ST. LOUIS BOARD OF EDUCATION STATEMENT REGARDING PETITION CHALLENGING STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

Today, June 4, 2007, a Petition was filed in the Circuit Court of Cole County challenging the lawfulness of the State Board of Education’s action directed against the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis.

This Petition alleges that the State Board’s determination that the District is unaccredited is unlawful, arbitrary and capricious. The Petition argues that (1) there is no valid rule which establishes the MSIP criteria being used to un accredit the District; (2) the Performance Standards used by DESE and the State Board are impermissibly vague; (3) the State Board acted arbitrarily and capriciously in applying standards to the District because the same consideration and actions have not and are not applied to other similarly situated Missouri School Districts; (4) the action taken by DESE and the State Board is unconstitutional in many respects, and (5) there are many uncertainties and ambiguities relating to the Transitional District statutes which make the statutes unconstitutionally vague.

One of our attorneys, Johnny Richardson, filed on behalf of the Board of Education this petition aimed at preventing the inappropriate intervention in the governance of the St. Louis Public Schools. Our legal team consists of Johnny Richardson of the firm of Brydon, Swearengen & England in Jefferson City and Kenneth Brostron of Lashly & Baer here in St. Louis. We regret that this legal action is necessary.

The Board of Education members and Superintendent remain committed to providing the children of St. Louis the best in educational services.