ST. LOUIS — La Salle Middle charter school will close in June for failing to meet academic goals, school leaders said Friday.
The decision came despite what school leadership characterized as significant progress in recent years and signs that improvements would continue through 2023.
“La Salle Middle School is well managed, safe, financially stable and had been making very good academic progress between 2017 and 2019. Despite the terrible impact COVID had on our academic progress, and through the hard work of our teachers and school leadership, we are on track to make some incremental academic improvements by the end of this year,†said Marcia Sullivan, chair of the board of La Salle Charter Schools Inc., in a statement.
Yet the school’s test scores were not high enough to meet expectations of their sponsor, Missouri Charter Public School Commission, Sullivan said.
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“There are so many positive aspects of the education we provide that aren’t simply about test scores: wrap-around services such as tutoring, social emotional behavioral support, free meals and groceries, counseling and healthcare, graduate support, etc. While we believe these additional student support services distinguish us from other schools and benefit the children enormously, the metric we’re primarily judged upon is academic and we have lost the confidence of our sponsor and the state,†she wrote.
The school in the Carr Square neighborhood of north ºüÀêÊÓƵ was founded in 2001 as De La Salle Catholic middle school and converted to charter status in 2015. Charter schools are publicly funded and privately operated by boards independent of the school district.
The 118 sixth through eighth graders will be provided counseling in the search for a new school for fall 2023.
De La Salle Middle School opened in 2001 in the Ville neighborhood as a Catholic school focused on sending children from the high-poverty neighborhood to top high schools with tuition assistance from the La Salle Foundation.
After converting to a charter school to attract government funding and add students and teachers, La Salle moved to north Jefferson Avenue and Carr Street in the former Central Catholic School.
In 2016, the landmark St. Bridget of Erin Catholic church was demolished to make way for an expansion of the school, drawing outcry from preservationists.
The school did not outperform ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools on standardized tests, a requirement for its survival. Last spring, 7% of students tested proficient in reading and 3% in math.
“Because we don’t have an elementary feeder school where we can begin building a continuum of learning, many of our kids came to us two, three, or four grade levels behind,†. “COVID made it worse, as it did for districts everywhere. We did not bring them up to grade level in the one, two, or three years they were with us, which is the expectation of our sponsor. It is not their fault nor is it the fault of our teachers and administrators.â€
Enrollment hovered around 120 students in a school built for 300. Nearly all La Salle students are Black and living in poverty, including 8% who are homeless.
La Salle was part of a wave of new charter schools under the former Mayor Francis Slay administration that have had mixed results. La Salle is the fourth charter school to close in the city in four years, following ºüÀêÊÓƵ College Prep, Carondelet Leadership Academy and Arch Community School.
“Unfortunately, all the love, hard work and passion for educating our students is not enough to keep our doors open,†reads the message from La Salle.
Updated at 4:15 p.m.