The Missouri State Board of Education stripped St. Louis Public Schools of its status as fully accredited onTuesday a move the only opposing board member called a 鈥渕essaging device.鈥�

The school district has been downgraded to provisionally accredited.

鈥淟owering accreditation is a broad signal and by itself does not fix audits, stabilize transportation or strengthen governance,鈥� said Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, a board member from Pasadena Hills.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education planned only to raise accreditation during the state board meeting Tuesday, boosting the Osborn School District from provisional to full accreditation following its hiring of a superintendent in order to meet certification requirements.

The department has been looking at factors like superintendent certification and financial security to determine whether a school district is fully accredited since the launch of the Missouri School Improvement 6 in 2022. Any changes to accreditation based on MSIP6 scores are not supposed to be implemented until next year, which has who want low-performing schools penalized sooner rather than later.

State board member Kerry Casey, of Chesterfield, asked the board to lower St. Louis Public Schools to provisional accreditation based on factors outside of MSIP6. She cited leadership instability, transportation issues, a poor rating from the State Auditor and the district鈥檚 late submission of its annual financial report to the state.

鈥�(My recommendation) is strictly based on the fact that they have experienced significant change in the scope of effectiveness of their programs and their financial integrity upon which their original designation was based, and they have failed to comply with the statutory requirement,鈥� Casey said. 鈥淚f we do not make this lower classification change, we are not doing our job.鈥�

Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger said she was 鈥渧ery dissatisfied鈥� that the district turned in its financial report late and thought about recommending to lower its accreditation. But she didn鈥檛 think the move would solve any problems.

Charter schools can open in areas where a school district has been provisionally accredited for three or more consecutive years. But state law already allows charter schools in St. Louis.

鈥淭he provisional tag on the school district is not going to make that big of a difference,鈥� Eslinger said. 鈥淲hy I did not make that recommendation is I鈥檇 rather have them at the table with me and working with me.鈥�

A spokesperson for St. Louis Public Schools could not be immediately reached for comment on the board鈥檚 decision.

State education officials have been working with the district, Eslinger said, and the department has convened a group of school leaders and local stakeholders to brainstorm solutions for St. Louis Public Schools and other underperforming districts.

鈥淧utting those plans together, I see good things ahead for St Louis,鈥� Eslinger told the board.

When she took office as commissioner in 2024, St. Louis Public Schools鈥� leadership did not return calls or emails, she said.

鈥淲e do now have a relationship, and we鈥檙e being very honest and upfront about the issues that they have,鈥� Eslinger said.

Westbrooks-Hodge, whose district includes St. Louis, was the only board member to speak against Casey鈥檚 motion. She pointed out that the district had incremental growth in its annual performance reports, and she worried it was being singled out.

鈥淯sing reclassification primarily to send a message risks blurring the distinction MSIP6 intentionally draws between academic performance and governance or financial stress and risks, weakening the consistency and credibility of classification systems statewide,鈥� she said.

Casey and the other five board members voted by voice in favor of the motion.

Last January, Casey but did not receive a second supporter to spur a vote. In reaction, the from the board. Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O鈥橪aughlin , saying: 鈥淭his has long been needing to happen but for some reason hasn鈥檛.鈥�

During Tuesday鈥檚 meeting, Casey also requested that the department provide a report on underperforming schools statewide by the board鈥檚 April meeting. This motion received unanimous support from board members.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.

The direction of the 18,000-student St. Louis Public Schools will be set as its leaders await the outcome of an audit by the state of Missouri. The district鈥檚 chief financial officer recently announced that her office has turned over most of the financial and administrative records requested by state officials, including receipts and contracts 鈥�.鈥� Meanwhile, Scarlett that she will appeal her firing under the terms of her contract. 

The state of the district has stirred concern among city leaders over the past few months, with Mayor Tishaura Jones at the beginning of the school year 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥� In a statement shared with 社区黑料, a group of four former school board members, including two former chairs, called on the current board to win back the faith of community members.

