The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education under the Missouri State Board of Education has recommended that the Special Administrative Board continue to govern the St. Louis Public Schools for at least three more years, among many suggestions to improve the district.
The three-person Special Administrative Board was appointed to oversee SLPS in 2007, replacing an elected board after years of controversy. While the DESE report describes an unaccredited district that continues to struggle, it notes that progress has been made.
“I think that consistency is important, and that is why they recommended we continue on for the next three years,” said Melanie Adams, a member of the SAB appointed by Mayor Francis G. Slay.
“We hired an excellent superintendent. There have been slight gains each year, and we really want to make sure that that continues.”
Kelvin Adams is the superintendent appointed by the SAB, who has been a consistent and accessible leadership presence in a district that had experienced a revolving door at the head office.
“There has been a great working partnership between the three members of this board and the superintendent,” said Rick Sullivan, the SAB member appointed by then-Gov. Matt Blunt.
“We believe in holding ourselves accountable for academic performance, and we certainly expect that of the superintendent. We have developed benchmarks and expect the superintendent to do the same for principals and teachers.”
“Dr. Adams is still in the process of pulling some things together, like reviewing the curriculum and looking at how we mentor new teachers,” Adams said.
Richard Gaines, a member the SAB appointed by Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Aldermen, also cited Adams’ leadership while ticking off improvements in the district over the last three years.
The district has removed dangerous lead-based paint in school facilities, decreased the transfer rate of students, updated technology in schools, implemented a peer review program for teachers, hired attendance monitors at high schools with low attendance rates, and improved many test scores.
“We have aggressive goals of bringing the school system more in line with national norms,” Gaines said.
Gaines, who was chairman of the successful Proposition S campaign that approved a $155 million bond issue, counts better handling of state and federal funds as another improvement for the district.
“We were able to effectively air-condition, not only the schools that were scheduled, but four other schools and still have funds left over,” Gaines said of an early project funded by the bond issue.
While Sullivan said that setting policy that improves long-term student achievement and district operations is paramount, the influx of funds from the bond issue will solve certain short-term problems.
“There are specfics new things that have to be done,” Sullivan said. “Upgrading facilities is long overdue. We will be creating better environments for education.”
While the analysis from DESE is only advisory, it pointed out serious issues that the district needs to address. The report cited inadequate counseling, health education and development for teachers. It also mentioned instances of under-qualified teachers, safety concerns, poor building maintenance, pointless testing of students and poor tracking of financial information.
Another primary task for the SAB and Adams is to regain accreditation for the district.
“Right now our main goal is regaining accreditation and also just providing the best education for St. Louis city students,” Adams said.
“I think that people see accreditation as the endpoint, but that’s just one thing that we need to do.”
The next step for the SAB is to take the DESE report and implement new programs to meet the state’s goals over the next few years.
Sullivan said a new system of school-improvement grants should have positive impact. He said, “These are targeted efforts at improving the lowest-performing schools, with one dedicated person focussing on those schools every day.”
“I’m hopeful,” Adams said. “I think we have seen some incremental change, and I think we will see more under the leadership of Dr. Adams.”
