Volume 19, Number 52
1 Section, 16 Pages
Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016
9977 Lin Ferry Drive St. Louis, MO 63123
School board to eye OK of choice school
Trakas to take oath of office on Sunday By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Next week’s swearing-in of two new County Council members marks the end of one north county political dynasty and the expansion of another one, along with the debut of incoming 6th District County Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville. Trakas and Rep. Rochelle Walton Gray, D-Black Jack, will be sworn into office at noon Sunday, Jan. 1, in the County Council Chambers, 41 S. Central Ave., Clayton. They will succeed outgoing 6th District Councilman Kevin O’Leary, D-Oakville, and Chairman Mike O’Mara, D-Florissant, of the 4th District. O’Leary succeeded County Executive Steve Stenger in the 6th District seat when Stenger assumed the office of county executive two years ago. He served 19 months after winning election in April 2015 against former Green Park Ward 1 Alderman Tony
By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Organizers of the elementary school of innovation proposed in the Mehlville School District believe the school’s opening would revolutionize education districtwide by pioneering new ways of learning and increasing test scores and student engagement. The Board of Education will weigh approval of the lottery-based Choice School of Innovation, or CSOI, when it meets Wednesday, Jan. 18. The CSOI could open in August at the former St. John’s Elementary at Lemay Ferry Road and Will Avenue, across from Mehlville High School. In advance of the vote, the would-be school’s principal, current Forder Elementary Principal Scott Clark, has been educating parents and residents about what a school of innovation means (See CHOICE, Page 2A)
Crestwood alderman slams proposed county sales tax
(See TRAKAS, Page 11A)
Updated ’16-’17 budget adopted for Lindbergh By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor A revised Lindbergh Schools operating budget for the current school year projects a surplus of over $8,200. The Lindbergh Board of Education recently voted 6-0 to approve the revised operating budget that projects expenditures of $69,108,718 with anticipated revenues of $69,116,967 — a surplus of $8,249. Board Secretary Karen Schuster was absent for the vote. The original operating budget approved June 14 projected revenues and expenditures at $68,510,810, leaving no surplus. “... When the board originally approves the budget in June, it is with all the known numbers that we have, but also some projections. And now that the school year’s (See UPDATED, Page 5A)
Students ride Polar Express
Point Elementary School first-graders rode the Polar Express before Christmas break started last week with help from The Conductor, Principal Shannon Pike, and kindergartener Brycen Brawley. Point fifth-graders celebrated with a breakfast, blankets and books party, at which they tied 13 blankets together to donate to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor A proposed countywide sales-tax increase for police and public safety is “a terrible deal for the people of Crestwood,” according to Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Miguel. County voters will consider the half-cent sales-tax increase proposed by County Executive Steve Stenger on Tuesday, April 4 — the same day Crestwood voters will consider a 45-cent tax-rate increase placed on the ballot by the Board of Aldermen. A motion by Miguel to have City Attorney Lisa Stump draft a resolution opposing the countywide sales tax did not receive a second at the Dec. 13 Board of Aldermen meeting. Board of Aldermen President Grant Mabie of Ward 3, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor Gregg Roby, noted (See TAX, Page 6A)
Sunset Hills aldermen vote to allow Kostial’s videoconferencing By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter An alderman’s use of videoconferencing, a proposed development on Court Drive and a contested Jimmy John’s have been issues all year in Sunset Hills, and they all came to the forefront again this month. While the Jimmy John’s issue was largely settled and the Court Drive issue continued to be debated at the December Board of Aldermen meeting, Ward 3 Alderman Keith Kostial’s frequent
use of videoconferencing came up for direct vote for the first time. Aldermen voted 6-2 to allow the videoconferencing alderman to attend after Mayor Pat Fribis questioned whether he met the guidelines outlined in city code for video attendance. Voting “no” were Ward 1 Alderman Dee Baebler and Ward 4 Alderman Thompson Price, who have both said public officials should attend meetings in person. Although Kostial had promised to attend most meetings in 2016 (See VIDEOCONFERENCING, Page 10A)
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Page 2A Page 3A Page 3A Page 4A Page 6A Page 7A Page 8A Page 10A Page 12A Read more on Page 3A about a First Responder Page 13A luncheon hosted by Long Elementary students.
