What’s Happening At Saint Louis Public Schools? 

An Interview with the City of St. Louis Board of Education Vice President Matt Davis

Ben Conover, Guest Columnist

This summer saw an onslaught of negative press coverage for Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS), led by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Criticisms of the hiring of Phoenix Jackson, the district’s finances, and hybrid transportation plan snowballed when Superintendent Dr. Keisha Scarlett was placed on leave on July 26th and ultimately let go on September 24th. Article after article came out criticizing the Board of Education (BOE)’s hiring and firing of Dr. Scarlett, their transparency, and in general their actions surrounding what has been reported as “multiple crises” facing the school district. One board member called for two others to resign and multiple audits of the district ensued. The BOE’s decision to appoint Dr. Millicent Borishade – who came in as an assistant superintendent with Dr. Scarlett in 2023 – as interim superintendent was met with another round of critical articles from the paper of record. 

With SLPS in this seeming chaos, Board members have made few public comments – at least that were reported, according to BOE Vice President Matt Davis. Davis, who is a partner at Davis Olszeski Law, LLP, came into office with the support of public school advocates. He, along with current BOE president Toni Cousins, stopped the privatization reform scheme Better Futures in 2021 as well as attempts to defund SLPS to the tune of $17 million per year by the Missouri Legislature. During Davis’ tenure, the district has seen the retirement of longtime superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams, the Central Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) High School school shooting, and now all of the recent news coverage. Davis agreed to an interview for Mound City Messenger; we started with the recent news around Dr. Scarlett:

On the Hiring and Firing of Dr. Keisha Scarlet

Following the resignation of Dr. Adams as Superintendent of SLPS, the district engaged in a long, deliberative process with significant community engagement to find his replacement. A committee including Davis, Cousins, and now-Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier recommended a search firm, which included a former SLPS superintendent, with the goal of “shaking things up” and finding a candidate who had a “vision and a level of energy” that could move the district forward. Dr. Scarlett emerged out of three top candidates because of just that – her ability to communicate a vision for SLPS in line with the BOE’s and bring that energy “that we deserve,” one Board member told Davis. 

However, Dr. Scarlett had never been a superintendent before. Without that experience, Davis said, “it became difficult for her to make decisions. In order to compensate for [lack of experience], she started turning to all these consultants, and also started turning to people she knew and she felt familiar with – and was hiring them for jobs they were not qualified for. The real issue became that she was doing so without fully disclosing her relationships [with the hired parties] to the Board, and then also – the thing that was the first giant red flag where we had to pump the brakes – she was offering them salaries that hadn’t been approved by the board.”

“That violates the law, that violates our policies, “ Davis said. 

These red flags came before any of the Post Dispatch’s Blythe Bernhard’s reporting on Phoenix Jackson, Davis said. As the board’s leadership dug into Scarlett’s performance in their annual performance review, it became clear there was fire where there was smoke:  “We were under the impression the hires were coming through [routine hiring] process. It turns out they were not – they weren’t going through any process…It was a shell game on human resources to get [Scarlett’s] people in there.” Scarlett’s hires were being paid more than the Board had approved, and hires that were supposed to come before the Board stopped coming through that routine process.

Could the Board have caught this sooner? “You have to put a deal of trust [in the administration].” Davis, when he was Board President, and Cousins followed a similar structure to previous Board leaders by meeting with the Superintendent on a regular basis for updates to filter to the full Board. The only difference, Davis said, was instead of just the President doing so, Cousins brought Davis into meetings as well: “We come from very different backgrounds, and very different parts of the community, and we have a very complicated community and everyone needs to come to the point to work together.” The discovery of Scarlett’s indiscretions came out of her annual performance review, and the Board acted on the red flags in a decisive manner, according to Davis. “The only way the Board could have caught it sooner is if the Board was more engaged in the day-to-day operations of the District. By our training it is very much an established protocol that there is a distinction between governance and operations,” Davis said.

