| St. Louis Public Schools | |
|---|---|
|
The First, Best Choice.
|
|
| Address | |
| 801 N 11th Street St. Louis, Missouri 63101 |
|
| Information | |
| Founded | 1838 |
| Superintendent | Dr. Kelvin Adams |
| Enrollment | 32,833 (2007) |
| Language | English |
| Area | St. Louis City, Missouri |
| Website | http://www.slps.org District website |
St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) is the school district that operates public schools in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, United States. With a 2005 enrollment of approximately 33,000 students it is the largest public school district in the state of Missouri. Its headquarters is in Downtown St. Louis.[1]
Contents |
The act of the United States Congress that created the Missouri Territory in June 1812 also required that all land in the territory not belonging to private individuals or to the government for military purposes was reserved for schools.[2] In January 1817, the legislature of the Missouri Territory voted to create a Board of Trustees to manage all land and property designated to be used for schools in St. Louis.[3] The Board also was given the power to employ teachers and create regulations for the schools.[3] The first chairman of the Board was William Clark, and its first meeting was held in April 1817.[4] In his role as chairman, Clark repeatedly wrote to President James Monroe requesting that Monroe identify land used for military purposes so that other land could be used for schools.[5] After several exchanges between local military leaders, Clark, and President Monroe, in 1817 the federal government relinquished its claim to all land except for a small part, and further relinquished that area in 1824.[6] Starting in 1817, the Board of Trustees began leasing its lands to provide income for future schools.[6]
In 1833, the Missouri General Assembly established a second governing body for St. Louis schools, which first met on April 18 of that year.[7] This body, known as the Board of Education, continued to lease vacant land to provide income, although some of this money was mismanaged due to inaccurate boundary lines.[8] In December 1833, the Board began to loan out money on interest, but up to that point, no money had been appropriated for the purposes of an actual school.[9] For the next four years, the Board continued to loan money and study school plans, but took no action to build a school.[10] In 1836, the people of St. Louis voted to sell the city's common land and to appropriate 10 percent of the proceeds from the sale toward the establishment of a public school district.[3] From this sale about $15,000 was provided to the Board.[3]
| Enrollment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1848 | 900 | — |
| 1851 | 2,100 | +133.3% |
| 1858 | 5,814 | +176.9% |
| 1859 | 6,253 | +7.6% |
| 1860 | 7,040 | +12.6% |
| 1861 | 8,098 | +15.0% |
| 1862 | 8,654 | +6.9% |
| 1863 | 5,272 | −39.1% |
| 1864 | 7,715 | +46.3% |
For figures prior to 2006, numbers given are for students enrolled in a specific school (called "belonging"), rather than enrolled but not attending school. For 1848, see [11] For 1851, see [11]. For 1858-1864, see [12]
In July 1837, the Board agreed to build two school buildings, known as the North School and the South School, respectively located at the northeast corner of Broadway and Martin Luther King Boulevard (then Cherry Street) and at the southwest corner of 4th and Spruce streets.[10][13] In December, the Board met to purchase supplies and to interview potential teachers, and by March 1838, they had selected two candidates, David Armstrong and Miss M.H. Salisbury.[14][15] The South School, later named Laclede Primary School, opened on April 1, 1838, with Edward Leavy and Sarah Hardy as co-principals.[15] A third school, later named Benton School, opened in January 1842 at the northwest corner of 6th and Locust.[16] The North School, for which the Board initially could not find a teacher, was abandoned and sold shortly after construction of Benton School due to the encroachment of a nearby market.[10]
With the growth of the city, the school building campaign continued at a rapid pace. Between 1840 and 1860, more than a twenty new schools were built by the Board, while several others occupied rented space.[17] Among these new schools was the first high school in St. Louis, which opened inside Benton School in February 1853.[18] Approximately 70 students enrolled in the school, and its first principal was Jeremiah D. Low.[19] Courses offered included higher arithmetic, grammar and composition, basic and advanced algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying, navigation, and the Latin and German languages.[19] The high school proved very popular among all social classes, and it encouraged attendance at lower level schools.[20] After two years of construction, the first high school building, known as Central High School, opened on Olive Street in July 1855.[21]
To fund the expanding district, only weeks after the St. Louis Fire of 1849, St. Louis voters approved a 1/10th percent property tax to support the district, and three years later, the Missouri General Assembly passed a school tax, which set aside 25 percent of state funds for education and provided schools with money depending on their enrollment.[3] During the 1850s, it became a St. Louis school tradition for students at each school to "go a Maying", which was to take an excursion into the countryside.[22] These early field trips were more for recreation than for learning, but school administrators regarded them as healthy trips.[22]
By the end of the 1860-61 school year, the enrollment was 12,166; school closed six weeks early that year due to a lack of operating funds and the outbreak of the Civil War. After the Civil War, in 1866, the district opened three schools for African American students.[23]
The St. Louis Public Schools also opened the first public high school for black students west of the Mississippi, Sumner High School, in 1875.