鈥淭he current state of affairs at SLPS cannot continue,鈥� reads. 鈥淭he lack of transparency surrounding the leadership change and new school year has eroded the trust of stakeholders and damaged the district鈥檚 reputation. The public deserves and is legally entitled to clear, honest information about the superintendent investigation and transportation struggles as well as common back-to-school topics like academics, finances, administrative vacancies, enrollment, and attendance.鈥�

Responsibility for addressing those problems will now fall to interim Superintendent Millicent Borishade, whom Scarlett originally brought to St. Louis to serve as chief of schools. Borishade is one of a handful of high-level administrators 鈥� most of whom have 鈥� who previously knew or worked alongside Scarlett when she held a leadership role in Seattle Public Schools.

But Borishade will first to hold the job. In a press release announcing her appointment, the district noted that its interim chief had filed paperwork to obtain a Missouri superintendent certification, and that her service in the role would depend on her receiving one. After initially stating that she held such certificates in both Illinois and Washington State, the district鈥檚 press office later clarified that Borishade had only held them in the past. 

The school board鈥檚 vote, taken in a special session, terminated Scarlettt鈥檚 contract only a year after she took the job. Though her arrival was for an academic turnaround in one of America鈥檚 worst-performing school systems, Scarlett took criticism for her hiring and spending practices, which subsequently led not only to the state-led audit, but also to an internal investigation.

Byron Clemens, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers鈥� St. Louis affiliate, wrote in an email that Scarlett had a right to due process and that the district needed to carry on in its improvement efforts, including an expansion of public preschool and recruiting more teachers.

鈥淲e don’t have the luxury of clutching our pearls and getting lost in anxiety,鈥� Clemens said. 鈥淲e are there for the children of St. Louis every day 鈥� we weathered the pandemic, and we will get through this as well.”

The hurried leadership handover is just one of a mounting series of challenges facing St. Louis Public Schools at the outset of the 2024鈥�25 academic year. When a major bus provider unexpectedly pulled out of its contract with the district, officials had to assemble a patchwork transportation plan involving over a dozen vendors to fill the void in August. In all, over a thousand families were left without a reliable way to send their children to school, with some being issued gas cards to cover their driving costs.

Short-term finances have also been called into question. After beginning last year with a $17 million surplus, the district that it will enter a $35 million deficit in 2024鈥�25 鈥� though those figures are still only estimates, and are being considered.

Even these setbacks are only the latest to afflict St. Louis Public Schools, which has lost the vast majority of its enrollment over the last half-century as families fled for charter schools, private alternatives or nearby suburban districts. Local education observers have to shutter under-enrolled facilities, both to offload costs and right-size a system that enrolls only about one-sixth the students it did in the 1960s. 

Even in the midst of a pandemic that inflicted significant harm on children around the country, St. Louis was particularly hard-hit, with testing data indicating that COVID cost the average student the equivalent of 0.8 years of reading instruction and more than twice that in math. An analysis conducted by 社区黑料鈥檚 Chad Aldeman found that only about one-in-five St. Louis third graders are reading on grade level, far fewer than the city鈥檚 underlying levels of poverty would predict.

Krystal Barnett, a mother and CEO of the parent advocacy group , has since this summer for failing to communicate with parents about transportation issues and called on school board members to resign over what she called failures of leadership. In an email to 社区黑料, she said she wanted to know more about the grounds for Scarlett鈥檚 appeal.

鈥淲e need leaders over our schools that will hold themselves to a standard and not compromise,鈥� she wrote.

Current school board vice president Matt Davis declined to comment on thes vote to fire Scarlett.

Abandoned by and dogged by a for poor performance, the local school system shrank over the past few decades to a fraction of its former size. If they choose to stay in the area, a sizable number of parents now either opt for a charter alternative or shell out for private tuition.

But Barnett, a mother of two, was dissatisfied with the pandemic-era instruction her daughter had received at a nearby private school and wanted to make a change. It was the exact kind of move she often recommends to other families as the CEO of , an activist group she founded in 2019 to lobby for better educational services throughout the city and empower parents to advocate for their kids. 

