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With the St. Louis Public School system ready to slash the number of schools they are operating across the City of St. Louis, one of the biggest questions on everyone’s mind is what is going to happen with the shuttered schools?Many will likely be sold off for other commercial or residential uses, but at the moment, there is a standing policy that no former St. Louis Public School building can be sold or leased for use as a charter school. There will probably continued debate over this issue in coming months, but that’s not going to stop charter schools from continuing to take root in the area. Just ask the people over at the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).
While state and local officials bicker over the fate of our school system and the children it serves, the prestigious KIPP program has finally managed to find a home for it’s new St. Louis School. The Post Dispatch is reporting that the group will be leasing the former high school building next to the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church at Ohio & Gravois in the Fox Park Neighborhood.
The current plan calls for construction to begin in March, with the school opening this summer. The first year would include only 80 to 100 fiftth graders with an additional class added each year until they serve approximately 360 students in the fifth to eighth grade levels.
With the notorious shoddy city school system, this is nice addition to the southside climate. Not only with this school help the children it serves, it will also help St. Francis de Sales, the surrounding neighborhoods of Fox Park and Benton Park, and the burgeoning commercial areas along Gravois and Jefferson. Hopefully this is just the first of many.
My daughter and I have been anxiously awaiting KIPPs arrival. I am a product of SLPS and my child is currently enrolled in one of the elementary schools. We can’t wait for the moment we can say she is withdrawing from the district.