The three men vying for the St. Louis Public Schools superintendent spot got a chance to make their first impressions on the community at a public forum held Tuesday night at Vashon High School.
The candidates – Dr. Kelvin Adams, Dr. Eric Becoats and Dr. Donnie Evans – were picked from a pool of 30 applicants by PROACT Search, which was hired by the district’s Special Administrative Board in April to manage the search process. Each candidate gave a 15-minute presentation of their three-year plans to improve the district, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Tuesday’s forum was the end of a busy day for the finalists, who spent most of the day visiting schools and meeting with district and community leaders. The district hopes to hire a new superintendent by the end of September.
Dr. Kelvin Adams
First, there is Dr. Kelvin Adams.
Adams is the only finalist who has any professional ties to St. Louis and has experience working in a district administered by the State.
He said he doesn’t anticipate any difficulties in working with the appointed board because at the end of the day, whether a State board or an elected board administers the district, “it’s about student achievement.”
He most recently served as chief of staff for the Recovery School District in New Orleans, a district in which 86 percent of students are eligible for free/reduced lunch and 99 percent are of a minority group.
“One of my strengths in the last 10 years is bringing people together to solve problems,” Adams said.
He was on tap to be superintendent in New Orleans, but decided to leave and return to St. Louis for this superintendent position. He is a former SLPS Human Resource director.
“St. Louis is unique to me in that it presents a challenge,” Adams said, adding that he is looking to provide some of the leadership and structure in the St. Louis district that he provided in New Orleans.
In moving towards accreditation, Adams said he wants to first put in place a flexible curriculum and instruction plan. He supported spending more time on math and language arts instruction and extending the school day.
When asked about the threat of charter schools, Adams said he saw a threat in terms of financial impact.
“I believe that charter schools must be held at the same level of accountability as traditional public schools,” he said. “We are competing with anybody to get the best and the brightest students.”
Dr. Eric Becoats
Then, there is Dr. Eric Becoats, co-interim superintendent for Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, N.C.
The local newspaper in Greensboro reports that back in 2004 Becoats resigned from the administration at Charlotte-Mecklenberg North Carolina Schools, after being accused of conducting personal business with school district resources. CMS board members accused him of using company telephones and computers for his personal consulting business.
“I think what I would have done differently was probably communicate a little better, and I would have not actually done the consulting work that was in line with what I was doing on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Becoats was suspended for one day and required to pay the money back. He said he no longer has the consulting firm.
As chief of staff of the state’s third largest urban school district, Becoats successfully implemented an improvement strategy that offered lower class sizes and extensive teacher training.
The dropout rate in Guilford County Schools is at 2.98 percent, the lowest dropout rate in the state. Becoats said his vision for the St. Louis district include creating innovative alternative education programs to decrease dropout rates and decreasing the district’s budget deficit.
When he left Guilford County Schools in early 2008, the district was in the process of State intervention.
“Accreditation of St. Louis Public Schools is what you’ll see different in St. Louis in three years,” Becoats said.
Dr. Donnie Evans
Finally, there is Dr. Donnie Evans.
He recently resigned as superintendent of Providence, Rhode Island City Schools, a position he held from 2005 to 2008. Evans was criticized when more than 100 children were stranded on school buses for hours during a snowstorm back in 2007.
“All 36 school districts opened on that same day and closed at the same time,” Evans said of the bussing incident. “The snow had accumulated so quickly that the busses got stuck in traffic.”
SAB member Melanie Adams said the board was aware of both Evans’ and Becoats’ incidents in the interview process.
“We were satisfied enough with their answers to move them forward,” she said.
In hindsight, Evans said he would have released students an hour earlier than the other districts and would have developed a multi-layered backup plan.
Prior to his departure from Providence schools, 50 percent of the district’s elementary, middle and high schools were making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as compared to 17 percent in 2005.
Part of his vision for St. Louis is to raise student expectations and to focus on special education by asking if kids in special education really need to be there.
“We need to help students rise above their conditions by teaching them to take advantage of the education that is being provided to them,” Evans said.
He was recently turned down for the job of Cincinnati school superintendent, along with former SLPS Superintendent Diana Bourisaw.
The end of the forum was briefly interrupted by parent Andrew Wimmer, who had to be escorted out of the auditorium by security.
“We’ve had SAB meetings all year long where it’s the same situation – people’s voices cannot be heard,” Wimmer said. “Parents have been so systematically shut out that parents don’t even bother to come to meetings like this.”
The public got a chance to meet and ask questions to the candidates for an hour-long reception before the forum. American columnist and KMOX news anchor Carol Daniel, who moderated the event, said she thought the forum was successful.
“Giving stakeholders a chance to meet a candidate for superintendent is unprecedented,” Daniel said.
For complete biographical summaries of each finalist, go to www.slps.org, which also is linked to the online edition of the St. Louis American.