ST. LOUIS 鈥 Kelvin Adams will crisscross the city Monday, checking in on the first day of school for one last time as superintendent.
The schools he will visit symbolize the inequity that plagues the city and its public schools. He starts in south 狐狸视频 at McKinley magnet school for gifted students, one of the top-performing schools in the state. He then will stop by Hamilton Elementary near Delmar Boulevard, where only a handful of third graders tested proficient in English last year.
Adams announced his retirement earlier this month after 14 years leading 狐狸视频 Public Schools. Inner-city school superintendents typically last three years on the job before moving on. In the chaos-filled five years before Adams鈥 arrival, seven superintendents cycled through the top post at SLPS.
鈥淵ou became superintendent when I was 11 years old,鈥 SLPS board member Alisha Sonnier told Adams at a recent board meeting. 鈥淵ou have led us through all types of waters, through all types of trajectories, and always had a steady, stable, constant hand and that is so valuable and so important.鈥
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The school board has hired a firm to launch a national search for Adams鈥 replacement. The job is most certainly defined by hard work, with Adams clocking 12-hour days and then losing sleep, often sending emails at 3 a.m. Adams, whose current salary is $234,052, is admittedly a micromanager, reluctant to delegate responsibility because of the district鈥檚 checkered history of leadership.
But Adams also put in the 鈥渉eart work,鈥 as Sonnier describes it. He kept his passion for children and their well-being at the forefront, shunning the spotlight to keep the focus on the students.
Adams鈥 overriding legacy will be his stabilizing force for the school district. But while he righted the ship, it hasn鈥檛 always sailed in the right direction. His successor will face many of the same vexing challenges when they take the helm in fall of 2023:
Enrollment
If 狐狸视频 Public Schools continues to lose students at the current pace, it won鈥檛 exist in 20 years. The city鈥檚 population has been in free fall for decades, with Black families in north city leading the exodus. In south city, real estate agents talk about the 鈥渇ive-year itch,鈥 when white families start looking to move out of the city as their kids approach kindergarten.
During Adams鈥 tenure, 25 schools closed because of low enrollment. 狐狸视频 Public Schools dropped from largest in the state to fourth, behind Springfield, North Kansas City and Rockwood. Enrollment fell by one-third under Adams, from 27,500 in 2008 to about 18,500 last year.
The district has made some strides to attract and keep families, including a massive expansion of free pre-kindergarten programs. In 2013, the district opened Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, a top-performing magnet high school with an advisory board of business and civic leaders.
Despite the closure of eight schools in 2021 for low enrollment, there are at least 20 schools remaining with fewer than 200 students, a measure of viability. Students are bused across the city to attend dozens of magnet schools, creating a transportation crisis from a shortage of drivers.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the enrollment in the schools that allows for enough resources to reach the students,鈥 said Dorothy Rohde Collins, a former school board president and member from 2017 to 2021. 鈥淭he new superintendent and the board have tough decisions around the potential closure of more schools or redrawing the boundary lines to think about where kids are living.鈥
Academics
While Adams turned the district鈥檚 finances around, academic performance has continued to lag for most students. Test scores are consistently among the lowest in the state, with an average 11% of students testing proficient in math and 18% in English in spring of 2021.
Advocates point out that the district increasingly provides more community services outside of academics, from food banks, clothes closets and even job placement services for parents. The majority of SLPS students live in poverty. About one in five is homeless. Last year, only 50% percent of students had a 90% or better attendance rates.
The external stressors on students cannot be ignored when comparing SLPS to other districts or state averages, said Rohde Collins.
鈥淭he overarching mission of any school district is academic outcomes for children, but in a city like 狐狸视频, the schools aren鈥檛 operating in isolation,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t would be great to think solely about academics but until we address those external factors, it penalizes school districts that are doing the most to fill that gap.鈥
Academics is also an equity issue for SLPS, where test scores at selective enrollment schools with the lowest poverty rates beat out all other public schools in the state.
For example, at gifted magnet Betty Wheeler elementary in south city, 60% of students are white and 30% are Black. Overall, SLPS is about 12% white and 80% Black. Efforts under Adams have failed to bring the gifted program closer to reflecting the district鈥檚 student population.
Trauma
For Adams, the specter of gun violence hangs over his time in 狐狸视频. He is haunted by the deaths of 160 students.
鈥淭he weight of this loss of life is heavy to all involved: school staff, counselors, social workers, police, neighbors, community leaders and, our primary focus, children and their families,鈥 Adams wrote in the Post-Dispatch in 2019. 鈥淰iolence of any kind has no place in our schools or neighborhoods. Our children are not replaceable. Our children and this community deserve better.鈥
Adams wrote the op-ed after an especially violent summer that saw the death of 8-year-old Jurnee Thompson, shot near Soldan High School after a football game, and 7-year-old Xavier Usanga, shot while playing outside his home one block from Clay Elementary.
After he retires in December, Adams wants to continue serving the city鈥檚 children, possibly in gun violence prevention. His replacement as superintendent will inherit several violence-prevention projects, from gun lock giveaways to volunteer escorts at school bus stops.
The trauma children experience in their neighborhoods carries over into the classroom, said Ray Cummings, president of the 狐狸视频 teachers鈥 union. Cummings wants to see more support for teachers when students have behavioral issues.
鈥淣ot only do those students have some serious issues, but if you don鈥檛 intervene, it鈥檚 only going to continue to plague our community,鈥 he said.
Culture
Some teachers and principals have criticized Adams for his heavy-handed leadership approach, saying they felt stifled and unable to make decisions or be creative enough in the classroom.
For his part, Adams called the criticism fair but said he saw the role as highly detail-oriented after years of mismanagement.
The teachers鈥 union had a productive relationship with Adams but will be looking for more autonomy under the next superintendent, said Cummings.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty clear that a lot of teachers feel as though they are not respected,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he number one challenge is not being fully staffed. We have a large group of folks who are substitutes that are proving themselves, but they need a lot of support.鈥
Cummings hopes the new superintendent will implement a strong 鈥済row-your-own鈥 plan to encourage students to enter the teaching profession.
Avis Funches, whose children are entering 4th and 6th grade in SLPS, said she would like to see bolder public advocacy from the district鈥檚 leader.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a nicer look to have a superintendent be a little more positive rather than always defending something that has happened,鈥 Funches said. 鈥淚 guess I want someone with some imagination. I want someone to feel inspired. We definitely need new ideas.鈥