ST. LOUIS 鈥 About 1,150 new students are expected to attend 最新杏吧原创 Public Schools this fall in a remarkable turnaround for the district that has dropped by an average of 756 students annually over the last three decades.
Update from September 2024:听Enrollment will not meet earlier SLPS estimates that showed an increase of 1,150 new students over last year.
The 88% student attendance rate on Monday came as SLPS faces a transportation crisis with a shortage of school buses.
鈥淭his is a testament to our parents working with us and getting our scholars to school,鈥 along with efforts from principals and other staff members, said acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade at a school board meeting Tuesday night.
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In the first two weeks of school, attendance has reached 鈥渨ell over 17,000, closer to 18,000鈥 out of a projected enrollment of 19,480, Borishade said.
The projected enrollment was calculated by the pupil accounting department, Borishade said Tuesday. Last year SLPS enrolled 18,333 students in preschool through 12th grade.
最新杏吧原创 Public Schools students board a bus outside of Columbia Elementary, in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in 最新杏吧原创.
District administrators and the seven-member school board did not respond Wednesday to questions about the attendance spike and how SLPS managed to buck longstanding trends despite the bus crisis and leadership turmoil.
Borishade was named acting superintendent July 25 after the board placed Superintendent Keisha Scarlett on paid leave pending a third-party investigation into her hiring and spending practices. Scarlett brought Borishade with her from Seattle, and both started at SLPS in July 2023.
Fatimata Sow, a senior project manager who also came to SLPS with Scarlett and left soon after the investigation opened, gave an explanation for the enrollment boost in a social media post Wednesday.
鈥淏ecause Dr. Scarlett鈥檚 team, including myself, worked hard to change how the community views SLPS by implementing impactful projects that earned their trust. Though we鈥檙e not originally from Saint Louis, we love this city and are proud of the positive work we鈥檝e done,鈥 Sow wrote.
The last significant enrollment increase for SLPS came in 2013 after six Imagine charter schools shut down. Otherwise, the district has experienced a steady decline since peaking at more than 115,000 students in the late 1960s.
A student waves goodbye to her teacher from her school bus at Columbia Elementary School, in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in 最新杏吧原创.
One independent charter school opened in the city this fall, Believe STL Academy, and none closed. Charter school enrollment has declined by 400 since the start of the pandemic to 11,370 students last year, according to state records.
The unexpected growth of SLPS means more students will need transportation after primary bus vendor Missouri Central canceled its contract with the district in the spring. A mix of buses, taxis and rideshares from 19 different vendors plus Metro Transit buses was cobbled together to deliver students to school.
One of the largest vendors, First Student, services multiple routes with mostly empty buses. On Tuesday afternoon, four buses picked up a total of 16 students at Columbia Elementary in north 最新杏吧原创.
More students will be assigned to yellow buses after Labor Day after SLPS staff consolidates bus routes. Parents will receive new transportation assignments on Friday, Borishade said.
鈥淥ur routes need to be more efficient,鈥 she told the school board. 鈥淲e are in the process of reviewing our routes and thinking about the cascading impact this may have.鈥
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)
