Rick Sullivan, president of McBride & Son and Governor Matt Blunt’s appointee as the chief executive of the St. Louis Transitional School Board, has embarked dutifully upon the difficult task of gathering information and advice about the embattled St. Louis Public Schools District, which the transitional board will oversee after June 15 if recent decisions by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education remain in effect. Sullivan had intended to approach the public as a group with two fellow appointees, but the presidency of the Board of Aldermen experienced turnover in the April 3 municipal election and Mayor Francis G. Slay has been deliberate in making his choice for the board. And, so, Sullivan has embarked upon a difficult task alone. He will find a district in turmoil with many nasty undercurrents.
While it is evident that entrenched interests are willing to continue to fight to keep the transitional board from intervening in the administration of the district, we hope that they recognize that their legal efforts may be in vain. It would be irresponsible to refuse to accept a final judgment about whose voice is going to prevail and continue a dispute that jeopardizes the children. Consequently, we hope that they work productively and responsively with Sullivan, starting now, and with his eventual colleagues, given the strong possibility that the transitional board soon will have decision-making power over the future of the district and its students.
Understandably, Sullivan’s appointment was greeted with immediate and lingering suspicion from many people – because he is wealthy, white, from the County, not an education professional and a Blunt appointee – it is important that everyone recognize a simple fact that may seem surprising. Namely: it is in the economic self-interest of everyone in Missouri – very much including rich white business men in St. Louis County and even Blunt himself – that the children (very much including the poor black children) in the city of St. Louis receive a quality education to prepare them for the workforce and productive citizenship.
Why? St. Louis is the main economic engine of the state and the flagship of the metropolitan region. If St. Louis city fails, St. Louis County’s competitiveness is severely undermined and Missouri struggles. These are simple macro economic facts that are understood by the most powerful decision-makers in this area and this state, and this realization has goaded them into an unprecedented degree of concern with the performance of the city schools.
Why? Because without quality schools, the city population will never recover to anywhere near desirable levels, which will keep the city under-populated with an under-funded tax base. And without improved schools, St. Louis will not have the educated and viable workforce it needs to compete against other metropolitan regions. If disinvestment continues to plague St. Louis city and renders it non-competitive for accelerated economic growth, the entire region underperforms and Missouri is diminished.
The push for improved schools in St. Louis is a prudent decision for anyone concerned for the economic future of this region and state in a global age. We expect city residents and the school district staff and officials to judge Sullivan and the transitional board by their actual performance—their collaborative strategy, decisions and actions. But as this process gets underway, we are inclined to give the transitional board a chance and trust in their interest in improved performance to close the academic gap.
City and state officials and their appointees have a vested interest in the success of the children in the city schools – very much including the district’s black children, because they need them to succeed. This is anything but charity. It’s a political determination born of economic necessity. And if they succeed in improving the student outcomes of the city schools, then it portends a better future for all- very much including the black children of our city.