If we could only see the world through the eyes of our students, we might be able to find the answers that would help fix what’s wrong with our public school system. Of course, an adult can only learn so much from, say, a fifth grader. They are still acquiring knowledge and communication skills. But what if we waited just long enough for a fifth grader to grow up, but not so long that she forgets what it was like or becomes too jaded to care?
Remarkably, we have found such a person in Evita Caldwell. She was a member of a fifth grade class at Jefferson School that got a lot of attention from educators, civic leaders and the press. The civic leaders poured millions of dollars into Jefferson School in the hopes of providing a better future for Evita, her classmates and every other child at their public school, located just a mile west of downtown in the Murphy Park-O’Fallon Place-Carr Square neighborhood.
Richard Baron led that effort. He is a nationally acclaimed developer, but also a passionate advocate for education initiatives. He was born and raised in a working-class area of Detroit, where he learned first-hand about the dynamics of inner-city neighborhoods. He took on Jefferson School as a cause in 1999 and then expanded the effort to nine more schools across North St. Louis, creating what came to be called the Vashon Compact.
The compact ended in 2006, with mixed results. Some schools showed improvements; others didn’t, for a variety of reasons. Some have closed. When the compact was dissolved, Jefferson School moved backward in many respects, as principals shuttled in and out. You can go to the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary and find reams of test scores for all of the schools involved – many of them disappointing, some dismaying.
But test scores tell only part of the story. What was the real impact on the kids? Caldwell, who graduated second in her class from Vashon in 2007 and earned a degree in communications from Saint Louis University, was burning with passion to find out. With the support and guidance of Richard Weiss, who worked on the Jefferson School story at the Post-Dispatch when Caldwell was a child, she reported a follow-up series on her former classmates. In today’s edition of The American, you can read what she learned in a 12-page special section, “All Grown Up,” illustrated with photographs by J.B. Forbes of the Post.
Like those test scores, Caldwell’s account is dismaying in some respects, but quite hopeful in others. She has a few things to teach well-intentioned civic leaders trying to make a difference in the lives of city students. Two of those people are Maxine Clark and Bob Fox, who provided the underwriting for this special section through their charitable foundation. Richard Baron also has continued to struggle for our children. Based on the same core values of enriching lives and building communities, Baron and others founded the Center for Creative Arts (COCA) in 1986. Just last year, the $11 million I. Jerome and Rosemary Flance Early Childhood Education Center opened only steps away from Jefferson School, thank to Baron’s vision and leadership, in partnership with others.
We want you to read all of what Caldwell has to say, so will not dwell on her insights here. But her message is clear: None of us can give up on our kids or our schools. We must find a way to fix our schools and deliver to all of our youth an education that challenges them from the earliest ages and prepares them for a productive and successful life.
