Creg Williams, a superintendent finally making needed changes in the St. Louis Public Schools district, was dismissed by a vote of 4-3 on Friday night by the board of education.
“This is disgraceful,” said the Rev. Earl Nance, Jr., on Saturday.
“We are now a nationwide laughingstock.”
Mayor Francis Slay, Jr., called the vote “a damn shame.”
Slay said the district’s only hope is a takeover by the state Board of Education.
In the meantime, Diana Bourisaw has been hired as interim superintendent. Her last job as Fox Schools superintendent ended with her being fired. The board just three had hired her weeks earlier.
“As I had just begun my review of the district’s operations, the Board of Education asked me to step in as the interim superintendent. I accepted the offer and have already started working to ensure that all of our 93 schools will be ready to receive students on Aug. 28.
The four board members who ousted Williams – Veronica O’Brien, William Purdy, Peter Downs and Donna Jones – will now almost certainly face an effort to recall them.
