Leader, and the House Minority Whip.
Shields passed legislation in 2005 that changed the manner in which the Foundation Formula was funded and created Hold Harmless districts.
Charlie Shields is the MEDICAL Industry.
Charlie Shields currently is the President and CEO for University Health (formerly Truman Medical Center).
The Medical Lobby, along with the CDC, are working to bring the wraparound services and school based healthcare into the schools.
Researchers and concerned parents are sounding the alarm across the country.
Credit to @kellyske on Twitter for her research on Missouri.
“Healthy Schools”
CDC for schools. An NGO.
Other members of the Board also work in the medical and mental health industry.
Kimberly Bailey is a mental health specialist.
Kimberly Bailey is working with Senator Cindy O’Laughlin to push “Pro-Social”. A watered-down version of SEL to have unlicensed teachers perform mental health techniques to children in the classroom without the permission of parents.
Mary Schrag works in the medical field with a background in psychology. Schrag also advocates for SEL.
Peter Herschand, owner of Silver Dollar City, has been on the Board since 1991.
Way too long.
He was behind the scenes gutting the 2013 Legislative Bill to prevent Common Core in Missouri. We have not forgotten. He is the a MAJOR part of the reason why we still have Common Core in Missouri today.
Recently, in a State Board of Education monthly meeting, Charlie Shields and Peter Herschend were advocating for the stopping of two (2) current legislative bills cutting back the power of the State Board of Education and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
They do not want to see Brown’s HB 49 for Assessments and Carters SB 85 for Local Control pass.
At one time, Charlie Shields ran on Local Control of Education, but now supports State Control. How times have changed.
Members from big corporations are also serving on the board that support questionable charters.
Carol has a non-profit, PrincipalsConnect, with representatives from the Kansas City Preparatory Academy for Girls, that are pushing critical consciousness. The non-profit also has representatives from KIPP Charters.
Kerry Casey was with KIPP Charters before she joined the State Board of Education. She is also has a background in data and global sales operations.
KIPP Charters push identity politics in the classroom as well as in teacher professional development.
https://kippchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/whole-child-no-4.pdf
Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge works for Edward Jones and has no Education background.
She previously worked for Express Scripts, Anheuser-Busch and Bank of America. More big corp.
Probably the only qualified member on the Board is Donald Claycomb.
Clearly there needs to be term limits.
Currently one term is EIGHT (8) years on the Board and no limits on terms. We need term limits like we do with all State offices. Two (2) terms max, at Four (4) years each.
Peter Herschand has been on since 1991.
SHIELDS TERM EXPIRED AND IT APPEARS HE HAS NOT BEEN REAPPOINTED BECAUSE THE GOVERNOR HAS NOT NAMED HIS REPLACEMENT or the Senate just won’t confirm.
The Shields Family are everywhere in Education policy and Government.
Charlie Shields’s wife, Brenda Shields, is currently serving in the Missouri House of Representatives.
She was elected in 2018 and won re-election in 2022.
MAJOR conflicts of interests:
Brenda Shields is the Chair of the House Higher Education Committee.
As well as the Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Appropriations for Education.
Peter Herschend (member of the SBOE with Charlie Shields) contributed to Brenda Shield’s campaign.
Charlie and Brenda Shields’s son is Brandt Shields, is the Director of Government Relations for Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA). Brandt Shields lobbies in Jefferson City for MSBA. Meaning if there is a bill that wants to cut back the role of the Sate Board of Education and DESE, he will be the one lobbying for or against it.
Conflict of interest with his father as the President of State Board of Education?
Brandt Shields worked with Roy Blunt.
Brandt worked for Herchand’s Silver Dollar City.
Bryce Shields is on the school board for Center, one of the worst performing schools in the state of Missouri that is pushing non-traditional approaches to learning, like SEL, racial equity trainers, critical consciousness, etc.
Missouri Legislators keep giving the SBOE and DESE more power and funding. Last session (2022) O’Laughlin’s and Arthur’s Education Omnibus bill ushered in a lot of questionable laws for the medical and mental health lobby.
It ended up being 166 pages long in the end.
Here is an example of the mental health laws they gave to SBOE to “promulgate the rules”.
