ST. LOUIS — One day after Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls announced its closure, a sign that reads "enrolling now" remains on school grounds.
Melynie Blackshear, a parent who has several questions for the school, asked "Where are we going from here?"
Blackshear is just one of more than 100 parents affected by the closure.
On Wednesday, Blackshear went to the school for more answers about where her soon-to-be 11th grader, Sasha Blackshear, can go to school for the upcoming year.
"Actually it was pretty disappointing. I left work to find what information they have for us and all I saw was an opportunity to go to another St. Louis public school. I needed more private [or] charter [school] options," Blackshear said.
Yolonda "Yogi" Yancie, city committeewoman of Ward 18, said she supports Hawthorn school parents.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what will come next and what can we do to make it a smoother transition and help them [students] heal as well as the community heal from this loss," Yancie said.
Blackshear said things are down to the wire with school starting for St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) this month. She is gathering transcriptions and letters of recommendation for her daughter which are just some of the tasks she has at hand.
"There's a lot of things I need to do to get my baby ready for school next week," Blackshear said.
Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls released this statement in response to the closure.
Washington University in St. Louis, the charter school's sponsor, also released a statement, which reads:
"We support the difficult decision made by the Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls Board of Trustees to close the school. We know this action was not taken lightly or without great consideration for the impact the closure will have on Hawthorn students, families and staff. We appreciate Hawthorn School’s accomplishments in preparing young women for academic success over the past eight years and wish all who are associated with the school the very best in their future endeavors."
