Now that solid progress is being made toward regaining full state accreditation after three years of steep decline, the 35,000 students in the St. Louis Public Schools, their families and the community deserve a school year without disruption.
Superintendent Diana Bourisaw recently gave the State Board of Education a comprehensive account of what the schools are doing. There is strong political pressure from allies of Mayor Francis G. Slay for the state to take over the schools. Such action would actually reward Slay for the damage created by members of the board who gained office with his help.
Everything that Bourisaw told the state board can be independently checked by the staff of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and measured against the goals that the state has for the students, as can the potential impact of the state’s taking over the schools with the turmoil that would result.
Mary Beth Purdy
St. Louis