Soon, however, Barnett was alarmed to see her daughter floundering even before she鈥檇 gotten a chance to settle in. She鈥檇 never experienced significant disciplinary problems before, but within days, she was involved in a fight and placed on a behavior plan. Barnett attributed the struggles to the 鈥渧ast difference鈥� between her daughter鈥檚 prior experience of school and the new environment she was adapting to.

鈥淚t was our first week in St. Louis Public Schools,” she said.

The institutional troubles facing St. Louis students are typical of those that have marked much of the city鈥檚 last half-century. As in other regional metropolises that faltered in the middle of the last century 鈥� from Detroit to Cleveland, Milwaukee to Memphis 鈥� disorder rose, the middle class fled and public services like K鈥�12 education unraveled spectacularly. 

The situation now appears especially dire to many onlookers. A national study this spring , showing that the pandemic saddled St. Louis elementary and middle schoolers with some of the worst learning damage suffered by any students in the United States. The district is also navigating a generational shift in leadership, with Superintendent Kelvin Adams retiring last December after 14 years of service; his successor, former Seattle Public Schools administrator Keisha Scarlett, only took office in July.

Collin Hitt, the executive director of the Policy Research in Missouri Education (PRIME) Center at Saint Louis University, said that the task ahead is to not only turn around learning outcomes in the short term, but also set a sensible course for the transformation of the district into a smaller, more successful entity for the foreseeable future.

鈥淵ou’ve got some kids two or three grade levels behind where we would have expected them to be if not for everything that’s happened over the past four years,鈥� Hitt said. 鈥淩ecovering from that has got to be the focus of the education policy conversation for the next decade.鈥�

鈥楿pheaval, turnover, chaos鈥�

Missouri is not a high-flier nationally, ranking for the most part around the middle of the pack in test scores and graduation rates. But it would be impossible to overlook St. Louis and its vicinity as the most educationally woeful community within its borders. A 2019 inventory of the weakest schools in the state 鈥� those performing among the bottom 5 percent of all that receive Title I funds, which are themselves only granted to schools enrolling high percentages of students from low-income families 鈥� , with over one-quarter in the city itself. 

Decades of failure, segregation and financial dysfunction finally led the Missouri State Board of Education to in 2007, turning its governance over to a three-member administrative board appointed by both state and local leaders. After a dizzying sequence of seven superintendents in the space of five years, Adams鈥檚 lengthy tenure , though he held far less authority than chiefs in other districts.

In 2011, Kelly Garrett became the executive director at KIPP St. Louis, a charter network that has grown to six schools in the last decade. Garrett credited the former superintendent with steadying the ship given the 鈥渋nsane amount of managerial upheaval, turnover, chaos鈥� that preceded him. But after previously working to seed charters in districts like Houston, Memphis, and Boston, he said the change on display closer to home fell short of the transformational.

鈥淭he goal was stability, which was not a bad goal at the time,鈥� Garrett said. 鈥淭he past 12 years, we’ve seen stability, but we’ve also seen further deterioration of the district.鈥�

The administrative panel to restore control to a locally elected board, even as serious concerns remained. In that year鈥檚 administration of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) standardized tests, the district鈥檚 schools were awarded just 78 percent of all possible points 鈥� much lower than Missouri鈥檚 state average of 90 percent, or even the 88 percent earned by similarly troubled Kansas City.

After the ravages of the pandemic, those numbers . The state average in 2022 fell from 90 percent to just 65 percent, while St. Louis Public Schools earned a staggeringly low 31 percent. , no more than 56 percent in any grade scored at or above the level of Basic ( as demonstrating 鈥渁 partial or uneven command of鈥� the test鈥檚 necessary skills and processes) in English; two-thirds or more students in all grades scored below that level in math. 

Recent research suggests that while Missouri students absorbed a sizable blow from COVID, the once-in-a-century emergency left a particularly distinct mark on St. Louis. In May, conducted by Harvard economist Thomas Kane and Stanford sociologist Sean Reardon found that the city 鈥� along with a handful of others, including New Haven, Connecticut, and Richmond, Virginia 鈥� in academic performance anywhere in the United States.

