ST. LOUIS 鈥 The president and vice president of the 50度灰视频 Board of Education should resign for their roles in approving more than 20 staff hires and consultants linked to Superintendent Keisha Scarlett, according to a fellow school board member.
Antionette 鈥淭oni鈥 Cousins and Matt Davis have taken an 鈥渋llegitimate, reactionary, over-reaching鈥 role in overseeing 50度灰视频 Public Schools, Emily Hubbard wrote in a letter Saturday to her six colleagues on the board.
鈥淭he lies and coercion must end. What is wrong and is hidden must be exposed and made right,鈥 she said.
Cousins said in a statement Sunday that opening schools in two weeks is her first concern.
鈥淧roviding transportation, before and after care, and making sure all schools are secure and prepared for classes to begin are my main priorities. I hope that Board Member Hubbard would also be interested in and concerned about that,鈥 Cousins said.
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The board鈥檚 vote on July 25 to place Scarlett on leave during an investigation of hiring and spending practices was approved by Cousins, Davis, board secretary Donna Jones and member Tracy Hykes. Hubbard and Sadie Weiss voted no, and Natalie Vowell abstained.
Prior to the ouster, criticism of Scarlett was 鈥渟quashed,鈥 and her recommended job candidates were approved unanimously by the board, Hubbard said.
鈥淪peaking specifically about the hiring of all her friends into district positions, we all had brief access to resumes before we voted to approve the hires brought before us,鈥 she wrote. 鈥淲e had the information to ask questions, to act, and chose not to pursue vigorous action. ... I hope I may be forgiven for assuming that serious interrogation of those hires as they were presented to us would have negative consequences without a change in the results.鈥
The board replaced Scarlett with acting Superintendent Millicent Borishade, one of her first hires and closest friends who did not go through an interview process with SLPS. Borishade does not have a Missouri superintendent鈥檚 certificate and received a vote of no confidence from teachers in her last school district outside Seattle.
Cousins, Davis, Jones and Hykes voted in favor of promoting Borishade, and Hubbard voted against. Weiss and Vowell abstained.
The catalyst for replacing the superintendent was the hiring of brand marketer Phoenix Jackson as chief communications officer, a job advertised with a salary range of $165,000 to $185,000. Jackson posted to social media that she would 鈥渇loat鈥 between two lives 鈥 her business and family home in Houston and a loft in downtown 50度灰视频.
When asked about the district鈥檚 vetting process, Cousins told the Post-Dispatch that 鈥渢he board has halted (human resources) transactions.鈥 The decision to stop approving new hires was not discussed or voted on by the full board, according to meeting records.
鈥淎fter at least a full school year of our current illegitimate structure of 鈥榖oard leadership,鈥 our board is not aligned, does not have a shared moral objective, and the district is embarrassed and in disarray with an unknown (to me at least) number of district leadership changes in the three weeks leading up to the start of school on August 19,鈥 Hubbard wrote in her letter.
The acrimony on the school board recalls the period leading up to a loss of accreditation and state takeover of SLPS in 2007. At the time, SLPS had five superintendents in three years. The district is now led by its fourth superintendent in less than two years.
In 2007, Mayor Francis Slay was at odds with board members. Now, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones has called for a state audit of SLPS and said the school board has rejected city partnerships. Academic performance remains among the lowest in the state, and the school board is again engaged in deficit spending.
The school district regained full accreditation in 2017 and returned to local control under an elected board in 2019. The three-year terms of Cousins, Davis and Vowell will be up for election in April.
The turmoil in SLPS leadership comes two weeks before the first day of school, as families are still unclear how their children will get to school because of a critical bus shortage. A community meeting will be held Tuesday at Vashon High School to discuss the transportation plan. An Aug. 12 back-to-school pep rally for staff has been canceled.