The St. Louis Public Schools Board Tuesday night postponed a vote Tuesday night on whether to close 11 schools next year. The Board followed the recommendation of Superintendent Kelvin Adams’ recommendation to wait 30 days for additional feedback and brainstorming.
The Board met at Clyde C. Miller Academy, where members voted 6-1 to move the vote about closures to their Jan. 12 meeting. Board President Dorothy Rhode-Collins, was the sole vote against postponement. The public was able to watch the meeting on YouTube, as is the practice during the coronavirus pandemic.
Adams said he believed his team and the Board did all they could to come up with the school consolidation plan, but he noted that based on overwhelming feedback since the list was made public the community disagrees with that assessment.
“But even with that disagreement, I think it makes some sense to pause and this is my recommendation to the board tonight,” he said, adding that the postponement would allow him and his team to meet with community members and organizations to listen to recommendations for alternatives.Â
While most board members seemed relieved at the idea of postponing the vote, Rhode-Collins expressed deep concern that the decision pandered to the desires of vocal nonprofit groups and community leaders who may not have a direct stake in the decision like students and parents do.Â
“So we wait for history to repeat itself,” she said. “If you are an elected official or nonprofit entity and you wrote a letter or signed a resolution or posted on social media that we should postpone this vote, then it is your moral responsibility to follow it up with a concrete plan of action that you can take — that you can take within your control — to help this school district. It is your moral responsibility to do that.”
In contrast to that sentiment, Board Vice President Susan Jones thanked Adams for the opportunity for the postponement.
“And I just want to say that for too long this discussion and actions around public education in the city have been ignored and undervalued,” Jones said.Â
“As a collective, it’s important that we, as leaders in the city, are more proactive in addressing issues and less reactive,” Jones said. “… Over the next 30 days, I’m looking forward to having productive conversations with our fellow community leaders that will create excellent outcomes and meaningful solutions that work in the best interest of the children in the city, family and overall community.”
Board member Donna Jones noted that the city has been overwhelmed with a variety of social and economic problems, so she understands why it took some time to get the community involved in a meaningful way.Â
“We are in the midst of a gentrification effort and it has been put forth to move Black and Brown people from this city and it’s been very successful,” she said.
Board member Adam Layne added: “I think when the community does show up, we have to think less about how long they haven’t been here and more about how they are here now.”Â
Sumner High School and 10 other St. Louis Public schools were on the recommended list of schools to be closed permanently next year.
The schools north of Delmar Boulevard on the list are: Clay, Dunbar, Farragut, Ford and Hickey, all elementary schools; Sumner High School and Northwest Academy of Law High School.Â
The other schools on the closure list are: Monroe Elementary, just south of the Benson Park neighborhood; Fanning Middle School in Tower Grove South; Cleveland High School in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood and Carnahan High School in Dutchtown. Â
The Board held a work session Monday evening, where they took a vote to decide whether they would vote to close schools individually or as one group on Tuesday night.
Board members who voted to consider all schools at once were Rhode-Collins, Layne, Joyce Roberts and Natalie Vowell. Those who voted to consider each school individually were Nancy Fowler, Donna Jones and Susan Jones.