While Kansas City is home to approximately the same percentage of students from low-income families, its average drops in learning were not as severe: the equivalent of -0.52 grade level in reading and -0.95 grade level in math from 2019 and 2022, compared with St. Louis鈥檚 slide of -0.81 grade level in reading and -1.64 grade levels in math. The split between the two districts is all the more notable given that, according to Kane and Reardon鈥檚 data, Kansas City students spent considerably more time in virtual instruction than their St. Louis counterparts.

In Kane鈥檚 view, learning loss of that magnitude is likely irrevocable without drastic changes to instruction. He believes the same old quality of teaching, delivered in the same quantity as before the pandemic, couldn鈥檛 possibly make up the difference.

“If I’ve lost a year and a half of school, or more, it is just impossible to imagine making up for that lost ground without additional instructional time,鈥� Kane argued. 鈥淥therwise, it’s imagining that teachers are teaching 150 percent of what they would normally teach within the school calendar, and that’s unreasonable to hope for.”

For parents like Jen Wadley, it can seem optimistic to even expect more than a year of stability from local schools. 

As COVID shuttered schools throughout the city in early 2020, she learned that Carondelet Leadership Academy, the K鈥�8 charter school attended by all three of her children, due to persistently poor academic results. Similar news came the following January, when Cleveland Naval JROTC 鈥� a her oldest son, Troy, attended as a freshman 鈥� was similarly targeted for after a year substantially spent in remote learning. 

In a process she called 鈥渃haotic,鈥� Troy moved on as a sophomore to a public magnet program, Central Visual and Performing Arts, for his third school in three years. 鈥淭he options were very limited for high schools in the city,鈥� Wadley said. “Finding a school in St. Louis City 鈥� an adequate school 鈥� is a job within itself.”

Representatives from St. Louis Public Schools did not respond to requests for comment.

A shrinking district

Major urban districts like St. Louis were once hulking entities dotted throughout the Midwest, each serving six-figure student bodies. So plentiful and diverse were the schools that locals still frequently resort to the introductory 鈥溾��: Where did you go to high school? 

But total enrollment in the district , almost unbelievably, from a peak of about 115,000 in 1967 to under 17,000 in 2022 鈥� a reduction of more than 85 percent. This is a proportionately greater decline than the broader city鈥檚 contraction from over 850,000 residents in 1950 to roughly 285,000 today. 

The gradual dissipation of huge swaths of school-age children is a factor of multiple trends. Births throughout much of the metropolitan area , resulting in fewer and smaller young families within the district. According to produced by the PRiME Center, the elementary-aged population of St. Louis fell from 17,300 to just 15,300 between 2010 and 2019. Over 60 percent of the city鈥檚 neighborhoods lost children between the ages of 5 and 9, with an average decline of about one-third, and no area saw a greater drop than traditionally African American North St. Louis.

Barnett of Bridge 2 Hope 鈥� who was raised in north St. Louis but attended school in the suburbs through 鈥� reported that large areas of the city have been transformed by the departure of families to nearby suburbs like Eureka and Ladue, each located across the county line. While speculating that many students would prefer to attend schools in their own slice of the city, she said that it was difficult to contest the perception that 鈥渟chools there are better.鈥�

鈥淢y whole neighborhood looks different,鈥� Barnett said. 鈥淎ll those people are in west County, north County, south County now. I don’t know if the experience is better, but the education is better. The chance to give your child a great education is a great chance.”

The end result is , with a few enrolling just 100 students or so. Former Superintendent Adams shuttered . The district intended to attract developers to its acres of surplus properties.

But in a shrinking city like St. Louis, closures also devastate families and alumni, which look to schools as anchors of their communities. When officials considered closing Sumner High School in the historically African American neighborhood of The Ville, at the prospect of losing an institution that once schooled luminaries like Chuck Berry, Tina Turner and Dick Gregory. after an eleventh-hour organizing drive, but the necessities driving it have only grown greater since.

