Betty Wheeler was a classic teacher, her name now graces school

Betty Wheeler Classical Junior Academy is the official new name of the former Kennard CJA, creating “a new legacy of excellence.”

Parents at the school began a campaign in 2019 to remove the name of Kennard, a confederate officer who became a wealthy St. Louis businessperson with known ties to a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. His name has been replaced by “a trailblazing educator who represents our changing world,” according to George Sels of SPLS.

“Women’s History Month is the perfect time to celebrate one of the few schools in the country named for an African American female.

The late Betty McNeal Wheeler was the founding principal of Metro High School in 1972.  She was known for creating an innovative school program that borrowed from successful programs around the country.  She placed a strong emphasis on preparing juniors and seniors to take their places in the world. 

Today, Metro consistently is ranked number one in the state and the elementary school is also highly rated. 

“Metroites” joined in on the CJA campaign to honor their former teacher through the renaming of the elementary school.

Her daughter, Gayle Wheeler-Williams, said at the re-dedication "[my mother] worked hard. She sacrificed and it's good to know her students [and] St. Louis Public Schools have recognized her for her accomplishments and the things she has done.

“It feels really good. I'm proud of my mom. I am an only child as far as birth, but I have a lot of siblings because they (Metro) were her kids, all of them! At times I was jealous as a child until I understood.”

She added, “My mom had vision, but I don’t think in her wildest dreams she would have imagined this. Her name will never be forgotten and that’s a beautiful thing.”

 “I am an only child as far as birth, but I have a lot of siblings because they (Metro) were her kids, all of them! At times I was jealous as a child until I understood.”

 Wheeler’s former students always remember her warm hugs and how she insisted that everyone, even her students, call her “Betty.”

Sels said “at every opportunity Ms. Wheeler demonstrated care, compassion, and confidence in every child’s ability to achieve greatness. 

“To ensure their success, she built her school culture around innovative and proven programs in Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, New York.  Her promise to her students was that – in her school - they would not fail. 

Betty Wheeler was married to the late Samuel Wheeler, and they had one daughter, Gayle Wheeler Williams.   Ms. Williams is married to Herman Williams.

Wheeler, who died in 2011, was the daughter of T.D. McNeal, Missouri’s first Black state senator. She graduated from Sumner High School and was one of the few Black students attending St. Louis University in the 1950s. She started her teaching career at Gundlach and Yeatman elementary schools before opening Metro in 1972.

Wheeler died in 2011, and her St. Louis American obituary said she founded Metro “the "school without walls," in 1972, based on innovative schools that she'd read about in Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, N.Y.

“The school focused on college-bound juniors and seniors. In addition to its shortage of walls and classrooms, it didn't have bells announcing class changes, athletic facilities, or many other resources.

Mrs. Wheeler also founded a culture that surrounded the school. There was the "Metro Hug" that she gave students, or Metroites. There was an informality-she asked students to call her by her first name and many teachers followed suit. She also gave students her home phone number.

But she also could be fiercely protective. In 1995, while trying to keep four "street punks" and three students apart, when one of them reached around her to try to hit a student, she hit the attacker in the face.

"I don't let anybody treat one of my students wrong," Mrs. Wheeler said about the incident in a 1996 profile.