At yesterday’s town hall meeting on the latest proposal to close more schools in St. Louis City, Deanna Anderson, St. Louis Public Schools’ Director of Operations, began the meeting by assuring everyone that no final decision had been made yet on closing any schools.
“Nothing has gone to the board…” said Anderson repeatedly during the meeting. That’s true. No final decision has been made… yet. This series of public meetings are being held to allow parents and the community to discuss the reconfiguration and consolidation plans currently on the table.
Anderson presented a slideshow with key points from the Administrative Facilities Committee and reasons for why its members believe reconfiguration and consolidation of schools would be beneficial to the SLPS.
According to SLPS, the current capacity of the district is 43,343 students. However, actual enrollment was only 28,570 as of November 2, 2007. The average SLPS building is at just 66% capacity. The goal of the District is 88% or higher.
Closing schools and relocating more students into the remaining buildings would allow more funds to be used on education, rather than aging buildings. Over the last ten years, enrollment in city schools, as well as the city the population as a whole, has continued to decline. “It is not economically feasible for the district to remain at this level,” Anderson told the small crowd of approximately 20 people at Lexington Elementary last night.
According to Anderson, the current proposal of consolidating seven elementary schools (Gundlach, Lyon, Mark Twain, Meramec, Mitchell, Shenandoah, and Simmons) would save an estimated $3 million dollars each year, which doesn’t include the one middle school (Blow) and Early childhood center (Wilkinson) that is also being considered for consolidation. In addition, Anderson also argued that “capital cost avoidance from the consolidation of seven schools is approximately $21.3 million dollars.”
Initiatives towards better security and safety were also discussed last night. Under the proposal, there will be increased security patrol within city schools and surrounding neighborhoods through a partnership with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department Gang Unit and Juvenile Division. Students, staff, and employees will be made aware of safety and security issues.
New configurations are being recommended as well. Possibilities are Carver will re-open, Henry, Mason, Shepard, Hodgen, and Wyman will return to PS-6th grade, Hamilton and Oak Hill will return to PS-5th grade, and Northwest will return to 8th-11th grade.
Near the end of the meeting, the audience was reminded again that all of the school closings were just recommendations and that nothing had yet been sent to the board.
For a listing of upcoming meetings on these proposed closings, visit the St. Louis Public Schools website (www.slps.org).
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Save 3 million at the expense of the neighborhood?
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Save 3 million, tear up the schools, justify the ambush of the state, open more charter schools, siphen off more tax dollars for your cronies, ……until we can finally raid the pension fund
February 26th, 2008 at 8:54 am
In the basic gist of things, how will all this affect the state take over of the district? Will this measure help ensure that the school district can regain control from the state or will this be another failed plan by a struggling district?
February 26th, 2008 at 11:02 am
It will ensure the destruction of SLPS long enough to make money from other initiatives. Then when the abatement period is over, suddenly, there will be a promotion of SLPS to the new residents.
February 28th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
The real thing we should be concentrating on isn’t saving money, but why are there so many drop outs and such a lower percent of the original enrollment.