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• Choice Innovation school not a fad, not a buzzword, Clark says (Continued from Page 1A)
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for the district — and what it doesn’t mean. “This isn’t something that is a fad, this isn’t something that is a buzzword. This is best teaching practices,” Clark told parents at a board listening session earlier this month. “I think a lot of times we think about innovation being technology, and that’s not the case. We’re talking about best teaching practices to bring student engagement up, to bring in student voice and ownership of their learning. And to do that, we need to think about the practices that we have done in the past and continue to do in many ways and how we can move past those and present new opportunities for students — and yes, my hope, everyone’s hope, is that this would spread across the district.” The school would be the only school of its kind in St. Louis County, and one of a handful nationwide. Superintendent Chris Gaines first proposed it a year ago, in the wake of the district’s historic Proposition R victory. Students move at own pace CSOI students would move at their own pace, challenged by project-based lessons designed to develop the critical thinking, creativity and innovation skills that they increasingly need in today’s changing world. What that looks like differs from classroom to classroom, but “the one thing you don’t see is desks in rows,” said Rogers Elementary kindergarten teacher Lisa Meyers, who pioneers the techniques in her classroom and has been tapped as one of the school’s nine teachers. To explain what personalized learning looks like, Meyers mentioned a lesson which requires kindergarteners to edit their own writing. In a typical classroom, the students may have sat at their desks and put pencils to paper until the time was up. But Meyers taught it differently than any other teacher in the district. Her students — including board President Samantha Stormer’s daughter — partnered to edit each other’s work if they already knew how to read. But some of the struggling kindergarteners “can barely put letters on paper,” Meyers said, so she worked with them one on one to draw what they wanted to write, then write the words of their art. “Slowly but surely, they got an entire sentence written, which they felt great about, because they couldn’t do it when I was teaching the whole group, expecting everybody to do the same thing,” she said. “My approach was meaningful for those kids. “So when you have students that are here and here,” Meyers added, raising one hand above her head and lowering one to waist level, “at the choice school, we’re going to be able to reach each of them where they are.” Mehlville could be a destination Some residents believe the new school could make Mehlville a destination district. Other residents have pushed back on the school, with some believing it’s too wild a concept for Mehlville. Gaines attributes that resistance to fear of the unknown, even by critics who have long called for the district to improve.
“Everybody wants school to be better, but nobody wants school to change,” he told the Call. “We don’t change for two reasons: tradition and physics. And that is when you’re at rest, you stay at rest. So we’ve been stagnant, and that’s what people know, rather than moving in another direction. Some people like the status quo, but those people that like the status quo also say, ‘We need to be like Lindbergh.’ Well, we can’t stay the way we are and get better.” CSOI to spark innovation In response to questions on why every Mehlville school doesn’t immediately switch to personalized learning, Clark and Meyers say teaching and learning in the new style requires a “mind shift” that can be tricky to navigate unless teachers have already bought in to the concept. Converting to a project-based teaching style also requires extensive professionaldevelopment training, which the district is rolling out. Gaines likened the process to a “stairstep,” with CSOI as the catalyst and pioneer of best practices. “St. John is meant to take the dozen or so people who are ready to do that now, put them all in the same place, and get them running to be on that leading edge of where everybody else is going to go,” he recently told the Finance Committee. As district teachers see how learning unfolds at CSOI, they will take it to their own classrooms, Clark said. Similarly, parents on the innovation team say they started out as skeptics but became believers after seeing the concept in action at two schools the team visited in the Liberty School District near Kansas City, EPiC Elementary and Lewis and Clark Elementary. “Once you see it, you want it for your kids,” said Mike Sita, an innovation team member and Oakville Elementary parent. “I’m very passionate about this because I’ve seen it happen. You see those kids at EPiC and Lewis and Clark, and it’s so inspiring. It made me sad, like we’re failing our kids (in traditional school), and that’s why I’m so passionate about it.” EPiC opened three years ago and was so popular that the district converted Lewis and Clark, an existing school, to the same type of school. So far, test scores at EPiC are 15 percent to 20 percent higher than other Liberty schools, Clark noted. Although many people think of technology when they think of innovation, the 2:1 and 1:1 laptops that will be used are the “how” and not the why behind the new school, Gaines said. “The technology is not the driver, the technology is the tool that lets this methodology be more able to work now than ever before,” Gaines told the Call. “We’ve been talking about the notion of personalized learning for 20, 30 years, that man, wouldn’t it make sense to let kids move at their own pace along the curricular pathway? But that is incredibly difficult for a teacher to do, to manage all of those pathways. Well, now there are technology tools that can help make that happen better than ever before.” Next: The Finance Committee weighs in on whether Mehlville can afford to open the new school.
