Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Enrollment Decline Taskforce topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Superintendent: St. Louis task force formed as regional enrollment falls by roughly 30,000; Normandy at accreditation risk
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Harris told the board a community-led St. Louis Regional Future of Public Education Task Force is studying a regional decline of about 30,000 students since 2020; Normandy's accreditation risk makes it a focal point and the task force includes representatives from eight districts and research from Saint Louis University and UMSL.
Superintendent Dr. Harris told the Normandy Schools Collaborative Board that a community-led "Saint Louis Regional Future of Public Education Task Force" is studying long-term options after a regional decline of roughly 30,000 students since 2020.
"The Saint Louis region has over 30,000 fewer children in its public school pipeline than it did since 2020," Dr. Harris said, adding that the decline "touches nearly every district" in the area. She described Normandy's accreditation risk as a catalyst that led the task force to focus on North St. Louis County and cited eight districts involved in the research: Saint Louis Public Schools, Hazelwood, Ritenour, Normandy, Riverview Gardens, Jennings, University City, and Ferguson/Florissant.
Dr. Harris said the task force includes superintendents, board presidents, teacher-union representatives, parents, students, mayors and state legislators, and that research support has come from Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She said the task force is organized into four subgroups (names of all subgroups were not provided at the meeting) and any final recommendations would require review and approval by each affected district and board.
Board members pressed for more community outreach and asked why a forum at UMSL had limited local attendance; one board member said many community members would not attend a campus forum and asked why the district had not held broader local engagement earlier. Dr. Harris replied that previous administrations were notified about the task force and that the work began earlier in the year; she also said a website is expected to provide updates so the community can follow the task force's work.
The superintendent emphasized that the task force is exploring options, not making immediate changes, and urged the board to focus on strengthening Normandy's programs under its accreditation plan while participating in the regional process.