John Wright Sr., a Sumner alumnus, later enjoyed a career as one of the region鈥檚 most distinguished educators. After serving as a teacher, administrator and superintendent at the suburban Normandy and Kinloch districts, he led St. Louis Public Schools as an interim chief in 2008. In retirement, he has also advised both mayors and Missouri governors on K鈥�12 education, and served another brief term on the St. Louis Board of Education last year. 

Wright鈥檚 perspective dates back to the 1940s, when he attended three different local schools before the fifth grade due to overcrowding. At that time, he recollected, a typical classroom might hold 40鈥�50 students and even elementary schools sometimes consisted of multiple buildings. Now, many have fallen into dilapidation and disuse. 

While a disappointment to some, Wright said, the diminished scale of St. Louis Public Schools could become an asset to Keisha Scarlett, the incoming superintendent. Rather than presiding over mass building campaigns, he argued, she could mostly focus on consolidating assets and improving outcomes for the students who remain.

鈥淚t’s a matter of how you use that smaller size to bring about change,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淲hat’s left of the population has stabilized, so how do you improve matters now that you’ve got a size that you can put your arms around?”

鈥楶oised for rebirth鈥�?

Scarlett鈥檚 arrival this summer has been seized upon by some parents and educators as a cause for hope. 

Amidst a around the district, the 24-year veteran of Seattle Public Schools is already leading around 21 schools. She that the city is 鈥減oised for a rebirth鈥� in the years to come. Whatever her long-term vision, however, even the prospect of fully staffing classrooms this September is looking hazy. District representatives that 15 percent of its teaching positions, amounting to nearly 280 jobs, were as yet unfilled. 

Another lingering question is how Scarlett will choose to deploy two sources of newly available money. According to Georgetown University鈥檚 Edunomics Lab, St. Louis Public Schools in federal COVID relief funds since 2020, only 13.7 percent of which has yet been spent. (Federal law stipulates that 30 percent of such aid must be spent directly on learning recovery; the offers little in the way of specifics.) In a hopeful sign of public faith, voters a $160 million bond issue last year to fund building repairs and upgrades.

City leaders, meanwhile, have devoted the last two years drafting to address the most pressing issues confronting both traditional and charter schools. But while some observers applaud the efforts at strategic thinking in a system that has too often veered from one emergency to the next, the 128-page document for on how to stem the migration of families to suburbs or offload unneeded building inventory. Some of its recommendations essentially advise still more planning.

A further worry, highlighted by Scarlett in an interview with a local news station, is the threat to students posed by violence in school facilities or elsewhere. The city has been one of America鈥檚 most crime-afflicted for decades, and scores of children in the St. Louis area with guns in 2022. KIPP鈥檚 Garrett said the local levels of gunplay seemed unique.

鈥淚’ve personally watched 鈥� within 100 yards of me sitting in a chair or standing at a window 鈥� four different shootings in my day-to-day activities,鈥� Garrett said. 鈥淭he access to weapons and the level of violence in the community is constantly present.鈥�

The community鈥檚 worst fears , when a former student broke into Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and shot nine people with an assault rifle. A 61-year-old teacher and a 15-year-old student were killed, along with the perpetrator after a shootout with police.

Though enrolled in his second year at the school, Jen Wadley鈥檚 son Troy wasn鈥檛 present on the day of the attack. Still, the tragedy threw up yet another obstacle in the way of his education. Having already sat through months of virtual instruction in the eighth and ninth grades and switching to a new high school as a sophomore, he didn鈥檛 return to in-person classes after the shooting. 

Even outside of school, driver shortages have forced St. Louis Public Schools to bus routes, including to credit-recovery programs over the summer. Heading into what should be his senior year, Wadley said, her oldest son has spent almost as much time outside of high school as in, and the status of his graduation credits is still unclear. She worries that he views his time at school with more apathy than interest.

鈥淚t’s hard enough to get a kid to participate in high school,鈥� Wadley said. 鈥淏ut then they鈥檙e thrown so many curveballs 鈥� their dream school closed, there’s a school shooting, there are no buses 鈥� and they just get to the point where they don’t care.鈥