More than 1,400 community stakeholders have joined hands with St. Louis Public Schools in taking the first step to breathe new life into the district.
On Saturday, the Special Administrative Board held the second of two community summits at Vashon High School to get help with the district’s long-range comprehensive plan.
The summits, at first expected to draw in no more than 400 people, pulled in nearly 1,400 stakeholders eager to strategize on ways to help the district make a turn for the better.
“People have to have an opportunity to express themselves and get involved,” said small business owner Roscoe McWilliams Jr. “That’s what we’re doing here today. This is excellent.”
Richard Gaines, SAB member and chair of the Long-Range Comprehensive Plan, said he understands that improving public schools will take time, and this is only the first step.
“We are not interested in doing things fast, we’re interested in doing things right,” Gaines said. “It’s a process that is designed to make this school district as good as it is capable of being.”
The public offered input on 30 quality standards for public education, 14 of which were set forth by the State and 16 developed by the SAB through focus groups, which included civic and business leaders and members of the elected school board. The standards range from safer schools to higher test scores to teacher training.
Gaines said quarterly newsletters will be issued to detail the board’s reasoning behind which strategies are implemented and those that are not. Follow-up forums will be scheduled every six months for the community to offer more input.
The process will be overseen by the district’s External Engagement Office, led by Charlene Jones.
Ultimately, the plan will be designed to help the district regain its State accreditation and otherwise serve as a roadmap for future progress.
“Without a strong community presence in anything that we do, we will ultimately fail,” said SAB member Melanie Adams. “It is vital for the community to not only rally behind the long-range plan but any strategies implemented thereafter.”
Much of the discussion at Saturday’s three-hour summit stemmed around increasing parent engagement. District officials estimated that staff and teachers represented 75 percent of those present.
“The parents we’re trying to engage need to be asked what they want from this system,” said Gwen Collier, from Youth and Family Services. “We need to ask them, ‘What do you need for your child to finish school?’ instead of assuming what they need.”
Gaines told attendees that the summits need to emphasize solutions over criticism, so Cynthia Banks, attending the parent-engagement seminar, suggested that teachers and politicians canvass neighborhoods and knock on doors to meet parents face-to-face.
Other sessions focused on the district’s academic efforts. Getting all students to read at grade level by the third grade was a concern to many teachers, suggesting that more resources should be funneled toward student-reading assessments and teacher training. Expanding after-school programs that support academic initiatives, such as writing and literature, could also help, those attending the after-school seminar suggested.
“We have to work together,” said former elected board member Ron Jackson, who is now assistant director of St. Louis for Kids. “It’s not about what we don’t have, it’s about what we don’t know we have.”
Organizations and businesses on-hand at Saturday’s summit included Parents as Teachers National Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri and Build-A-Bear Workshop.
State Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, Alderman Jeffrey Boyd, 22nd Circuit Family Court Judicial Commissioner Anne-Marie Clark, John A. Wright of the Regional Arts Commission and Robert Taylor from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education were also present.
Pleased with the turnout, Gaines said this would not be another plan to be put on the shelf and forgotten about.
Jacqueline Perry, a parent of four children in the district, credited the SAB for involving the community, but said she hopes their efforts will continue into the future.
“Their efforts are an excellent move in the right direction,” Perry said. “But I hope this will continue out through a lifetime of achievement for St. Louis Public Schools.”
Two City schools get accredited
Roosevelt and Gateway high schools were recently awarded accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA). They join Central VPA, Cleveland at Pruitt NJROTC, Metro, Soldan and Sumner high schools in receiving accreditation through the association.
The district sought individual accreditation for its schools after the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education stripped the district of its provisional accreditation last year.
Clyde C. Miller Academy and Vashon high schools are seeking accreditation and hope to receive it later this spring. Northwest, Carnahan and Beaumont high schools plan to follow next school year.
Colleges and universities often require that students graduate from an accredited high school to be eligible for admission.