By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – St. Louis Alderman Freeman Bosley Sr. wants to hold public hearings to look at the city school board's hiring of a consulting firm.
Last week the board voted 5-to-1 to hire Alvarez & Marsal, a so-called corporate "turnaround firm," to act as interim superintendent for the city's schools.
Bosley says the agreement is vague, and the school board did not give the public enough say in the decision.
"The new school board voted to give a $5 million contract to the Alvarez group without any particulars of it," Bosley said. "They didn't even have a contract written."
Bosley wants the Aldermanic Intergovernmental Affairs Committee to hold the hearings.
Committee chair Tom Bauer says he has not yet decided on whether to have hearings, but believes the school board made a good move.
"That was a decision that could be made legally by the members of the board of education," Bauer said. "We elect those people so they can make those kinds of decisions."
Former Brooks Brothers clothing executive and Alvarez & Marsal managing director William Roberti began as interim superintendent Monday.