After 10 years of being deprived of accreditation, Missouri State Board of Education unanimously decided to include the public schools of Saint Louis in their list of Fully Accredited Schools of other districts. The leaders of the district and other state education members were overjoyed as they finally saw a ray of hope. The hard struggle for improving the standard of education finally bore fruit. The Saint Louis City public schools are now acknowledged and deemed worthy of reaccreditation. The education standard did not comply with the State Board of Education previously, therefore it was considered as a failure and full of discrepancies 10 years back.
St. Louis City Public Schools
| St Louis City Public High Schools | Phone |
| Carnahan High School | 314-457-0582 |
| Central Visual and Performing Arts | 314-771-2772 |
| Clyde C Miller Career Academy | 314-371-0394 |
| Gateway IT High School | 314-776-3300 |
| McKinley Classical Academy | 314-773-0027 |
| Metro High School | 314-534-2894 |
| Nottingham Community Access Job Training High School | 31-481-40954 |
| Roosevelt High School | 314-776-6040 |
| Soldan High School | 314-367-9222 |
| Sumner High School | 314-371-1048 |
| Vashon High School | 314-533-9847 |
| St. Louis City Public Elementary and Middle Schools | Phone |
| Academy of Environmental Math & Science | 314-932-1465 |
| Adams School | 314-535-3910 |
| Ames VPA School | 314-241-7165 |
| Ashland School | 314-385-4767 |
| Bryan Hill School | 314-534-0379 |
| Buder School | 314-352-4343 |
| Busch School of Character | 314-352-1040 |
| Carr Land VPA | 314-231-0413 |
| Columbia School | 314-533-2750 |
| Compton Drew School | 314-652-9282 |
| Cote Brilliante School | 314-531-8680 |
| Dewey School | 314-645-4845 |
| Dunbar School | 314-533-2526 |
| Fanning School | 314-772-1038 |
| Farragut School | 314-531-1198 |
| Ford School | 314-383-0386 |
| Froebbal School | 314-771-3533 |
| Gateway Elementary | 314-241-8255 |
| Gateway Math and Science | 314-241-2295 |
| Herzog Academy | 314-385-2212 |
| Hickey School | 314-771-2539 |
| Hodgen School | 314-932-5720 |
| Jefferson School | 314-231-2459 |
| Kenard School | 314-353-8875 |
| Laclede School | 314-385-0546 |
| Lexington | 314-385-2522 |
| Long School | 314-353-1349 |
| Lyon Academy | 314-481-3440 |
| Mallinkrodt | 314-352-9212 |
| Mann | 314-772-4545 |
| Mason | 314-645-1201 |
| McKinley | 314-773-0027 |
| Meramec | 314-353-7145 |
| Monroe | 314-776-7315 |
| Mullanphy | 314-772-0994 |
| Nahed Chapman New American Academy | 314-664-1066 |
| Nance | 314-867-063 |
| Oak Hill | 314-481-0420 |
| Patrick Henry Downtown Academy | 314-231-7284 |
| Peabody | 314-241-1533 |
| Pamoga Preparatory Academy | 314-533-0894 |
| Pierre Laclede | 314-385-0546 |
| Shaw | 314-776-5091 |
| Shenandoah | 314-772-7544 |
| Sigel | 314-771-0010 |
| Stix | 314-533-0874 |
| Wallbridge | 314-383-1829 |
| Washington | 314-361-0432 |
| Wilkinson | 314-645-1202 |
| Woerner | 314-481-8585 |
| Woodward | 314-353-1346 |
| Yeatman | 314-261-8132 |
Before the end of this decade, the management, teachers and education board regained their honor through sheer determination. The Public School education department of the district lost its status due to a poor ratio of graduates. The district was only able to graduate 55 percent of the students and, was able to comply with 5 out of the 14 state accreditation standards. The lack of proper education and management was so inadequate that the Missouri Board of Education took extreme measures. This resulted in a major issue among parents when Saint Louis Public Schools were ravaged after being excluded from the list of accredited schools.
The status quo took a sharp turn this January when the City Public School system received reaccreditation. This means that the parents will have more confidence in the district’s education system. Saint Louis has higher chances of regaining its reputation back, which was stained with the doubt of not being an ideal city to live with family. It may take some time before parents may begin to view a bigger picture of the Saint Louis’ school education potential. More than 10,000 children were sent, by their parents, to either St. Louis Charter schools or other STL school districts for quality education. In addition, some have decided to send their children to private schools in St. Louis.
Although the Charter schools of the district have maintained improved standard of education, the reaccreditation of City’s Public schools can be a competition for them. This healthy competition can force both institutes to maintain the quality of their system consistently. This positive rivalry can attract many families to settle in the district. Both parent and children can thrive on the opportunities provided by an improvement in the education system. The parents will be relieved from paying higher fees of charters and private schools since public schools are granted the accredited status. Superintendent Kelvin Adam says, “I may not see 10,000 kids coming back to our district tomorrow but I do see families using that as one of the weights to determine if they want to look at the St. Louis Public Schools. They can’t say any more the district is unaccredited or provisionally accredited. The district is fully accredited, and that says something.”
This tremendous success will surely have a positive impact on the children. Children will no longer have to go somewhere else in the search for recognized education. This optimistic factor will influence the lives of many inhabitants of the district. Even though the Saint Louis district has not achieved the extent of standard that other districts have, the expectation and enthusiasm are high. The State Education leaders do realize that they still have a long journey to cover in their mission of improving the education system. This accreditation is just a proof that they comply with the minimum state standard but this milestone greatly boosted their morale. The State Board granted the accreditation based on improvement in academics, the rate of graduation, examination scores, and proficiency in other areas. This testifies that the teachers and students have worked hard for this extraordinary achievement. Superintendent Kelvin Adams intends to educate every single child in the entire district.
