7/1/2003 -- Despite some opposition, the St. Louis school board is moving forward on its dramatic decision May 30 to hire a corporate "turnaround" firm to reshape the city's 40,000-student school system.
In recent weeks, the board has finalized its contract with Alvarez & Marsal, a firm with a worldwide reputation for rescuing companies with financial troubles. The contract, worth nearly $5 million, gives the New York-based company managerial control of the district for a year.
The school board also has announced plans to hold a series of community forums to talk with parents, teachers, and business and civic leaders about the school system's future.
"We are taking this swift and dramatic action because we believe nothing is more urgent than the future of our children," board President Darnetta Clinkscale says.
The board approved the hiring decision on a 5-1 vote with one abstention.
The board's decision makes St. Louis the first city school system in the nation to be placed under the control of a private-management firm. Nearly two years ago, Edison Schools Inc. had hoped to take over the Philadelphia school system, but political considerations led to a much-reduced role overseeing 20 schools.
Some local leaders have hailed the hiring of Alvarez & Marsal as a dramatic bid to "jump start" a school system plagued by an inefficient bureaucracy and lacking full state accreditation. Some community residents also have expressed hope the move will lead to improved student achievement. Today, only 53 percent of students gradate from high school, and test scores are below the state average.
Championing the firm's hiring was a cadre of school board candidates who ran in spring elections on a promise of dramatic action to improve the city schools.
These candidates argued that school operations needed to be restructured on a more business-like model before the board hired an academic-oriented superintendent.
After the board's vote, William V. Roberti, a retired Army Reserve colonel and former clothing executive, was named interim superintendent. He replaced retiring Superintendent Cleveland Hammonds.
Helping Roberti is a team of company advisers, including Rudolph F. Crew, former chancellor of the New York City public schools.
Not everyone has praised the unorthodox board decision. Some local residents have strongly criticized the hiring of an outside firm, and at a recent school board meeting, security guards removed one disruptive individual.
Meanwhile, a group of eight citizens filed a lawsuit claiming the new interim superintendent is unqualified and that board members broke open-meeting laws in deciding on the contract.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Roberti and his management team are reviewing the school system's $454 million budget and planning for a complete "non-instructional" restructuring of the schools -- with the goal of putting more money into classrooms and trimming the district bureaucracy.
School officials acknowledge they have a challenge: The school system faces a budget deficit of more than $60 million next school year.