It grows from five members to seven
The state of Missouri has stepped in and added two members to the Normandy School District’s appointed governing board as community members continue voicing concerns over its leadership.
The Missouri State Board of Education approved adding Mike Jones and William Humphrey to the Joint-Executive Governing Board, expanding its members from five to seven.
Jones is a former state board member and Humphrey served on Normandy’s school board as an elected member before the state takeover.
While Jones said it would be “presumptuous for me to make any really definitive judgments” on embattled Superintendent Marcus Robinson, he said Normandy students already are challenged, and don’t need ongoing controversy.
“If you’re Black in America, you will always be playing with two strikes against you,” Jones said about the predominantly Black and low-income district’s long struggles.
“And you can’t use that as an excuse. You just got to learn how to be a great two-strike hitter.”
Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, a state board member who graduated from Normandy and served on Normandy’s board previously, said the decision “is a bright spot in Normandy’s longer road to recovery.”
Normandy’s teachers union and elected officials have grown increasingly upset this spring with the district’s leadership. The recently hired superintendent lacks some of the credentials for the job and also has previously worked for a charter school network.
That put 24:1, an organization made up of municipal leaders within the school district, on edge. The group had strongly opposed the planned opening of a charter school in the district’s boundaries. It also lobbied against two bond measures — and defeated one — for Normandy schools on the April ballot.
Beverly Hills Mayor Brian Jackson, who is part of 24:1, accused the board and superintendent of operating in a “clandestine way.” The teachers union said Superintendent Marcus Robinson’s lack of credentials is “unacceptable.”
Robinson declined to comment through a district spokesperson.
Normandy has struggled to meet state standards since the mid-1990s and lost accreditation in 2012. The state took over governance in 2014 by dissolving the elected board and replacing it with five appointed members.
Normandy regained provisional accreditation in 2017, but its academics have slipped since then. Only 16% of third graders were reading on grade level in 2019, and the attendance rate last school year was 69 percent.
The state school board held the special meeting following a lengthy discussion at its regular meeting earlier in the month. Board members brought up the idea of transitioning Normandy back to local control, but no plan was laid out.
Riverview Gardens, near the Normandy district in north St. Louis County, is also under a state-appointed board. Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said the change in Normandy’s oversight raises questions about Riverview Gardens that the department will address in the near future.
The state school board returned control of St. Louis Public Schools to a locally elected board in 2019 after 12 years of control. The transition process took several years.
Republished with permission of St. Louis Public Radio: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/education/2021-04-29/state-school-board-expands-normandys-governing-board-after-complaints
