From the Desk of…
Diana Bourisaw, Superintendent
Questions remain regarding the future
of SLPS
This week we issued some answers to frequently
asked questions regarding the state’s intervention.
We also discussed the impact of the loss of accreditation.
The unaccredited status goes into effect June 15. However,
there remains many unanswered questions regarding the future
of the St. Louis Public Schools.
We have posed many questions to the Missouri Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education. For example:
• Will students currently attending private or parochial schools have
the ability to transfer to county schools? Will the students need to re-enroll
in St. Louis Public in order to be eligible?
• Can students in charter schools transfer to a county
district?
• Will the state and local dollars be available to
send students to county schools, especially those currently
enrolled in private, parochial, and charter schools?
• How will student transfers affect the racial balance
required under the Desegregation Settlement Agreement? Currently,
magnet programs must maintain a racial balance between African-American
students (60%) and non-African-American students (40%). If
all students, including Caucasians, are able to transfer to
county schools, it will have a devastating impact on our successful
magnet programs.
• Do parents need to wait until June 15 to begin applying
to county schools?
• Will summer school be required for under-performing
students this summer?
• Will retention of all students who are performing
below grade level be required for the upcoming school year?
There are other administrative questions that I have that
may not directly impact our students or their parents, but
will affect the day-to-day operations of the district. For
example, once the State Board voted to reestablish the transitional
school district, our elected board is subject to the laws of
a “seven-member school district.” The laws that
govern seven-member school districts are quite different, especially
regarding personnel issues, than the laws that govern the metropolitan
school district. We will continue to seek answers about the
differences will impact our district.
Thus far, we do not have answers to many of our questions.
As answers become available, we will be adding them to our
online FAQs.
Public input on facility reconfigurations
I appreciated the hundreds of public comments we received
regarding the preliminary recommendations for facility reconfigurations
and closures.
We continue to review all of the public comments as we work
to finalize the facility recommendations for next school year.
We should have a finalized plan to bring back to the public
one more time before a final decision is made by the Board
of Education.
“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough
problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you
had last year.” - John Foster Dulles
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