ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis Public Schools is looking for input from the entire community, as the district looks to potentially close some of its 68 school buildings.
It is early in the process and a spokesperson for the district said there is “no list of schools circulating.”
“The District has not identified schools recommended for closure,” Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams wrote on district’s website. “Schools with several years in a row of low enrollment will likely be part of that conversation, but that is not the only factor. Other considerations include—but are not limited to—housing and population trends, academic performance and building condition.”
Currently, there are 68 school buildings and about 22,000 students enrolled.
“When you look at that ratio, that’s a lot of schools for that number of kids when you compare to other districts,” said the district's spokesperson Meredith Pierce.
Pierce said the majority of the district’s buildings are around 100 years old and are expensive to maintain.
“If we could free up some dollars, our hope is that we could put that into classrooms and opportunities for kids,” Pierce said.
It is not clear how much the district could save.
The district is hosting six “community visioning workshops” in February and March to gather ideas and opinions. The workshops will all be the same, so the district is encouraging people to attend only one meeting.
Once Adams gathers feedback from the meetings, he will make recommendations to the Board of Education, Pierce said. If approved, any changes would take effect as early as the 2020-2021 school year.
For a list of the dates, times and locations of the meetings, click here.
