This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 24, 2013 - If you talk for any length of time to residents or educators in the Ladue School District, at some point you are likely to hear the phrase “the Ladue Way.”
It’s nothing official. You won’t find it on the school district’s website, or hear it recited at meetings of the district’s school board. And it doesn’t even mean the exact same thing to different people.
“Perhaps that’s just a phrase that people use that the Ladue district tends to have its own culture, as do other districts,” says Sheri Glantz, a member of the district’s board.
“It is important to the community to maintain the stellar reputation of our district, to keep on the cutting edge and be a leader as opposed to being followers.”
Adds her colleague Jayne Langsam, president of the board:
“It ought to be the way people in Ladue see now how things should be done. People live there generation after generation, and that’s a great thing. Also has to apply to newer people moving in.”
Stacy Washington of Olivette, another board member, isn’t really clear about what that phrase refers to.
“I think that maybe to Ladue residents, the second or third generation, it means something specific to them. I’m not aware of what the Ladue Way is, except high academic performance.”
Concurring with that view, Eric Hahn, who has taught social studies to Ladue high school students for 23 years, says: “I think it includes high expectations. I think that includes a college preparatory atmosphere.
“For me, the Ladue Way is to pay attention to what teachers say, and students, too. I don’t think the Ladue Way is an autocratic, my way or the highway system, where you have this kind of managerial system that tells someone what to do in no uncertain terms.”
No matter how the specific phrase or outlook may be interpreted or expressed, some now wonder whether Ladue has lost its way. At a recent public forum where residents were asked to contribute ideas to the district’s search for a new superintendent -- its fourth leader since 2000 -- nervous laughter spread through the crowd when the moderator asked, “Are there any issues out there?”
Of course, even with the turnover at the top, the sudden departure of the principal of the high school, concern about academic performance and a series of stories about student behavior that haven’t exactly burnished the district’s reputation, no one is saying Ladue is a place to avoid, or that its nearly 4,000 students get anything but a top-flight education.
But as the process to find a new superintendent moves forward, the search is providing teachers, administrators, staff and the public an opportunity to take a critical look at what the district is doing right, what qualities its new leader needs and what challenges that person will face when the new regime begins.
Public support, public concern
Ladue schools have always enjoyed a high level of support and interest from the public they serve, in both financial terms and a high awareness of how the district is operating.
Since 1950, only one financial issue has failed to win support at the polls -- a 67-cent hike in the property tax levy, defeated in 2004.
Results from a community survey conducted in the fall of 2011 were summarized by the district this way:
“Generally speaking, the results show a patron population that is very satisfied with the performance of its school district, and that is very aware of the steps that were taken by the district to deal with the financial challenges it was facing coming into this budget year. The patrons have some concerns about future changes that might be required (should the financial picture continue to be difficult), are – at least at this point – still somewhat cautious in their level of support for a potential increase in the operating tax levy.”
Apparently those concerns weren’t overwhelming; the district approved a 49-cent tax increase last year.
And when district officials sought public opinion on issues like what Ladue should be looking for in a new superintendent, they got strong participation, in both personal settings involving a variety of groups and information sought through the district website.
The ideal candidate, according to the common themes from the various groups, would be a trustworthy visionary who is visible throughout the district; a leader who respects diversity and respects the culture that exists in the district; someone who can effectively communicate viewpoints and recognize the skills of colleagues to build a team; and someone who can make the tough decisions the district needs.
Those decisions, the district groups said, are likely to come in a variety of areas: moving forward on a stalled initiative to give laptops to students; meeting the needs of all students; dealing with the district’s physical needs; boosting morale at the high school; recognizing and communicating the success stories of talented students; determining fair compensation in a district with no set salary schedule; and addressing financial challenges.
Those issues and more will have to be faced and dealt with in an atmosphere that has brought the kind of negative publicity that Ladue has not generally faced through the years.
From stability to unfortunate publicity
From 1942 to the end of the 20th century, just two superintendents were in charge of the Ladue schools. Ivan C. Nicholas took over in 1942; and when he left in 1971, Charles McKenna took the reins and held them -- firmly -- until his retirement in 2000.
Then came Stewart Weinberg, who began in 2000, was placed on administrative leave in May 2004 and was paid his full benefits and salary through the end of that school year. He was followed by David Benson, who left at the end of 2008-09 school year to become superintendent in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
He was replaced by Marsha Chappelow, his assistant superintendent for human resources. Last September, the Ladue school board approved her request to retire at the end of the current school year; then at the end of November, it approved her request to leave immediately. She was paid full benefits and salary through the end of this school year.
