St. Louis public schools grapple with board squabbles, audit requests after superintendent’s leave of absence

The St. Louis mayor has requested an audit of the city’s public schools one week after the furlough of its superintendent, even as school board members blame one another for “illegitimate” leadership.

Mayor Tishaura Jones asked for the audit after the board placed Keisha Scarlett on an involuntary but paid leave of absence just weeks before the district’s Aug. 19 start of school.

Not all board members agree with the way its executives handled the situation.

“After at least a full school year of our current illegitimate structure of ‘board leadership,’ our board is not aligned, does not have a shared moral objective, and the district is embarrassed and in disarray with an unknown (to me at least) number of district leadership changes,” wrote board member Emily Hubbard in an Aug. 3 Facebook post.

“For the sake of the children of this city, I am calling on President Antionette ‘Toni’ Cousins and Vice President Matt Davis to resign not just their executive positions but their seats on the board. Their illegitimate, reactionary, over-reaching ‘leadership’ of the district must end. The lies and coercion must end.” 

Hubbard blamed herself in her post for having “allowed Ms. Cousins and Mr. Davis to act outside of the authority given them by our own board bylaws …” 

Despite Hubbard’s call for their resignations, both Davis and Cousins told Fox News their focus remains on the coming school year. 

“Ms. Hubbard will need to answer for her voting record, and shouldn’t be attacking fellow board members to distract from decisions she’s made that she now regrets,” Davis said. 

Meanwhile, Cousins says her main priorities include “providing transportation, before- and after-care, and making sure all schools are secure and prepared for classes to begin,” adding in an email she hopes “Board Member Hubbard would also be interested in and concerned about that.” 

Questions over audit, school performance 

The mayor’s audit request comes as the district is facing a $35 million deficit, compared to its $17 million surplus last year. 

The advocacy group Coalition with STL Kids also has created an online petition to audit “SLPS’ finances, operations, and governance to assess whether they have been responsible fiduciaries of the public purse.” 

The petition cites a 13-item list of grievances against the school district, the first involving students’ academic performance: “79% of children in SLPS CANNOT read on grade level. 84% of children in SLPS CANNOT do math on grade level. The numbers are far worse when you remove the gifted and magnet schools from the statistics.” 

The group says conflicts of interest, potential fraud and other operational concerns also led to its request for an audit.