We need to curb the skyrocketing high school dropout rate and increase graduation rate.

To all St. Louis Public Schools Stakeholders:

"Nearly a fourth of the high school students in St. Louis Public Schools dropped out last school year, according to data to be released by the state today. At 22 percent, it is the single largest spike in city school dropout rates in the last five years, and an 88 percent increase from the prior year. It's a very disappointing piece of information," said St. Louis district CEO Rick Sullivan. Sullivan added that the district has taken several steps this year to address the problem, and he has seen some results already." Courtesy of David Hunn and Steve Giegerich, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 9, 2009.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calculates dropout rate as the number of high school students, grades 9-12, who stopped going to school in one year and had not re-enrolled by the following fall. Dropout rate is widely considered a key measure of the academic success of a school district.

Our perspective: There has to be a conserted effort by all the stakeholders of St. Louis Public Schools to define the priorities and formulate action plans for sustainable solution to the dropout rate. One of the stakeholders who has a proven track record in reducing dropout rates and raising graduation rates is Dr. Kelvin Adams. He reduced dropout rate and increased graduation rate in the Recovery School District in New Orleans. "He steered the completion of the development of the high school redesign and with a new managed instructional program, increased graduation from 39% to 67% in one year."

The elected leaders, parents, teachers, the clergy, the business community, and all other citizens of St. Louis City must support and work with the superintendent, teachers, and support staff of St. Louis Public Schools to reduce the dropout rate. Our students must stay in school, graduate, and enroll in college. It is a moral obligation. It is important for the economic and social fabric of St. Louis.

Parents and Citizens of St. Louis City who Support the Superintendent, Teachers and Students of St. Louis Public Schools. Our slogan is "Support Destination Accreditation." Please pass this blog to others.

"There is still much work to do," said St. Louis Superintendent Kelvin Adams in a statement-St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 18, 2008.

All Stakeholders:

St. Louis Public Schools is governed by an appointed school board since the state revoked its accreditation in 2007. The city schools did show some improvement in accreditation. In 2007, the district met only two performance standards, the lowest achievement level in the state. In 2008, St. Louis Public Schools attained four accreditation points, which is an improvement over the previous year.

Missouri's 14 benchmarks emphasize student performance on state standardized testing while also figuring attendance, dropout and graduation rates, ACT scores, college placement and other criteria into the equation. Districts meeting between six and eight standards are considered to be provisionally accredited.

Read more about SLPS accreditation report and performance using the following links:

MSIP Review AQ Report (MSIP Third Cycle Information). This is a downladable report in Microsoft Word.

Frequency Distribution Report (MSIP Third Cycle Information)

2007-08 St. Louis School District Accountability Report Card. We'll provide the 2008-2009 Accountability Report Card as soon as it is made available by DESE.

We leave you with a quote from St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent:

"While the St. Louis Public School District is pleased to see improvement in our Annual Performance Report, there is still much work to do," said St. Louis Superintendent Kelvin Adams in a statement. Courtesy of Steve Giegerich, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/18/2008.

We solicit support from the citizens of St. Louis City for our school district and its superintendent and school administrators and teachers in their quest to regain accrediatation and give our children first class education.

Parents and Citizens of St. Louis City who Support the Superintendent, Teachers and Students of St. Louis Public Schools. Our slogan is "Support Destination Accreditation." Please pass this blog to others.

New SLPS Superintendent Talks About Plans

"In late September, Kelvin Adams was named the new superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools. He arrived in St. Louis about a week ago. Adams is now the eighth superintendent to lead the city school district since 2003. He visited to tell us his plans for the future of the district." MyFox St. Louis News, Friday, 07 Nov 2008.

Click the following link to watch a video as Dr. Kelvin Adams shares some of his his plans with MyFox St. Louis News.

New SLPS Superintendent Talks About Plans (double click the play button of the video).

Parents and Citizens of St. Louis City who Support the Superintendent, Teachers, and Students of St. Louis Public Schools. Our slogan is "Support Destination Accreditation." Please pass this blog to others.

Dr. Kelvin Adams brings a much needed track record of Achievement to St. Louis Public Schools.

