State May Take Control of East St. Louis Schools (IL)

April 15, 2011

EAST ST. LOUIS • The Illinois State Board of
Education has laid the groundwork to remove all responsibilities
from the board that oversees the East St. Louis School
District.

By late May, the district’s School Board must agree to an
arrangement that would strip it of financial decisions and any
influence in the hiring of district staff. To enter into contracts,
the board would need written state approval. And the state would
hire a consultant to evaluate the scope of problems in the
district, ranging from curriculum to leadership to finances.

If the seven-member local board does not approve the agreement,
“the alternative may include their removal,” states a memo from the
state superintendent given to the State Board of Education on
Wednesday.

The action follows years of academic failure in East St. Loui s
schools, which have been on the state’s academic watch list for
four years. Also problematic: the school district’s high
administrative costs and lack of compliance with federal and state
special education laws.

On March 4, state Superintendent Christopher Koch informed East
St. Louis School Board President Lonzo Greenwood that the district
was in “extreme, ongoing non-compliance” in hiring enough staff to
support special education students. The district of 7,300 students
is 23 employees short of state requirements, Koch wrote.

Though minutes from recent board meetings showed that the East
St. Louis School Board passed along the concerns to a personnel
committee, there are no records that the jobs were ever posted.

Attempts to reach local School Board members and administrators
about the state action were unsuccessful.

State intervention is a familiar concept to East St. Louis
schools. In 2004, a state-appointed team replaced the local board
and decisions for one year.

And for 10 years ending in 2004, a state oversight panel had
financial control of the district after hearing accounts of gross
mismanagement. During that time, the state kept tabs of every
contract and dollar spent by the district, ending up in court
several times after clashes with the School Board.

La st week, state Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belleville, told the
Post-Dispatch that the state needed to intervene once again.

“I support making sure that those kids are getting a quality
education and getting what they need to start off life and be
productive,” he said.

Other problems plague East St. Louis schools.

Last month, the School Board voted to send “reduction in force”
notices to 287 teachers in an effort to save $9 million dollars.
The district has 562 full-time teaching positions, according to
state data. The district also is proposing to close three of 22
schools: McHenry and Edgemont, both prekindergarten through fifth
grade, and A.M. Jackson, a K-8 school.

Superintendent Theresa Saunders said last month that she was
optimistic that some of the jobs would be saved.

School Board member Carl Officer said later that week that he
was not satisfied with the financial decisions the district was
making, and he questioned a $40 million proposal to renovate the
high school. He also provided a list of five School Board members
who have spouses or relatives working for the district.
Collectively, the 30 employees cost East St. Louis schools $2
million, according to Officer, former mayor of the city.

According to the State Board of Education, the amount the school
dist rict spends on administration is higher than any district of
similar size. Administrative costs make up 8.7 percent of East St.
Louis’s school budget, compared with the statewide average of 3.5
percent, according to the state.