SLPS will close 14 schools in June 2009

By Casey Nolen

KSDK -- The Special Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public School District will shut down 14 area schools this June and may close three more by June 2011, NewsChannel 5's Casey Nolen has learned.

The following buildings will close in June:

--Ashland Branch building (no students currently attend school there);
--Baden Elementary School (students will go to Herzog and Nance);
--Big Picture at Des Peres (program being reevaluated; students will go to other schools in the meantime);
--Big Picture at Kottmeyer (program being reevaluated; students will go to other schools in the meantime);
--Big Picture at Turner Middle School (program being reevaluated; students will go to other schools in the meantime);
--Blewett Middle School (students will go to L'Ouverture Middle School);
--Clark eMINTS Elementary School (students will go to Ford Elementary);
--Mark Twain Elementary (students will go to Walbridge Elementary);
--Meda P. Washington Early Childhood (students will go to neighborhood schools);
--Roosevelt 9th Grade Center at Humboldt (students will attend Roosevelt High);
--Scruggs Elementary (students will go to Woodward Elementary);
--Shepard Elementary (students will go to Monroe Elementary);
--Simmons-Marshall (students will attend neighborhood schools);
--Stowe Middle School (students will go to Stevens Middle and Langston Middle schools);
Meanwhile, Cote Brilliante Elementary, Mann Elementary eMINTS, and Sherman Elementary may close in June 2011 if enrollment in those schools does not increase.

Holly Knights works as a mentor at Mann Elementary with the group Urban Futures. She was among those who came to Thursday night's board meeting to plead with the board not to close their schools.

"It's not only from the mentoring programs point of view that we want Mann to stay open," says Knights. "It's because we see Mann as a successful part of the community and an epicenter of a lot of really positive things that are happening for Tower Grove."

St. Louis Schools are facing a budget deficit of $36 million. Closing 14 schools now, and possibly three more in the next two years, will save more than $16 million the board says -- allowing the district to consolidate and even increase some services, says Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams.

"I think that anytime you free additional dollars those resources can be used to better address the needs of those students in those schools," said Adams, sighting full time social workers as an example of a service the district hopes to add.

An outside consulting firm had recommended closing 29 schools.

Seventeen other schools will remain open, provided they meet certain requirements. To that list of schools and the conditions necessary to stay open, visit click this link: http://www.ksdk.com/news/pdfs/schoolclosings.pdf.