Opinion: St. Louis Should Consider Having School Board Members Appointed By The Mayor

When I wrote the recent Sunday Poll my thought was that we should always elect school board members — I’ve never lived anywhere otherwise. Then I began researching the subject and discovered many big central cities have school boards appointed by their mayor. Of course, this doesn’t make them better or worse than an elected board — just different.

The Post-Dispatch reviewed the pros & cons of elected, appointed, or a combination board in November:

Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cleveland all have appointed school boards. Nationwide, appointed boards are either selected entirely by the mayor or by a combination of the mayor, governor or local elected officials. Here, the governor, St. Louis’ mayor and president of the Board of Aldermen each appoint a member to the SAB. The number of people on an appointed board ranges from three in St. Louis to six in Chicago and 14 in New York.

Wong found that appointed boards improve academic performance and district management. Appointed boards have also been better than elected boards at tackling systemwide priorities such as achievement gaps or graduation rates.

“The appointed board is primarily suited if the city really wants to head-on confront tough challenges and if they really want to push for some of the changes faster,” Wong said. (Post-Dispatch)

I don’t know that an appointed board is right for St. Louis, but it’s worth considering. Of course, I think the entire St. Louis region needs to reconsider much of how it’s governed.

Here are the results from the recent non-scientific Sunday Poll:

Q:  Agree or disagree: The board appointed to run St Louis Public Schools did such a great job we should abandon electing board members

• Strongly agree 3 [15%]
• Agree 3 [15%]
• Somewhat agree 2 [10%]
• Neither agree or disagree 0 [0%]
• Somewhat disagree 2 [10%]
• Disagree 5 [25%]
• Strongly disagree 5 [25%]
• Unsure/No Answer 0 [0%]

The number of responses was lower than usual, I didn’t even vote. Still, more than half support electing school board members.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should Future School Board Members Be Appointed Or Elected?

For more than a decade we’ve elected members to the local school board, but it has been 3 appointed members of a special administrative board working to win back accreditation for the St. Louis Public Schools.

The city’s elected school board has not been in control of the district since 2007, when the state stripped the St. Louis Public Schools of its accreditation, declared it a transitional school district and replaced the elected board with the three-member appointed Special Administrative Board.

The move was not intended to be permanent. When the district regained its accreditation last January, that signaled to state and district leaders that it was time to think about a transition away from the Special Administrative Board. (Post-Dispatch)

This is the topic of today’s poll:

This poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

April 4th Ballot: School Board & Junior College Board

In a little over a week St. Louis voters will return to the polls for the general election — mostly a rubber-stamp of the Democratic nominees selected earlier this month. In addition to propositions that I’ll cover next week, there are two often overlooked nonpartisan races on our ballot (sample): local school board & junior college trustee.

The school board hasn’t been critical for a decade, but that may soon change since the district regained state accreditation:

Many in the education scene are closely watching this particular school board election because the St. Louis elected school board, which has sat by for about a decade with no powers, could regain governance control of the district in the near future.

The elected board was replaced by a three-member appointed board in 2007 after the district lost accreditation. Some expect a transition back to the elected board will happen soon, now that the district proved it’s improving when it was fully accredited by the state last week.

Several education leaders do not wish to part quickly with the appointed board, which has been credited with returning the district to stable ground in terms of leadership, finances and academics. But others argue the district, on democratic principle, needs to be governed locally by an elected board. (Post-Dispatch)

FOR MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (FOUR-YEAR TERM — VOTE FOR THREE)

• BILL MONROE
• NATALIE VOWELL
• DAVID LEE JACKSON
• DOROTHY ROHDE-COLLINS
• BRIAN P. WALLNER
• JAMES IRA REECE
• SUSAN R. JONES

For more information on the 2017 school board election see Ballotpedia.

There are three candidates for one seat representing much the city on the regional body overseeing the St. Louis Community College system:

Three candidates have filed for the Subdistrict 2 seat. Incumbent Hattie R. Jackson will not seek re-election. The candidates are Pam Ross, Patrick J. Burke and Ciera Lenette Simril. (STLCC)

FOR TRUSTEE FOR SUBDISTRICT 2 OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT OF ST. LOUIS – ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI (ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE) (SIX-YEAR TERM — VOTE FOR ONE)

• PAM ROSS
• CIERA L. SIMRIL
• PATRICK J. BURKE

Please take the time to research the candidates in the two races before voting in the April 4th general election.

— Steve Patterson

More Than Half Of Readers Willing To Send Their Child To St. Louis Public Schools

The St. Louis Public Schools recently became fully accredited again — a result of vast improvements from a decade ago when barely more than half graduated and there was a huge budget deficit:

Today, the high-poverty, majority-African-American district has a 72 percent graduation rate and 95 percent attendance rate. The district had a $19.2 million surplus in June. The district has improved its students’ test scores year after year.

Still, Superintendent Kelvin Adams and the appointed Special Administrative Board acknowledge that the district is not meeting its academic goals.

“It’s really about the young people … who deserve to have the kind of education we all want for our kids,” Adams said after the board’s vote. “We’re not going to stop until every single kid can read, every single kid has that opportunity.”

About 37 percent of students who took state tests last year scored proficient or advanced in English, and 26 percent did so in math. Only 12 percent of district high school graduates who were tested scored at or above the national average on the ACT. (Post-Dispatch)

In the recent non-scientific Sunday Poll just over half the readers said they’d send their kids to a St. Louis Public School:

Q: Assume you have a child ready to start 1st grade. Agree or disagree: Now that they’re accredited, I’d send my child to St. Louis Public Schools.

• Strongly agree 10 [21.28%]
• Agree 6 [12.77%]
• Somewhat agree 14 [29.79%]
• Neither agree or disagree 0 [0%]
• Somewhat disagree 0 [0%]
• Disagree 4 [8.51%]
• Strongly disagree 9 [19.15%]
• Unsure/No Answer 4 [8.51%]

A couple of comments on social media do a good job summarizing

Celia Watson on Facebook:

This is a tough one to answer. I love my kiddos SLPS magnet school, but our neighborhood school is still not a consideration for us. I do feel that SLPS is well run, and employs excellent teachers and staff.

Jason Stokes on Twitter:

Have a current kindergartener. Moving to STL next month. Will send him to SLPS.

The more good students attend the schools the better they’ll do. The more involved parents & prospective parents are in the schools the better they’ll do.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Would You Send Your Child To The Fully Accredited St. Louis Public Schools?

Earlier this month the St. Louis Public Schools became fully accredited:

The state board gave unanimous approval to upgrade St. Louis Public Schools’ status from provisionally accredited to fully accredited. Officials with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education cited the district’s rising test scores, improved attendance rates and fiscal stability as the reasons for recommending the change.

The decision comes nearly a decade after the state took over the St. Louis Public Schools system and replaced its elected board with a special administrative board. Most members of the state board credited Superintendent Kelvin Adams with helping facilitate the district’s turnaround.  (St. Louis Public Radio)

Now, many are wondering if more parents will choose the district over other options. Good question so I’ve made it the subject of today’s poll.

The poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson