Hello, again: Slay greets another new superintendent
If superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools is not the most difficult job in local education, it’s certainly one of the hardest to keep.
Post-Dispatch schools scribe Steve Giegerich reports that the state-backed panel running the city schools has picked yet another leader to take the helm of the system: Kelvin Adams, currently a top administrator in New Orleans.
On Thursday, Mayor Francis Slay — whose early attempts to reform the district have given way to a fresh enthusiasm for charter schools — offered a lukewarm welcome to the new superintendent, who will be the eighth person to hold the position since Slay took office in 2001.
“I probably have a thick file of congratulations that I have given to new superintendents of the SLPS,” Slay wrote on his website. “All of them have begun their jobs with firm resolve and great hopes – only to be worn down, lured away, or run off after relatively short tenures. I hope that this time will be different.”
Important fact: Half of NOLA’s public schools are charter schools. So while I hate to inherit anything from NOLA, this may actually be good.