On Interim Superintendent Millicent Borishade

The Board appointed Dr. Millicent Borishade as acting superintendent following Dr. Scarlett’s leave and subsequently appointed her interim superintendent for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year when Dr. Scarlett’s employment was terminated. The decision drew criticism becauseDr. Borishade had come to St. Louis as part of Dr. Scarlett’s administration, but Davis defended the move: “Dr. Borishade since the day she started has been doing the work…she’s tough, she’s smart, and her work ethic” reminds Davis of former superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams. As an example, Davis recalled the work that Dr. Borishade did to improve safety procedures for SLPS in the wake of the CVPA shooting, as well her work before and after the release of the videos from that fateful day. Davis talks about the CVPA shooting as the hardest, most impactful reason he continues to fight for the success of the district, and he recognized Dr. Borishade saw things the same way. “She recognized the re-traumatization potential and shared my outrage… she did the work. She went to the schools. She made sure student support services were there, even when they weren’t needed but we thought they were going to be needed. We needed to make sure then, now, and everyday, that all of our safety procedures were continuously being updated, implemented, and [staff] trained.” To Davis’ eyes, Dr. Borishade’s work did just that: “As all this garbage is going on in the press…we have been part of this national outrage related to online threats against our students in the last few weeks. We’re in a very complicated environment with our amount of schools, the amount of guns in our community…her policies have made us more prepared.” For Davis, this is not an idle issue as he has two daughters attending SLPS. Borishade’s work, he said, helps him sleep at night.

Literacy

Davis also pointed to the success of the literacy program Dr. Borishade brough to the district, which focused on the students at comprehensive schools – schools that rank in the bottom 5% of the state of Missouri on performance metrics – as well as their parents via Parent University. “Parents gave the most moving stories – ‘I didn’t think my kids could do this.’ But Millicent Borishade set standards and gave teachers the tools to do it. We saw students go from writing a paragraph that was incoherent to writing a beautiful report. The self esteem was amazing, The parents were happy. That’s the work she’s doing,” Davis said, “It’s not just the vision, it’s the work,” drawing a stark contrast with Dr. Scarlett. “The results are there. Schools that have been written off are showing incremental gains,” Davis said.

Davis also drew a contrast with the success of Dr. Borishade’s program with the narrative of failure around literacy being painted by education privatization organizations in St. Louis: “Let’s be very clear: Chester Asher, Krystal Barnett (Bridge2Hope), Navigate STL, Activate STL, WEPOWER, all these astroturf organizations which have started from the billionaire-funded Opportunity Trust — they are selling a product. They are doing nothing any different than the consultants that everyone’s upset about that Scarlett brought in. They are trying to extract resources from the district.” Davis further criticized the Opportunity Trust, a prominent St. Louis area education non-profit which primarily funds charter schools and has financial backing from education privatization group The City Fund: “Everything the Opportunity Trust has done has failed. Their investment into Normandy and Marcus Robinson? Failed. Their investment into Chester Asher and Northside Community School? Failed. Carondelet Leadership School? Failed. We are in a real estate bubble in terms of the money they are pouring into buildings for charter school expansion which the taxpayers are gonna be on the hook for. That’s all this is.” In contrast, Davis sees Dr. Borishade’s work as antithetical to the Opportunity Trust’s efforts: “We’ve seen success with Dr. Borishade. There is a focus on teaching and learning that has empowered the staff in a way that I have not seen in this district in a long time.”

School Finance 

Reports from the Post-Dispatch’s Blythe Bernhard have continued to point to a $35 million operating budget deficit as a reason for concern about SLPS’ finances. “Every time that an article is printed saying we are in a deficit, people think that we have a debt. They think of the bad old days where we had $90 million allocated with no funding,” Davis said. Deficit spending is not uncommon for school districts, Davis said, and SLPS’s own deficit spending was planned to fund programs like before and after school care, technology and literacy improvements, and free school supplies. While Davis admitted there will be “hard choices” for future Boards to make, he hit back against the idea that the district is in financial peril: “There is plenty of money. There is a large fund balance. We have gotten confirmation from other experts in the state that we are absolutely fine. We are under no threat. There is no concern over losing accreditation points. We are absolutely fine from a budget perspective.”

