St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday night voted to close nine of its schools and overhaul its magnet program next year despite calls for a delay from parents, teachers and students.
The district will close the following elementary schools: Ames, Ashland, Carver, Hamilton, Hickey, Meramec, Monroe and Walbridge.
AESM @ L'Ouverture Middle School will also close.
The decision brings the district's portfolio of 61 schools down to 52.
Board members Karen Collins-Adams, Robert Harvey, Brian Marston and Emily Hubbard voted in favor of the closures. Tracy Hykes, Donna Jones and AJ Foster voted against the proposal.
The school board voted on eight separate recommendations as a part of the larger school consolidation plan known as Future Ready SLPS.
Clyde C. Miller Career Academy will stop enrolling new students in 2027 and will sunset high school programming by 2030. The school will become the district's career and technical education center with a new wing dedicated to cosmetology and barbering programs opening on Friday. The proposal passed with a unanimous vote of support.
Among the schools that were spared in this round of closures include Shenandoah and Columbia elementaries and McKinley Classical Leadership Academy High School.
Patrick Henry and Jefferson elementary schools were also removed from the list of closures. The district was looking to shut them down in 2028.
SLPS is looking to downsize its footprint of schools in response to declining student enrollment, financial headwinds and aging school buildings with costly maintenance.
School board President Karen Collins-Adams said to a packed room of parents, SLPS staff and students that the decision to shut down schools was difficult, but necessary.
The vote came against a backdrop of calls to delay the vote led by the American Federation of Teachers Local 420, which represents SLPS staff members.
The total list of closures is shorter than the district's original plan to close about 20 schools.
Superintendent Myra Berry has said the plan is expected to save the district $20 million through a reduction of transportation and staffing costs — two of the district's biggest expenditures.
Berry did not provide details of how much the implementation of the Future Ready SLPS plan will cost the district, so it's unclear how far the projected savings will go.
The vote comes as the district is navigating a projected $41 million deficit for this school year and heightened scrutiny from the Missouri State Board of Education.
Magnet schools overhauled, early start times on pause
Tuesday night's vote is expected to impact thousands of families across the city's public school system.
The school board voted to table a decision to roll out early start times for the following school year. In the proposal, elementary school students would start their days at 7:30 a.m. or 7:45 a.m. and end their days at either 2:27 p.m. or 2:42 p.m.
Middle and high school students would start and end their days later, with the majority arriving at school by 8:30 a.m. or 8:45 a.m. and ending at either 3:27 p.m. or 3:42 p.m.
Along with the school board's decision to close schools, the district will also convert many magnet schools into neighborhood schools, sparing the gifted programs.
The following magnet schools will be converted to neighborhood schools: Dewey, Humboldt, Lyon @ Blow, Mullanphy, Washington Montessori, Busch, Compton Drew, Gateway, Gateway STEM High School and Soldan International Studies high school.
The district currently provides transportation for students from all over the city to attend magnet schools, but Superintendent Berry has said the cost associated with busing students is untenable.
The disruption for magnet school families will be delayed, however, as the district vowed to provide transportation for students currently enrolled in the magnet programs until they finish their time at the school.
The specialized programming at the schools will also be maintained.
Pamoja Preparatory Academy, which provides African-centered programming for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students, will be converted from a neighborhood school to a magnet program — the district said students from all over the district can apply and get transportation to the school.
The district also voted to expand Humboldt elementary to serve pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and remove the middle school program at Laclede School, which will now only serve pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
The middle school students at Laclede will be zoned for Yeatman-Liddell Middle School, one of the last remaining middle schools in north St. Louis.
The school board failed to approve the expansion of early childhood education in the district.
The district plans to provide more information to families in the coming days.
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