ST. LOUIS — At least 2,000 children were displaced from their homes in the city after the May 16 tornado, according to an estimate from ӣƵ Public Schools.
The district is scrambling to make sure the students can get to the first day of school on Aug. 18. The ӣƵ Board of Education on Monday approved a revamped plan to relocate seven tornado-damaged schools after protests from the teachers union over safety concerns.
Instead of moving to Clyde C. Miller Career Academy, the plan calls for Sumner High School to be located at Stevens Middle School, which is currently vacant.
Yeatman-Liddell Middle School will move to Blewett Middle, which hosts an alternative school.
The elementary school relocations will stick to the original plan:
- Ashland moves to Jefferson.
- Hickey moves to Walbridge.
- Washington Montessori moves to Ames Visual and Performing Arts.
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The career training programs at Beaumont High will be hosted by Miller, and Soldan High School will move to Gateway STEM High as previously planned.
The schools will each maintain separate staff members, according to the agreement. Each teacher from Soldan will have their own classroom at the combined school, according to June Berry, Gateway’s principal.
“We support being able to have Soldan students here because we feel we are part of the district,” Berry said during the board meeting held virtually. “We’ve been working through this process in order for students in both schools to be able to feel safe and they have a place for them to be able to go to school until the building is ready.”
Superintendent Millicent Borishade said the school district will ask for reimbursement for the moving costs, which have not been released.
Union leaders representing teachers, principals, nurses, bus drivers and other staff objected to the original plan, saying they were not consulted about the indefinite closures of the buildings after the tornado blew out windows and damaged roofs.
Borishade on Friday met with Ray Cummings, president of American Federation of Teachers Local 420, to negotiate the changes.
The changes to the plan ruined the posters that were created pairing the mascots for Sumner and original host school Miller with the motto “Stronger Together United for Excellence.”
Emily Hubbard, vice president of the board, said she was “disappointed” by the board members, district administration and union leaders during the school relocation process.
“We have all failed. It’s five weeks away from school, and parents don’t know where their children are going to be,” Hubbard said during the meeting. “I would be really mad if it were my school. I hope we can all work better and not think about how we feel, but move forward for what’s the best thing for children.”
The district has not released further details about the plan including classroom sizes and staffing levels at the combined schools. A plan for reopening the closed schools has also not been discussed, although the district has reported an estimated $77 million in tornado damages.
Staff and community members have voiced fears that the school closures could become permanent as SLPS looks to reduce its footprint of 62 buildings by fall 2026.
The Northside Economic Empowerment Center, which has operated out of Sumner since January 2023, moved out of the damaged high school last month. The center, part of the ӣƵ Development Corp., is now housed at ӣƵ Community College’s Harrison Education Center in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
