ST. LOUIS 鈥 The decision to investigate and replace the superintendent of 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools came in a split vote from the seven-member Board of Education, records released Tuesday show.
The vote on Thursday to place Keisha Scarlett on temporary paid leave during an investigation was approved by the board鈥檚 president Antionette 鈥淭oni鈥 Cousins, vice president Matt Davis, secretary Donna Jones and member Tracy Hykes. Board members Emily Hubbard and Sadie Weiss voted no, and Natalie Vowell abstained.
No timeline has been released for the investigation, which board members said will look into the district鈥檚 hiring and spending practices.
During Scarlett鈥檚 yearlong stint as superintendent, the school district鈥檚 general operating budget plunged from a surplus of $17 million to a projected deficit of $35 million. The SLPS board has also come under scrutiny for its oversight of the district after approving more than 20 new administrators and consultants that had prior connections to Scarlett.
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The superintendent was replaced on an interim basis by her deputy Millicent Borishade, one of Scarlett鈥檚 first hires and closest friends. Borishade does not have a Missouri superintendent鈥檚 certificate, a state requirement for full accreditation of a school district.
Cousins, Davis, Jones and Hykes voted in favor of promoting Borishade, and Hubbard voted against. Weiss and Vowell abstained.
Cousins said in an interview Saturday that Borishade was the best choice because she has already been running the daily operations of the school district.
鈥淭he board has voted, and we have confidence she is the person to get it done,鈥 Cousins said.
Cousins said the board moved quickly to remove Scarlett one week after new communications director Phoenix Jackson made headlines by saying she planned to 鈥渇loat鈥 between her family home in Houston and a condo in 最新杏吧原创.
最新杏吧原创 Public Schools Superintendent Keisha Scarlett speaks at a staff pep rally hosted by the district to kickoff the school year at Enterprise Center on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023.
It took the board more than 2 hours to come up with the votes during the closed meeting on Thursday.
The district produced the vote tallies late Tuesday after the Post-Dispatch reported that the district had violated Missouri laws on government transparency.
Under state , any vote in closed session to 鈥渉ire, fire, promote or discipline an employee of a public governmental body shall be made available with a record of how each member voted to the public within 72 hours of the close of the meeting.鈥
Jordan Grimes, the custodian of records for 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools, previously said that the district needed 20 additional business days to produce the vote tally 鈥渢o conduct a search, review, and redaction of the requested records due to the nature of your request.鈥
Experts in Missouri Sunshine Law called the situation a clear violation of the statute, and that the records should have been available on Sunday.
鈥淚t is extremely concerning if the school board is declining to make that vote public. They have a clear legal obligation to do so,鈥 said Dave Roland, director of litigation and co-founder of the Freedom Center of Missouri. 鈥淚t is not a viable excuse to say we need more time to review. There鈥檚 nothing to review.鈥澛
Meet Keisha Scarlett as she introduces herself during her interview recorded on January 24th, 2023 by the 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools. Each of the candidates was asked the same 5 questions while they were here interviewing for the position. (Video courtesy 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools)