To all Stakeholders of St. Louis Public Schools:

What roles did Dr. Kelvin Adams play in the Recovery School District in New Orleans? What is the Relevance of his Achievement in New Orleans to St. Louis Public Schools? Dr. Adams:

1. Was the Chief of Staff for a school with 12,500 students in 33 schools with over 2,000 employees and an annual operating and capital budget of $300 million. Dr. Adams’ executive experience and expertise to rebuild a school district devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are very invaluable to St. Louis Public Schools. We couldn’t have hired a superintendent with better qualifications than him to steer our school district in a different direction.
2. Was the executive coordinator of day-to-day operations for the Recovery School District in New Orleans, Louisiana.
3. Worked directly for the superintendent to develop and implement the district’s educational and operational vision and strategies for improving student achievement. This has been an illusive goal which Dr. Adams can handle because of his track record. Low student achievement is one of the reasons our school district lost accreditation.
4. Acted on behalf of the superintendent during his absence and provided direct executive oversight to several departments, including: Finance, Legal, Academics, Human Resources, Facilities, Student Management, Accountability and Communication. Dr. Adams has a wide-ranging experience to efficiently coordinate and streamline the operations of the many components of the St. Louis Public Schools, which has been a chronic problem for many years.
5. Successfully opened 33 Recovery School District direct-operated schools and 26 charter schools in New Orleans. This is an impressive track record which convinces us that Dr. Adams will make substantial achievements in St. Louis Public Schools over time.
6. Developed a long-term strategic plan, which serves as a blueprint for building a superior school system for New Orleans. This is a much needed experience and expertise that Dr. Adams brings to St. Louis Public Schools.
7. Created and managed an instructional model for all grades and distributed first quarter 2009 curriculum for all subjects to teachers. This is a skill very much in need in St. Louis Public Schools.
8. Developed and implemented a comprehensive classroom modernization initiative for the Recovery School District in New Orleans, a desperately needed expertise that he brings to St. Louis Public Schools.
9. Steered the completion of the development of the high school redesign and with a new managed instructional program, which increased graduation from 39% to 67% in one year. This is a blessing for St. Louis Public Schools, where graduation rate is at an all time low. The low graduation rate is one of the reasons why we lost accreditation.
10. Assisted in implementing the JPAMS Student Information System. This is a valuable expertise because we believe he would maximize the potential use of the SLPS Student Information System.
11. Helped to rebuild the IEP system by completing over 1,700 IEPs during Academic Year 2007-2008, an expertise very much required to turn St. Louis Public Schools around.
12. Also assisted in developing a network of transition and alternative schools, as well as infusing curriculum with Response to Intervention strategies for the 2008-2009 school year.

From the foregoing, Dr. Adams is a man of many talents. He has the proven leadership qualities, management skills, experience, and stamina which will be very much invaluable to raise student achievement, bring about fiscal responsibility, streamline the operations of this huge school district, and put it back on track to reclaim its accreditation.

The parents and taxpayers of St. Louis City will need to give Dr. Adams all the necessary help and support he needs to fulfill the enormous responsibility we've given him. We all know that he has inherited a lot of problems, which will take time to solve. We need to be patient. We can't afford not to support Dr. Adams if we want our children to have high quality education. We want to remind you that we hired Dr. Adams from New Orleans, where he was a rising star on track to become the next Superintendent for the Recovery School District.

We leave you with the following thought-provoking quotes:

"The Recovery School District of New Orleans Superintendent Vallas and State of Louisina Superintendent Paul Pastorek said "New Orleans will lose a veteran administrator who earned the trust of many educators working in the schools." Vallas often said he hoped Adams would succeed him. Adams' leaving "is going to set me back a little," Vallas said. "Obviously, we want to bring someone in who we really can groom to be superintendent." Pastorek called Adams "a special guy" who is "not easily replaceable." by Jim Salter, The Associated Press.

“We can document Dr. Adams’ hands-on role in improving student achievement, as well as his commitment to students,” said Rick Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of the Special Administrtive Board of St. Louis Public Schools. “He has an unblemished record, works hard, and is well respected for his work in New Orleans.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Dr. Adams is quoted by the St. Louis press to have said "I am absolutely focused on one thing—student achievement."

Please extend your full and unswerving support to Dr. Adams and St. Louis Public Schools for our children.


Parents and Citizens of St. Louis City who Support the Superintendent, Teachers, and Students of St. Louis Public Schools. Our slogan is "Support Destination Accreditation." Please pass this blog to others.

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To our online visitors:

This is an interactive blog where you can leave comments in response to one or more articles for other patrons to read. Please follow the following simple steps to post a response comment on our blog:

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Please be corteous to other online visitors. We can agree to disagree but still be civil.

Please feel free to send us articles that we can publish to the blog. Our e-mail is supportsuptkelvinadams@gmail.com.

FYI: We've already shared this blog with some stakeholders including elected local and state officials, those in the business community, the clergy etc. We intend to substantially expand our audience from January 2008. We'll use this powerful medium of communication to advance the causes of St. Louis Public Schools. Please pass this blog to others.

Parents and Citizens of St. Louis City who Support the Superintendent, Teachers, and Students of St. Louis Public Schools.

