Wahby to Parent: Wasn’t Slay’s Fault

PUB DEF EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

The mayor’s education liaison’s PR event with a group of St. Louis Public Schools students Friday got a little too real when a parent asked why recently air conditioned schools were closed and sold off by the past school board supported by Mayor Francis Slay.

Robyn Wahby told parent Yolanda Nelson that the mayor’s office had nothing to do with that decision, that it was entirely the decision of the school district, a separate government entity.

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Despite Wahby’s assertion to a parent, the mayor’s office — through Wahby — was indeed very much involved in decisions made by the school boards of 2003 through 2006, including big ones like:

• the decision to hire a $425 per hour New York-based corporate “turn-around” firm to run the district for a year;
• the decision to close 16 schools (mostly in north St. Louis); and
• the decision to outsource the district’s food service and maintenance.