ST. LOUIS — Monday marked 21 days before St. Louis students will be headed back to school. What is normally an exciting time has now become uncertain.
Krystal Barnett said as a St. Louis parent and CEO of Bridge 2 Hope, which advocates for quality education, she is worried about the state of St. Louis Public Schools.
“It's glaringly obvious that we have leadership that has failed us across the board,” Barnett said.
The first hurdle came at the beginning of July when the school board approved an emergency transportation plan after their previous vendor canceled their contract. The new plan includes 19 different vendors getting people to school, school start and end times were shifted and about 1,000 students could be riding public transit.
“They wanted parents to come in and sign off if they were parents that were drivers, but a lot of parents still haven't done that. So, there's still people who don't know how their kids are getting to school,” Barnett said.
Last Friday, SLPS placed Superintendent Keisha Scarlett on leave, naming Millicent Borishade as the interim. School Board President Toni Cousins said she couldn't go into detail about what led to this.
“That's actually a personnel matter. But right now, there's a lot that's going on in regards to the district, there's been some concerns,” Cousins said.
Barnett added the financial state of the district is also questionable, it had a $17 million surplus and now could run a $35 million deficit. She thinks the whole board should have been removed.
“The superintendent was the scapegoat for something that the district already knew, was potentially an issue from years past. This is not our first time talking about budgets, this is not our first time talking about the literacy crisis. This is not our first time talking about any of it. It's not a new phenomenon,” Barnett said.
She said a lot of these plans and decisions were signed on the dotted line by the board.
“They've tried to ostracize people that have been working with the district for years. All of those were board decisions,” Barnett said.
5 On Your Side’s Laura Barczewski asked Barnett, “How do you think this is going to impact the kids and the families?”
She said, “A lot of kids might not be at school on the first day. Kids might miss instruction. Some teachers might resign, right? So like this didn't just affect students, it also affects the staff."
In a letter to the district, Mayor Tishaura Jones offered assistance from the city and even former SLPS staff. It reads, in part: "While we cannot go back in time to create a citywide education plan, my office remains committed to the principle of A Culture of Trying consistently referenced in the Ferguson Commission Process. The Mayor’s Office still stands ready and willing to assist with the immediate and long-term issues facing the district, including but not limited to your leadership transition, transportation, development of abandoned SLPS buildings, and identifying needed resources."
Cousins said the district is prepared for students to come back.
“We're making sure that we are ready for the first day of school, and we need all hands on deck to make sure that happens,” Cousins said.
The American Federation of Teachers, Local 420, put out the following statement, “The St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) have been in the news recently regarding the temporary leave of Superintendent Keisha Scarlett pending an investigation of past hiring and spending practices. AFT St. Louis supports the investigation and seeing it through complete due process to its conclusion. “We are excited to begin another school year,” says union President Ray Cummings, “and we anticipate a few glitches but we recognize the education and safety of St. Louis school children is our #1 priority. We are professionals and will keep our focus on our mission and we will come out of this on the other side. Our members are professionals and do the work every day, we are actually there for the children and we appreciate the continued respect and support of the community.”
They are scheduled to hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Find Mayor Jones' letter to School Board President Cousins below: