ST. LOUIS — Reimagining St. Louis public schools. That’s the goal of an ongoing initiative that’s nearing completion.
The focus is to have community engagement produce results. The Citywide Plan for Education effort began last April. Organizers are a little more than halfway through the process. So many people across St. Louis are wholeheartedly invested in seeing it through.
How can we get more students to fall in love with learning and support them to come out on top? That's why a group of people gathered Wednesday night.
"We have some of the top-performing schools in the state. We have some of the lowest performing schools in the state,” said St. Louis Public Schools Board President Matt Davis.
He is glad to see all sectors of the community coming together to help create a citywide plan for education. "We've got architects. We've got safety experts. We've got community experts."
Even police are on board. Educators are working with the public to improve school safety, infrastructure, and support for the real-life experiences some students have when they're not in school.
"There has historically been this divide. Us and them and 'they're taking our resources' and so on and 'they're not giving us resources,'” said Gerry Kettenbach of the University of Missouri. His job involves working with charter schools. Still, he sees the need to collaborate with SLPS. "They're all our kids right? It’s looking beyond the borders of the school buildings themselves and saying, 'What's going to best benefit all the kids in St. Louis, no matter whose educating them?'"
The group will have one more meeting before creating a final action plan, and everyone is welcome. It will happen on Wednesday, March 29.
Organizers say stay tuned for the location. To learn more about the initiative click here.