ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Public Schools announced the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience will resume classes Monday, two weeks after a mass shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
Classes at both schools have been canceled since students and teachers were evacuated on the morning of Oct. 24. Collegiate, which shares a campus with Central VPA, suffered significantly less damage in the deadly shooting.
According to Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams, school leaders believe Collegiate students are ready to return to their building.
The district said the school will begin virtual learning Monday, Nov. 7, with the goal of getting students back into classrooms by Monday, Nov. 14.
“We don’t take this decision lightly," Adams said in a statement. "A survey was conducted among parents and students, and one thing is clear -- most are ready to be back in class."
Adams said the timeline for returning to in-person learning depends on how long it takes to complete necessary repairs to the building, which could potentially push that return to the week after Thanksgiving.
Plans for Central VPA High School students and staff to return to the classroom are still in the works, according to the district.
“We are allowing CVPA students time and space for healing this week,” Adams said. “We will continue to proceed slowly and let them guide us on the right time to return.”
The district said it is working to assign a full-time therapist to both Collegiate and Central VPA for the remainder of the school year.
“The health and wellbeing of our students comes first," Adams said in the statement, "and with that in mind, we are working closely with the principals of both CVPA and CSMB and school counselors to determine the pace at which we provide support and initiate change.”
For students at either school that are not comfortable returning for in-person learning, virtual instruction will be available for the remainder of the fall semester, the district said.
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