Missouri Commissioner of Education Welcomes New SLPS Superintendent

All St. Louis Public Schools Stakeholders:

The volunteer blogger is republishing this past article from DESE to highlight the support that Dr. Adams has at the state level.

"Commissioner of Education D. Kent King today welcomed Kelvin Adams who has been selected as the new superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools.

The appointment of Dr. Adams was announced last night by Rick Sullivan, chair of the Special Administrative Board that has governed the St. Louis school district since last summer, as a result of the district’s loss of accreditation.

Adams was employed by the St. Louis Public Schools during the 2006-07 school year but is currently working as chief of staff of the Recovery School District in News Orleans.

“We are eager to work with Dr. Adams, school personnel and other leaders in the St. Louis community to help the school district restore public confidence and boost academic performance. I know Dr. Adams recognizes the challenges he will face,” King said.

“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,” King said." Courtesy of DESE Home Page


SLPS Parents Movement to Support Dr. Kelvin Adams.

Kelvin Adams takes helm of 25,000-student district today

Kelvin Adams arrived here a week ago Sunday, the better to get the lay of the land before reporting for work as the 36th superintendent to head the St. Louis Public Schools.

Today, he begins navigating the terrain—sometimes rocky and always unpredictable—that has seen eight of those leaders come and go since 2003.

Adams' arrival from New Orleans, where he served as chief of staff in the Recovery School District restoring that city's education system in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, signals a noteworthy move by the Special Administrative Board to put its imprint on the district it has governed for the past 17 months.

Adams plans to tread cautiously between now and the winter break, evaluating the curriculum and filling three key posts in his administration, most notably that of chief academic officer.

From that point forward, he indicated the St. Louis schools could start to look significantly different. Parents, students and teachers seeking a hint to the direction Adams may take the city schools, need glance no further than New Orleans where, among other reforms, the recovery district tacked an extra 75 minutes onto the school day this year.

"You have to look at extended time to give students an opportunity to achieve," Adams said in an interview Saturday, squeezed around the movers bearing his belongs from Louisiana.

That could mean a longer school day, an academic year that stretches well into summer or even Saturday classes. At this juncture, said Adams, everything is on the table.

Whatever time St. Louis students spend in class will occur in schools supervised by principals granted unprecedented autonomy over what transpires in each building.

The trade-off for shifting responsibility for learning from a central office to the leaders of individual schools will be accountability.

The premise is simple: Principals who elevate student achievement will survive; principals overseeing schools where learning slips or stagnates will not.

The principals will be held to no less a standard than the academic performance benchmarks built into the terms of Adams' three-year, $225,000 annual contract.

"We will give them the support," Adams said. "But once you provide that support, how can they not be held accountable?"

As Adams takes over a 25,000-student district barely hanging onto its status as the largest school system in Missouri, another question hangs in the balance.

Exactly how many principals will be needed in St. Louis come the start of next school year?

Last week, the administrative board awarded a $625,609 contract to a facilities management firm that will determine which of the district's schools could be shuttered when classes end in June.

The evaluation by MGT of America Inc. will focus on the physical condition of the buildings, educational suitability, technological readiness and other factors. MGT will also hold a series of community forums to gather public input. The firm will report its findings to the administrative board — which has estimated that 14 to 22 schools need to be closed.

Just seven years ago, 42,000 students attended city schools. In response to the drastic drop in enrollment, the district has already shuttered 25 buildings since 2003.

"Everyone needs to be open-minded enough to let (MGT) do its work. But I think everyone also needs to understands that more schools need to be closed," said Adams. "The question needs to be: How many more schools? And I think, right now, it's premature to say we're going to close 20 schools. At this point they're just making an educated guess."

After the decision on closings is made, Adams said, he may ask the administrative board to consider breaking some of the remaining properties into "schools within schools."

A version of the "small school movement," such a plan could assign designated sections of a school building to specific grades or specialized "learning communities" (such as students concentrating on health careers).

Adams said he would not rule out St. Louis following the lead of New York City and New Orleans by perhaps integrating a charter school into a building where traditional public education is taking place.

The post-Katrina conditions in New Orleans, he pointed out, made shared charter and traditional schools a necessity. "It works," he said. "But I don't know if can work permanently."

Adams was the director of human resources during a short stint with the St. Louis schools in 2006-07. He said he is returning to the district without preconceived notions.

"We may not see a lot of changes before Christmas," he said, leaving plenty of room for speculation on the shape of the district, in the classroom and at its downtown headquarters, in the new year. Courtesy of Steve Giegerich, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.


SLPS Parents Movement to Support Dr. Kelvin Adams.