St. Louis Public Schools will close 11 schools next year, begin phasing out its magnet school system and limit its transportation offerings to families beginning next year.
In what the district says is its final version of the SLPS Future Ready plan, the district walked back closing down 14 schools next year, but did not back down on its plan to sunset its magnet school program over time. The gifted schools will remain largely unchanged.
The plan was presented to the SLPS Board of Education during its regular work session Tuesday evening. The board is set to vote on the plan on Nov. 10.
The plan decreases the district's portfolio of 61 active school buildings down to 52 and is projected to save the district $20 million — though does not offer a specific breakdown of cost savings. It's also unclear how much it will cost the district to transition students and prepare receiving schools for additional students.
The district would close the following elementary schools: Ames, Ashland, Carver, Hamilton, Hickey, Meramec, Monroe, Walbridge, Shenandoah and Columbia.
AESM @ L'Ouverture Middle School would also close.
According to an initial proposal shared with STLPR, McKinley High School and Clyde C. Miller Career Academy would stop enrolling new students in 2027 and would sunset its high school programing by 2030.
Mckinley HS students would be redirected to Central Visual and Performing Arts High School or could attend their closest neighborhood school. Clyde C. Miller students, who come from across the city, would be encouraged to attend their neighborhood schools.
In a last minute change during Tuesday's meeting, school board President Karen Collins-Adams asked Superintendent Myra Berry to amend the McKinley HS proposal.
Collins-Adams said she would support delaying the closure of McKinley for two years if the parents and the school community could increase student enrollment. McKinley currently has 240 students. She did not specify the benchmark McKinley would have to reach to remain open.
Collins-Adams proposal came after McKinley students called on the school board and district leadership to spare their school. Students sent a stream of emails over the last week and protested outside the board meeting.
Board member Robert Harvey pushed back against the proposal to delay McKinley's closure. He questioned whether it was an equitable move since other schools on the closure list also asked for a chance to grow their enrollment.
"If we are treating McKinley as an isolated test case of marketing and advocacy, and not allowing other schools the same kind of tenacity, we have failed the equity test across the board," Harvey said.
SLPS looks to expand early childhood education, wind down magnets
Shenandoah and Columbia Elementary Schools would be converted into new early childhood education centers designed to serve two to four year olds.
The district would close Patrick Henry and Jefferson Elementary Schools in 2028 and move those students to Dunbar Elementary School, which would be re-opened as a kindergarten through eighth grade school.
The following magnet schools will be converted to neighborhood schools beginning next year:
- Elementary schools: Dewey, Washington Montessori, Gateway and Lyon
- Middle schools: Gateway, Compton Drew, Carnahan, Busch
- High schools: Soldan, Gateway
The district said students enrolled in the magnet schools will be offered transportation until they finish their time at the schools, but will have to meet certain conditions to maintain their transportation.
The conditions include: a 90% school attendance rate, no out-of-school suspensions or two bus infractions, must use bus services at least four out of the five school days and parents must sign an agreement acknowledging eligibility requirements.
Changes to transportation and start times
The district is also making massive changes to its bus transportation and school start times in an effort to cut transportation costs.
As of next year, all pre-kindergarten and elementary students will start their days at 7:30 a.m. or 7:45 a.m. Middle and high school students will start at 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.
The following students will receive bus transportation:
- Students who live more than a mile from their neighborhood school
- Students attending a focus school (formerly known as a gifted or magnet program) and live more than two miles from the school
- Students who have Individualized Education Plans
- Students who are homeless or dealing with housing instability and are covered under the McKinney-Vento Act
The district's rationale
SLPS officials have said they must close schools because of decreasing student enrollment, rising maintenance costs for its aging buildings and to better distribute resources across the district.
SLPS was once home to over 43,000 students in the 1990s. It enrolled about 16,300 students this fall.
The district states that this plan will increase access to certified teachers in classrooms across SLPS, expand early childhood options and increase career and technical education programs among other benefits.
"I want to remind us that we have a unique opportunity before us," Berry said. "An opportunity to do more than change how we operate. We have an opportunity to change the status quo. We have the opportunity to confront our own biases and fundamentally change what we believe is possible for every student in the St. Louis region."
It's unclear whether Berry has the votes to approve this plan.
In interviews with STLPR last week before this latest consolidation plan was presented, long-time board member Donna Jones said she would not vote for the plan meanwhile board member Emily Hubbard said she would. Both are running for re-election on Nov. 3 while three other candidates challenge their seats: Wendy Goss, Zacheriah Davis and Aneetra Williams Jones. Read more about the candidates in STLPR's Voter Guide.
This story has been updated to include comments from SLPS leaders.
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