In a series of events over the next few weeks, St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) will seek to educate the public about the future of its school board, a topic which has been hotly debated over the last decade.
The primary decision-making body of the school district is the Special Administrative Board (SAB), whose members were appointed by the governor, mayor and aldermanic president in 2007. The district also still has an elected board, which is tasked with auditing and collecting data about the district.
The SAB was originally brought in to help SLPS regain its accreditation, which it did in January of 2017. The SAB is now preparing to make a recommendation to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) about which form of governance the district should have in the future.
In the first meeting on Monday, November 6, the district will present on the topic of elected governance; future meetings will cover appointed governance (November 9 at Central VPA High School) and hybrid forms of governance (November 13 at Northwest Academy of Law High School). The first meeting on Monday will be held at Vashon High School from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Richard K. Gaines, a member of the SAB who chairs the committee organizing these meetings, said they hoped as many members of the public as possible would attend the meetings and learn about the different forms of governance.
“These are, we believe, some of the most important meetings that the community will have about its public school system,” Gaines said.
Natalie Vowell, a member of the elected school board, said the elected board has had no input in the planning or content of the upcoming governance meetings – including the one on November 6 about elected board governance.
According to Gaines, the SAB has appointed a task force of nine community members who will make a recommendation about the future of the board; the SAB, in turn, will make a recommendation to DESE. If the department were to decide to proceed with a hybrid board or a permanent appointed board, the state legislature would be required to pass a law allowing that.
Even an appointed board, though, would not necessarily be the same three-member board as the current one. “We were and are a temporary body,” Gaines said.
Susan Jones, the current president of the elected board, said an elected school board is the better form of government.
“Members can be removed from office during the election if the public ever loses confidence in them,” Jones said.
Jones said if decision-making power were returned to the elected board, they would focus on communicating with the public and improving academics and minority inclusion. She believes it is important for a school board to be accountable to the public.
Jones said, “It’s a basic right for them to be able to vote for who they want to vote for.”
A district spokesman encouraged the public to attend these meetings – which will be streamed live on the SLPS Facebook page – and to leave comments about governance on the SLPS website at https://www.slps.org/governance.
The first public meeting on SLPS board governance will be held 6:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, November 6 at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass Ave. Complimentary child-care and light refreshments will be provided.
Jessica Karins is an editorial intern for the St. Louis American from Webster University.
