Appointed after April’s narrow election loss
Alisha Sonnier ran for a position on the St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education in April and narrowly lost. All that came between her and a third-place finish, which would have landed her a seat, was 29 votes.
One of her supporters was then-Treasurer and mayoral candidate Tishaura Jones. Jones prevailed in her battle with Cara Spencer, and one of her earliest moves was to appoint Sonnier to the board. A seat came open when member Adam Layne took over as city treasurer.
“I feel like it’s really historic to be appointed by the first Black female mayor of St. Louis,” Sonnier said.
She credits her appointment, in large part, to the activist community.
“I feel like it’s a great show of what our movement is doing, and the power that we’re building,” she explained.
She also sees this appointment as a chance to actually execute the plans she came up with during her campaign — something she thought she’d never get the chance to do after she lost the election.
“Just…reflecting over everything that I had, you know, thought out and planned to do when I was campaigning and running, and then realizing that I was looking at that opportunity,” she said.
“I feel like it’s such a privilege to serve. And I’m really honored to have it.”
At 25, Sonnier is the youngest member of the Board, something she sees as an advantage.
“I know what it’s like to be young, and constantly have people who are, maybe, trying to act in your best interest, but they’re acting for you rather than with you,” Sonnier said. “I think that because of my age, I can act with them. I understand what’s going on with them.”
Sonnier — who begins nursing school this Fall — focused on improving mental health and trauma-informed care in St. Louis schools during her campaign.
This, again, was based on her experience as a student: becoming a leader in the protest movement at Saint Louis University after the killing of Michael Brown while navigating her freshman year. She said it strained her mental health.
“We started my birthday (Oct. 12) off by leading a mass action that brought 2000 community members onto SLU’s campus,” she recalled.
“So those were my first midterms; like I was having my birthday in…a tent, in camps.” That was followed by learning to navigate educational bureaucracies and meetings with administrators, decision makers and board members.
“And, so I learned a lot about the way that educational institutions work. I learned how to build relationships,” Sonnier said.
After college, she started a podcast, continued to work in activism and worked on Jones’ 2017 and 2021 campaigns for mayor.
When she decided to run for school board, Jones quickly endorsed her.
“For me, the school board is a perfect place to bring your skills because…you set the culture, you set the vision, you set the standard for a district (budget) over $398 million, and over 20,000 students,” Sonnier said.
Sonnier is calling for more data collection – and release – on which students are disciplined: what is the racial makeup of students who are assigned in school suspension, as opposed to those who are not? What are the graduation rates by race, by income, within the district?
With this “racial disciplinary report,” Sonnier said, the district could ascertain the places where implicit biases impact disciplinary action.
Sonnier said the district must make sure students’ needs are met before moving toward punitive action.
“It’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. If a person is hungry, they’re not going to do the best on the tests. If a person is unsafe at home, they don’t have peace to do better on tests,” she said.
“I want us to see how we can invest in our mental health; so more arts programs, more social workers in our schools.”
In addition, after such an unusual year, Sonnier wants to focus on the mental health of teachers.
“They are the ones who pour into the students directly,” she said. “So how can we pour into them so that they can pour into students?”
Sonnier plans to use her political relationship with the Mayor to bring these dreams to fruition.
“In the past, there has been a disconnect between the (SLPS) Board of Education and elected officials,” she said.
“And so it’s definitely my goal and my desire to play a role in bridging that relationship and having us all work together collectively towards bringing the best, the highest quality, most holistic education possible for the students.”
