On Wednesday night the state-appointed Special Administrative Board approved some budget cutting measures meant to improve the St. Louis Public School District's long-term financial health.
The efforts of alumni and faculty, however, ultimately saved the popular Cleveland NJROTC High School from the chopping block.
Last month Superintendent Kelvin Adams said little could change his recommendation to close Cleveland NJROTC due to low enrollment.
In three weeks since then, the faculty tweaked their admissions standards to find 43 more students and put together a plan to partner with middle schools, which would serve as feeder pools of sorts.
Adams said more kids and a plan to promote the school changed his mind.
“We will monitor that plan to make sure that they keep to that bargain in terms of increasing those numbers in the freshman class,” Adams said.
Adams heard many passionate appeals to save the school over the past three weeks, he said the test moving forward will be whether or not that kind of enthusiasm is sustained.
“The belief is that the alumni association and those people who spoke so eloquently around Cleveland will also be there a year from now and two years from now in terms of support and in terms of them helping them market the school to increase attendance,” Adams said
The board did approve closing both Sherman Elementary School and L’Ouverture Middle School.
Adams had previously recommended adding transportation for two optional school start times, but that idea was taken off the table, saving the district $5.7 million. He also removed a recommendation to eliminate 20 Social Workers, Nurses and Counselors.
The board decided not to approve Adams recommendation to let class sizes increase, which would have eliminated 82 teaching positions.
