ST. LOUIS • One by one on Thursday they spoke into the microphone at Vashon High School, expressing outrage that St. Louis Public Schools might hand over operations of some chronically low-performing schools to outside contractors.
Superintendent Kelvin Adams listened as retired teachers, teachers union reps and members of the disempowered elected school board denounced his transformation plan — one that partly stems from frustration that after four years, millions of additional federal dollars and staff changes haven’t yielded much progress at 18 of the lowest performing schools.
“The whole notion here is that we look at partners,” Adams told more than 100 in the auditorium. Laws and bureaucratic constraints prohibit him from doing things that could improve outcomes, like extending the school day, he said. “The hope is that the outside entities would allow us some flexibility.”
But most who spoke weren’t on board with the idea that contract schools — schools operated by a contractor, but still belonging to the district — would do better.
They said this was like handing over the district to corporate interests. They repeatedly brought up William Roberti, the business turnaround specialist who, one decade after he closed schools and eliminated jobs, continues to incite the passion of public education advocates in the city.
Members of the disempowered elected board equated this part of Adams’ plan to outsourcing.
Giving the schools to strangers “is a disgrace and an insult to the community without compelling evidence that they can do better than we can,” said Bill Haas, an elected school board member.
The proposal is part of a larger plan that would shift staff and resources throughout the 67-school district. Schools performing the best — autonomous schools — would receive the least amount of central office direction. Schools struggling the most — the superintendent’s zone — would receive the most resources and support.
Adams wants to shift $6.4 million to the superintendent zone schools next year to beef up in-school tutoring, provide teachers with additional training in reading instruction, hire more reading and math specialists, and add social workers and counselors. The money would come from savings in areas such as transportation.
And if any of the superintendent zone schools fail to meet specific targets next year, the district would contract with an outside entity to run them for a limited period starting in fall 2015.
If approved by the Special Administrative Board, the plan would make St. Louis Public Schools the first district in Missouri to move toward portfolio management: when a district’s central office oversees a diverse collection of schools with a wide array of operators.
The approach is becoming increasingly common in urban school districts, including Houston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Oakland and Washington.
On March 11, the district began seeking bids from nonprofit organizations with experience producing academic success in schools with “significant” populations of high-poverty students.
“There are factors that impact student achievement and it’s clear, poverty is one of those factors,” Adams said.
Ninety-seven percent of the children superintendent zone schools get a free or reduced-price lunch — a federal marker of poverty. Seventeen children enrolled in city schools have died since fall – 12 of them attended the lowest performing schools. Opponents didn’t deny that the most troubled schools need more support. Mary Armstrong, president of the American Federation of Teachers Local 420, said nonprofit agencies should play a greater role in providing services at schools. But the district, not the nonprofits, should run them, she added.
“Outsourcing has never improved struggling schools as promoted and is the educational equivalent of washing your hands of something, shaming and blaming the teachers who tried their best, and just hoping and praying that someone else can do it better,” she added.
The next hearing on the plan will be 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Central VPA High School. The Special Administrative Board is to vote on the plan April 10.