St. Louis Public Schools opened the first public kindergarten in North America in 1873 under the direction of William Torrey Harris, then Superintendent of Schools, and Miss Susan Blow, who had studied the methods of Friedrich Froebel, the founder of the kindergarten system.
By the end of the 19th century, the district had 95 schools and 78,648 enrolled students, with 63,501 students in actual attendance.[24] The schools employed more than 1,600 teachers.[24]
By the 20th century, the population in St. Louis was 575,238. Public school enrollment was 62,797, employing 1,665 teachers in ninety schools.
Another St. Louis first was the Educational Museum, which featured articles purchased from the 1904 World's Fair Palace of Education. The museum opened in 1905, and in 1943 it evolved into the first audiovisual department in the United States.
The public schools continued to grow with the city, opening special 'Open Air' schools for children at risk for tuberculosis, schools for deaf children and those needing individualized instruction, as well as children with orthopedic disabilities.
The first vocational school had opened in 1868, with two more opening in the 1920s.
During the Great Depression, special programs such as free milk and lunches, and sewing classes were established to help families and conserve resources; teacher salaries were reduced, construction was postponed, and class sizes were increased.
Students aided the war effort during both World War I and World War II by knitting scarves and socks for soldiers, raising poultry, cultivating victory gardens, collecting scrap metal, and buying war stamps.
By the 1950s a number of new schools were built to ease overcrowding, and in the 1960s, more attention was given to meeting the challenges of urban schools, including racial equality, poverty, overcrowded classrooms, and deteriorating school buildings. St. Louis Public Schools attained its peak enrollment of 115,543 students in 1967.
Since then, efforts have focused on programs such as magnet schools and the Voluntary Interdistrict Transfer Program which were initiated to provide students with the opportunity to attend racially mixed schools.
In the 2009-2010 school year, the district had an enrollment of approximately 25,000 students and 2,200 teachers, for a student-teacher ratio of 11.4.[25][26] Nearly 80 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price lunches.[26] Since 2006, more than 80 percent of the student population has been African American.[26] Concurrent with a decline in the population of the city of St. Louis, the district has seen declining enrollment; since 2006 the district student population has decreased by more than 10,000 students.[26]
| Enrollment | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 2006 | 35,361 | — |
| 2007 | 32,135 | −9.1% |
| 2008 | 27,574 | −14.2% |
| 2009 | 26,108 | −5.3% |
| 2010 | 25,046 | −4.1% |
| Year | Black | White | Hispanic | Asian | Indian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 81.8 | 14.0 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.2 |
| 2007 | 81.7 | 13.6 | 2.5 | 1.9 | 0.2 |
| 2008 | 81.4 | 13.6 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 0.3 |
| 2009 | 81.0 | 13.7 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 0.3 |
| 2010 | 80.6 | 13.7 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 0.3 |
| Year | Percent |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 81.0 |
| 2007 | 80.1 |
| 2008 | 71.9 |
| 2009 | 68.7 |
| 2010 | 83.8 |
On March 23, 2007, the Missouri State Board of Education ended its accreditation of the St. Louis Public Schools and simultaneously created a new management structure for the district. A three-person Special Administrative Board (SAB) was created, with members selected by the Missouri governor, the mayor of St. Louis, and the president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. The current board has authority to operate the district through 2013. The local school board remains in place but has no administrative authority over the district. The current superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools is Kelvin Adams, who was selected by the Special Administrative Board in 2008.