Transportation 

Bernhard’s reports have continued to question the efficacy of SLPS’ transportation plan this year, which includes a significant increase in the use of a hybrid model (rideshares, Metro passes, etc.) to get students to school safely. Davis pointed back to the switch from First Student to Missouri Central in 2022 under Dr. Adams for context: “While everything’s being called a transportation crisis now, well, then 2022 should have been covered as an unmitigated disaster.” When the Council of Great City Schools did their report on the district’s transportation process, Davis was unsurprised by the title of the report: New Vendor, Same Problems. When it became clear that they were going to need to move away from Missouri Central – especially following a racist incident at the company – the bus vendor asked for more money. While Davis was not directly involved in negotiations, he said the poor performance on top of request for additional money led to the implosion of negotiations. Davis said that no bus company, including Missouri Central and First Student, could offer the buses necessary to fully meet the transportation need, so the district pivoted to the hybrid model under Dr. Scarlett’s direction. 

Davis accepts that the current transportation plan is far from perfect and that there are still a number of issues to be worked out, but that because of the chaos surrounding the departure of Dr. Scarlett, the media blew the issue out of proportion. “Have there been problems? Of course there have been. But to say there are not people trying to fix it? There are people who are competent who are trying to fix it,” Davis said, referencing a report where a parent’s concern has been raised by the press, but her child was enrolled in a charter school. “Our first-week attendance numbers are drastically higher than they were in 2022. I’m not going to spike the football, but I’m also not going to pretend like this is the end of the world, “ Davis said. Further, Davis suggested that hybrid transportation models are the way of the future, pointing to the transportation plan in Chicago as well as bus vendor First Student’s own creation of a new company, “First Student Alternative,” which focuses on alternatives to school bus transportation.

Enrollment 

Bernhard at the Post-Dispatch has also suggested that Dr. Borishade had projected an increase of 1,150 students to SLPS this year, despite population decline, especially of families with children, in the City of St. Louis. Davis pushed back, “[Borishade] said based on projected enrollment, that our first day attendance was 72%. So the reporter extrapolated that the number would be 19,000+ but no one has ever said that.” Davis then detailed for Mound City Messenger how different attendance, registration, and enrollment numbers play into the district’s outlook. Fluctuation between these numbers is normal, since they all capture different aspects of the registration-to-attendance process, but Davis took issue with Bernhard’s motives: “The implication is that Dr. Borishade said 19,000 and she’s lying about numbers to get more state aid. That is so egregiously false, it doesn’t even make any sense.” State aid does not come in via enrollment, Davis said, and he pointed out that it is primarily charter schools, not SLPS, that receive significant state funding due to the disparate funding models. Davis’ frustration at the reporting about SLPS continued: “Taking one statement about attendance to extrapolate and imply there is some sort of fraud going on – it doesn’t even make sense because that’s not even how you’d do it.”

Audits & Struggles with the City of St. Louis

Davis pushed back against reports from KSDK that the district is in some sort of legal or financial trouble related to the three audits that were underway. At the time this interview was recorded, SLPS was under three audits at the time of recording: (1) The audit related to Dr. Scarlett’s termination, called for by the Board, (2) the regular, annual compliance audit, and (3) the audit being conducted by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office. Davis welcomed the additional scrutiny brought by the state audit: “I am more than happy to see the results of the State Audit, because I don’t have the financial expertise to know if there are things we should be doing better. People are sitting there saying ‘they’re gonna get ya’. That’s a terrible mindset.” He notes that state audits have rarely led to any legal action towards school districts, and confirms that the Board and Dr. Borishade are committed to full transparency: “[Borishade] has made it a priority to give the state auditors what they need…you will not find from any audit that [our] people have not turned over information.” 

However, Davis also noted how Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office has played a crucial role contributing to the perception of chaos around SLPS with respect to the audits. Per state statute, the mayor is supposed to appoint an auditor for the regular, annual compliance audit, for which the Mayor’s office usually puts out an RFP. That did not happen this year until past the deadline, Davis said. Subsequently, the mayor’s office announced they were calling for the State Audit and attempted to expand the scope of the regular audit despite not meeting with the Board, as is routine, in the preceding months. Davis had harsh words for Mayor Jones: “The only time we hear from the mayor about this is when there is coverage of her own financial scandals in her office, in fact, on the day the Comptroller was calling her and SLDC out for giving ARPA money to their political cronies.” “We want the transparency, especially that required by law,” Davis said, “but by her actions alone, she has tried to derail that process. It will cost the taxpayers additional money. It could cost the school district additional money, and they won’t even meet with us to discuss it and try to work it out. That is absolutely shameful in my opinion.” 

