New SLPS leader looks to road ahead

St. Louis — The ink barely dry on a three-year, $225,000 annual contract, Kelvin Adams sat down to lunch Friday with a table of McKinley Classical Junior Academy middle school students, the first step on what he promises will be a long journey toward restoring the district's accreditation and credibility. His next steps on the road ahead, Adams said in introductory remarks to the media and a handful of staff in the McKinley library, will be an evaluation of the progress the schools are making toward improving achievement in a district stuck at the bottom of the state's benchmarks for learning.Reform in urban districts, he cautioned, is at best a long and laborious process."It is not a sprint, it is a marathon," said Adams, who will depart a post as chief of staff of the Recovery School District of New Orleans when he begins his new duties Oct. 20.

Navigating that course will require Adams to work with a governing body, the Special Administrative Board, that operates under a unique set of rules. Traditionally, elected school boards establish the policy that is then carried out by a superintendent and his or her staff.The St. Louis panel maintains that its designation as an appointed administrative board allows it to involve itself in the day-to-day operations of the district.The perception that a board is crossing the "firewall" separating administration from policy has caused more than a few superintendents — including Creg Williams from St. Louis two years ago — to part ways.Adams said he is confident that he and the administrative board can resolve any differences that might arise about his duties."I think we can be flexible working together," he said in a brief interview before heading to the McKinley cafeteria. "Obviously, the SAB wants more input than a traditional board would have, but I don't foresee any problems in terms of running the district."

Adams' appointment continued to draw praise from various corners on Friday, including the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the agency that led the state intervention and appointment of the administrative board. "It is critically important for the St. Louis Public Schools and the Special Administrative Board to create an effective leadership team that can focus on a concise agenda for improvement. The appointment of Dr. Adams is an important step in that process," said State Education Commissioner D. Kent King, in a statement.

The support for Adams was accompanied by the hope that he end a cycle of instability that has seen eight people sit in the superintendent's office since 2003."We hope that Dr. Adams will provide the dynamic leadership qualities that his predecessors lacked and that the result will be significant gains in academic proficiency for St. Louis schoolchildren," said William L. Taylor, the lead attorney in the desegregation case that continues to play a role in the structure of the district. "We trust that he has made a commitment to stay long enough to make real progress."Some have expressed concern that Adams might later seek to return to New Orleans as the city's school superintendent, should the position open up. Rick Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the St. Louis schools, said Adams has measures in his contract to keep him here for the full three years of the pact. Courtesy of Steve Giegerich, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH.


SLPS Parents Movement to Support Dr. Kelvin Adams.