More than 500 parents, educators and administrators attended a meeting this weekend to hear progress the school district has made in implementing its 30-point plan to improve the St. Louis public schools.
Officials from the St. Louis Public School hosted its third and final Comprehensive Long-Range Plan summit Saturday at Vashon High School. The summit was translated in eight languages for parents attending the summit.
Richard Gaines, chair of the Comprehensive Long-Range Plan, said the district has already implemented many aspects of the plan ranging from appointing nine high school attendance officers to expanding early childhood services. “This year we started more early childhood centers than it has in 20 years and they are growing dramatically,” Gaines said. “We’ve invested more money that we didn’t have in this area.”
The Comprehensive Long Range Plan consists of 30 Quality Missouri School Improvement Program Standards. The strategies for each standard were developed by community members and stakeholders who attended meetings April 5 and April 12. The implementation coordinators started an implementation and monitoring effort of each of the standards. Among other things, school officials have hired a full-time coordinator of programs and services for children with autism, which is the first-ever for the district, received state approval for a ninth grade reading intervention program and increased the number of public school students visiting college campus as a way to encourage them to attend college. For more information about the Long-Range Plan call 314-331-6060 or visit www.slps.org.