A couple of weeks before Chappelow's request, the principal of Ladue Horton Watkins High School, Bridget Hermann, announced her resignation, effective at the end of the current school year.
The district said she was leaving to pursue new opportunities. Butin her letter of resignation to the superintendent, Hermann cited philosophical differences and said that over the past two years, “I have have been asked to spend a significant portion of my time clarifying day-to-day administrative decisions to you and the Board of Education.”
Chappelow did not return a phone message asking her to comment on issues in the district.
While the unexpected personnel shifts were taking place, the district was surprised by several student-related incidents that weren’t the kinds of stories Ladue patrons were used to reading.
- At the end of last year, a “Senior List” in which male students detail and discuss the body parts, hygiene and sexual habits of female students made news when a parent instigated a federal investigation into what apparently is a long-term practice at the school. The parent said it violates federal education law.
- The current school year brought more negative publicity. Early last month, a Ladue Middle School student was disciplined for sending a photo to a man in an online chat room; the man was then caught by school officials masturbating on camera on the student’s computer monitor.
- Then, after the new school year started, officials at the Middle School discovered that someone had posted photos on Instagram under the label “Ladues_Ugliest,” with the tagline: “I take pictures of people from ladue and if your ugly you’ll get posted.”
- When news of that incident became public, the district had to increase police presence -- and attendance dropped -- when another posting on Instagram, complete with the photo of Adam Lanza, the presumed shooter in Newtown, Conn., made what Ladue officials called a “broad threat.”
Attendance dropped that day, but no incidents occurred.
The 99.6 percent conundrum
While those extracurricular issues have taken center stage in the public’s thoughts about Ladue schools in recent months, academics -- the reason any school district exists -- have also prompted some questions.
Finding a new superintendent
The district has hired McPherson & Jacobson of Omaha, Neb., to assist the school board with its search. The firm conducted forums this month to hear from the public and other groups in the district and asked for comments on the district website.
The deadline for applications was Mon., Jan. 21 and 12 applications had been received. The board will select finalists by Feb. 5, then conduct interviews in mid-February. The timeline calls for the announcement of a new superintendent by the Feb. 28 board meeting.
A search is also under way for a new principal at Ladue High School, with a closing date of Jan. 11 for applications. But no final decision will be made until the new superintendent is chosen, so he or she can take part in the process.
The district’s demographics are unusual, in that an estimated 40 percent of the school-age children who live in its boundaries -- a line that stretches for 19 square miles from north of Olivette south through Creve Coeur and Ladue to more exclusive areas like Frontenac and Huntleigh Village -- don’t attend public schools.
Instead, they attend some of the non-public schools within the district’s territory, like John Burroughs, MICDS or Villa Duchesne.
But given the strong link between school quality and property values, just because their children don’t attend Ladue schools doesn’t mean that families don’t care about how well the schools are doing.
So when the district falls in the annual Newsweek rating of the nation’s top high schools, from 103 in 2011 to 188 last year, many parents have those numbers at their fingertips.
Sometimes the emphasis on numbers -- and a strong rivalry with the neighboring Clayton schools -- can seem to border on the absurd.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently released a simulated list of how districts would score on the new version of the state’s school rating system going into effect this year. While Clayton, Kirkwood and Lindbergh each earned a 100 percent, Ladue came in at 99.6 percent because it failed to gain half a point in the social studies area.
A grade of 99.6 would please almost any parent, but in the context of the district’s other uncommon negative publicity, it did not go unnoticed, or uncommented on.
John A. Yates Jr., a 1967 graduate of the district’s high school who has two children who also graduated from Ladue schools -- one of whom teaches in the district -- is active in both the district’s alumni association and the Ladue Education Foundation, which helps raise private money for the district.
Yates said that Ladue parents are used to having their schools rank at the top, and when they don’t hit that pinnacle, doubts may begin to form about how well students are being prepared for life in general.
“Unfortunately,” Yates told the Beacon, “people tend to view the high school as a success if people graduate and get into the college they want their kid to go to. They’re not thinking long-term. Going to college used to be a pretty decent indicator of the fact they would have a good career and everything else.
“I’m not saying Ladue is bad. I don’t think it is. But there are other districts like Lindbergh and Kirkwood who got a 100. I think that is maybe where we are falling down a little bit, where we have potentially been lulled into a feeling of adequacy because we have successful results. Against the rest of the state of Missouri is not exactly where we want to rate ourselves.”