ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis Public Schools is just three weeks away from this year’s opening, and the school district is facing serious challenges after the suspension of the superintendent, which include transportation issues and a budget deficit.
Keisha Scarlett left the position one year after she started and was placed on paid leave, just weeks before the school year started. It’s speculated it may have to do with spending, hiring, and bus issues.
Scarlett oversaw a budget that went from a $17 million surplus to a deficit of $35 million.
“As a union, we understand how due process works and everybody deserves due process in the United States of America,” Byron Clemens, spokesperson for AFT St. Louis Local 420 AFLCIO, said. “Dr. Scarlett, as well as anybody else, deserves that and there’s an investigation going on.”
Members of the union, representing nearly 2,000 teachers, safety officers, non-certified employees, counselors, social workers, and more, spoke Tuesday on some of the woes facing SLPS.
“Like everyone else, we have some concerns with what may or may not have happened on spending with the 10 or 20 people the superintendent brought in,” Clemens said. “But that’s not in our purview right now. It’s only 20 days until the beginning of school and we have to be prepared for it.”
Dr. Millicent Borishade is serving as the acting superintendent in the meantime.
The district’s transportation is online, which discusses changing start and dismissal times, use of public transit, consolidating bus stops and strategic routing. Parents who are already driving their kids to school are asked to opt out of the district’s bus service.
But despite all this, the American Federation of Teachers St. Louis Local 420 optimistic about the school year.
“We look forward to the weeks ahead, and we think the district is in good fiscal shape,” Clemens said.
AFT St. Louis local AFLCIO spokesperson Byron Clemens says his group will be giving their thoughts Wednesday after St. Louis Metropolitan Police release the Central Visual and Performing Arts School shooting footage to the public.