| Name | Type | Neighborhood | Opened[27][29] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | Elementary | Forest Park Southeast | 1878 |
| Ames | Elementary | Old North St. Louis | 1955 |
| Ashland | Elementary | Penrose | 1911 |
| Beaumont | High | JeffVanderLou | 1926 |
| Bryan Hill | Elementary | College Hill | 1912 |
| Buder | Elementary | Southampton | 1921 |
| Busch | Middle | St. Louis Hills | 1953 |
| Carnahan | High | Dutchtown | |
| Carr Lane | Middle | Carr Square | 1958 |
| Central | High | Southwest Garden | 1937† |
| Clay | Elementary | Hyde Park | 1905 |
| Cleveland | High | Southwest Garden | 1937† |
| Cole | Elementary | Vandeventer | 1931 |
| Columbia | Elementary | JeffVanderLou | 1930 |
| Compton Drew | Middle | Kings Oak | 1996 |
| Cote Brilliante | Elementary | Greater Ville | 1904 |
| Dewey | Elementary | Hi-Pointe | 1918 |
| Dunbar | Elementary | JeffVanderLou | 1913 |
| Fanning | Middle | Tower Grove South | 1907 |
| Farragut | Elementary | Greater Ville | 1906 |
| Ford | Elementary | Hamilton Heights | 1964 |
| Froebel | Elementary | Gravois Park | 1895 |
| Gateway | High | The Hill | 1992 |
| Gateway | Elementary | Carr Square | 1995 |
| Gateway | Middle | Carr Square | 1995 |
| Gateway Michael | Elementary | Carr Square | 1995 |
| Hamilton | Elementary | Skinker–DeBaliviere | 1918 |
| Henry | Elementary | Columbus Square | 1906 |
| Herzog | Elementary | North Point | 1936 |
| Hickey | Elementary | Greater Ville | 1966 |
| Hodgen | Elementary | Gate District | 1884 |
| Humboldt | Elementary | Soulard | 1910 |
| International Welcome | Elementary | Gate District | |
| Jefferson | Elementary | Carr Square | 1958 |
| Kennard | Elementary | Northampton | 1930 |
| L'Ouverture | Middle | Gate District | 1950 |
| Laclede | Elementary | Wells–Goodfellow | 1915 |
| Langston | Elementary | Wells–Goodfellow | 1964 |
| Lexington | Elementary | Kingsway West | 1995 |
| Long | Middle | Bevo Mill | 1924 |
| Lyon at Blow | Elementary | Carondelet | 1904‡ |
| Mallinckrodt | Elementary | Lindenwood Park | 1940 |
| Mann | Elementary | Tower Grove South | 1902 |
| Mason | Elementary | Clifton Heights | 1921 |
| McKinley | Middle | McKinley Heights | 1904 |
| McKinley | High | McKinley Heights | 1904 |
| Meramec | Elementary | Dutchtown | 1911 |
| Metro | High | Central West End | 1997 |
| Miller | High | Covenant Blu–Grand Center | |
| Monroe | Elementary | Marine Villa | 1899 |
| Mullanphy | Elementary | Shaw | 1915 |
| Nance | Elementary | North Point | |
| Northwest | High | Walnut Park East | 1964 |
| Nottingham | High | St. Louis Hills | 1953 |
| Oak Hill | Elementary | Bevo Hill | 1908 |
| Peabody | Middle | Peabody–Darst–Webbe | 1957 |
| Roosevelt | High | Tower Grove East | 1925 |
| Shaw | Elementary | The Hill | 1908 |
| Shenandoah | Elementary | Tower Grove East | 1926 |
| Sherman | Elementary | Shaw | 1899 |
| Sigel | Elementary | McKinley Heights | 1906 |
| Soldan | High | Academy | 1909 |
| Stix | Elementary | Central West End | 1997 |
| Sumner | High | The Ville | 1910 |
| Vashon | High | JeffVanderLou | |
| Walbridge | Elementary | Walnut Park East | 1924 |
| Washington | Elementary | Fountain Park | 1893 |
| Wilkinson | Elementary | Franz Park | 1921†† |
| Woerner | Elementary | Bevo Mill | 1932 |
| Woodward | Elementary | Carondelet | 1922 |
| Yeatman–Liddell | Middle | O'Fallon | 1967 |
| †Both Cleveland NJROTC High School and Central VPA High School operate within the former Southwest High School building. ‡Lyon at Blow operates within the former Blow School building. ††Wilkinson School operates within the former Roe School building. |
|||
<ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named annual1-33; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text