Dr. Charlene Jones worked for the St. Louis Public Schools for 27 years. She has been the campaign manager for nearly 25 campaigns and has won 22 campaigns in a row, including Proposition S, which passed in St. Louis city on August 3. She ran that campaign on summer break from her current position as professor of political science at Harris-Stowe State University.
With the passage of this proposition, the St. Louis Public Schools will be provided $155 million in funds for repairs and maintenance. The money can only be used to fund capital improvements and not teachers, staff or supplies.
“What it does is it allows us to make the needed repairs for these kids, so I think it speaks volumes,” said Kelvin Adams, superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools. “I’m excited that voters supported the young people, scholars and their families.”
Jones was not only employed by the St. Louis Public Schools, but also a product of the district. She attended grade school in the district and graduated from Vashon High School.
She began working in the education field as a political science instructor for St. Louis Community College at Forest Park and then worked in St. Louis County government.
In 1983 she began working for the St. Louis Public Schools. She started as the director of planning and then became the associate superintendent for personnel and was then promoted to assistant to the superintendent. As an administrator, she helped to bring the district within two points of accreditation.
After the Special Administrative Board was given control of the district by the State, Jones was put in charge of developing a long-range plan for the district, a process that attracted 1,200 parents and community leaders to public forums.
During all this time, she was also the district’s campaign manager. She helped raise over $600 million for the district.
“There are two keys for a winning campaign. One is developing a winnable campaign plan, and you have to have a tremendous leadership team – and we had that,” Jones said.
Among her 22 winning campaigns, Jones helped pass a bond issue to build a new facility for Vashon High School and passed two bond issues to get air conditioning for the district’s schools.
The Proposition S campaign was a particularly challenging one, Jones explained, for several reasons.
“It was really a bittersweet campaign. It was a more difficult campaign because we were on the ballot with so many other issues, and we weren’t sure if those people who came out to vote for other issues would vote for Proposition S,” Jones said.
“The other reason that it was a challenge is that the schools were closed at the time, and we usually use the schools as an apparatus for the campaign. So most of the work had to be done through the campaign itself.”
Even though it was a challenging campaign, it received overwhelming support from city voters. The proposition appealed to both North and South City with the proposition winning majority votes from each of the 28 wards. To pass the bond issue the St. Louis Public Schools needed a 57.1 percent majority, but Proposition S received an unprecedented 76 percent approval rate.
“It’s safe to say that it wasn’t just me in terms of moving the district forward,” Jones said.
“We had countless staff helping, either as campaign supporters or having specific campaign functions. One Saturday we had principals calling parents and teachers working at churches.”
Harris-Stowe State University President Henry Givens Jr., the campaign treasurer, also had an instrumental role in the passage of the proposition by managing the campaign funds, along with Superintendent Adams and Richard Gaines, the campaign chairperson and a member of the SAB.
This bond issue is a particularly important for the district as it deals with budgets cuts.
“Before we would dip into its general operating funds to do patch ups. Now those funds can be used primarily for academic achievement,” Jones said.
This campaign is also a particularly important one for Jones. After years as campaign manager, she has decided that the Proposition S campaign was her final campaign.
Sadly but fittingly, just after Jones’ final campaign, a former superintendent who went through several such campaigns with Jones, Dr. Cleveland Hammonds Jr., passed away.
Jones said, “It is now time to pass the baton, and I feel good about that, because I think we have established, without a doubt, widespread support for the St. Louis Public School.”