Positive Outlook

Despite all the struggles the district faces – whether perceived or real – Davis ended the interview with a positive outlook: “There is so much good, complex work that is going on day in and day out and there are huge, significant challenges. To think these successes happen every day, despite those challenges. That’s worth fighting for, investing in, and continuing to put work into it. And fighting against the noise and the people who want to bring it down.” As an example, Davis pointed back to Dr. Borishade’s literacy work at the comprehensive schools, specifically Jefferson Elementary: “I was told the kids couldn’t read, and I was in the first grade class, and every kid stood up and was reading fluently – sure, at different levels, but the teacher was supporting them, the principal was supporting them.” “One of the kids was mad who showed up late,” Davis said, “and Dr. Borishade said ‘she’s mad because she’s late’ – this is the impact we’re having,” that students are excited to come to school and learn. Davis said he gauges success at graduation time, when he attends as many graduation ceremonies as he can. “[Our students] are walking across those stages with tools to succeed. Whether society allows them to do it is another story, but we’ve given them tools to succeed.” Davis made a plea to St. Louisans broadly: get involved in the district, and you’ll see the good work we’re doing. “The thing we are missing about public education…is that the schools are there. They are there to be safe. They are there to give students opportunities. Our students and staff deal with a lot of trauma – the gun violence that affects so many communities, it’s a ripple effect, they bring that to school – the work we are doing every day has got to be supported.”

Ben Conover is a 27-year resident of St. Louis who worked at the intersection of politics and data for the last eight years before returning to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy this fall. Ben lives in the Shaw neighborhood with his cat, Missy, and is a volunteer, unpaid organizer for the public school advocacy group, Solidarity with SLPS.

Editor’s note: While this article was submitted by a guest contributor, we did do due diligence to seek responses from both the Mayor’s office and the Post-Dispatch’s Blythe Bernhard. Comments from Mayor Jones’ office and Ms. Bernhard have been added below for balance.

From the Post-Dispatch’s Blythe Bernhard

When asked for comment, the Post-Dispatch’s Bernhard defending her reporting by say that “We stand behind our reporting. St. Louis Public Schools officials including Mr. Davis have not contacted the Post-Dispatch with any requests for corrections on these matters.” Bernhard also sent a link to video of the August 27th Board of Education. In this video, Dr. Borishade in fact mentions the 19,000 enrollment number.

From Mayor Jones’ office:

Through their Communications Director Conner Kerrigan, Mayor Jones’ office responded to Mr. Davis’ claims. “Mr. Davis’ claims here are categorically false. Our office did not issue the RFP for an audit past the deadline.” The mayor’s office also offered the relevant state statute, which can be seen here. The statement continued, “We also were in consistent communication with the Board of Education several times during the timeline Mr. Davis outlines here. Due to increasing public concerns, we did expand our audit to include SLPS District contracting practices, conflicts of interest, and whistleblower claims, as well as Board of Education oversight and approval practices pertaining to the hiring and firing of District employees and to fiscal monitoring of the District’s finances. Subsequent to the issuance of the SLPS RFP audit, the Missouri’s Auditor’s Office announced a separate inquiry into the District.” The mayor’s office also takes issue with claims around the mayor’s office and ARPA monies being misspent. Kerrigan responded “Mr. Davis is also being misleading about the ARPA funding involved in SLDC. There has been no accusation from the Comptroller that ARPA money went to ‘political cronies’ connected to the Mayor. Mayor Jones recently addressed this issue at her business luncheon last week.” The mayor’s office concluded by voicing support for SLPS, saying they continue to offer support to the city Board of Education, and stating its “sincere hope is that Mr. Davis turns his attention back to the children of our city sometime soon.”

MCM editorial will note that while the Comptroller Green may not have used the language that the mayor’s office objected to, she has asked that SLDC be more transparent in explaining how major grant winners were selected.