Volume 20, Number 1
1 Section, 16 Pages
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017
9977 Lin Ferry Drive St. Louis, MO 63123
www.callnewspapers.com
Panel cites cost; recommends against opening choice school
Oakville resident Toni Hodge attended last week’s Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors meeting to thank the firefighter/medics who saved her life in October when they responded to a 911 call she made. She presented them with plaques stating she could never repay them for what they did. Pictured, from left, are: Pvt. Darren Plogger, Pvt. Don Wood, Pvt. Jason Schenimann, Hodge, Pvt. Patrick O’Brien and Pvt. Nick Klemme.
Woman thanks MFPD for saving her life By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor An Oakville woman last week thanked the five Mehlville Fire Protection District firefighter/medics who saved her life after she called 911 in October. Toni Hodge called 911 on Oct. 29 because she was having difficulty breathing. Shortly after three firefighter/medics on an Advanced Life Support pumper arrived at her residence, she went into cardiac arrest.
(See THANKS, Page 6A)
By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The Mehlville Finance Committee does not believe that the school district has enough money to fund any new initiatives, but educators believe the benefits of a proposed school of innovation could outweigh the costs. Opening the proposed Choice School of Innovation, or CSOI, in August could mean the district has to ask for a tax-rate increase a year earlier than it would otherwise have to, the financial profession-
als who make up the resident-led finance panel said as they unanimously recommended against opening the school. “It increases your deficit and accelerates it by a year,” Finance Committee Chairman Mark Hinsen told the Board of Education during a December presentation about the committee’s findings. “We as a committee really cannot recommend layering that type of spending at this time on top of our current budget.” After one-time startup costs of $250,000, (See CHOICE, Page 11A)
Mehlville Board of Education OKs minor revision to block scheduling By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The high schools in the Mehlville School District will see many changes next year, but block scheduling won’t be one of them. The Board of Education recently voted unanimously to uphold the Schedule Review Committee’s recommendation for a minor revision to the schedule next year, and take a deeper look at a switch to a flex schedule the following year.
The flexibility and reasoning behind the committee’s decision won kudos from school board members, who had to manage a backlash from parents and students against changing block scheduling when it was first brought up as a potential cost-savings idea by Superintendent Chris Gaines in August. “It’s not what fits most, it’s what fits all,” board President Samantha Stormer said. (See BLOCK, Page 6A)
Serving as 6th District county councilman not what O’Leary imagined it would be By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Serving as the 6th District county councilman was not at all what Kevin O’Leary imagined it would be. O’Leary, D-Oakville, was elected as the “mayor of south county” in April 2015, but did not run for re-election and
was succeeded by Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, on Sunday. As O’Leary campaigned in early 2015, he promised to be a new kind of councilman who would focus on what south county residents want instead of offering the cold shoulder many feel they traditionally received from Clayton. But that was a promise easier made than kept, O’Leary
told the Call in his final interview as councilman. His tenure was marked by a series of developments vigorously opposed by residents that O’Leary sponsored for passage. And for the last six months, he stopped taking calls from residents and reporters. (See O’LEARY, Page 5A)
Green Park aldermen adopt 2017 budget with projected general fund surplus of $214,500 By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor A 2017 budget that projects a general fund surplus of $214,500 recently was adopted by the Green Park Board of Aldermen. Aldermen approved a 2017 budget that
For the capital improvements fund, the 2017 budget anticipates revenues of $485,000 and expenditures of $558,000 — a deficit of $73,000. “There’s an intentional decrease in the capital improvements fund of $73,000
to cover two road projects identified for 2017. That’s the Villages at Green Park and the Green Park Commerce Center ...,” City Administrator James Mello said. With a projected beginning fund balance
(See BUDGET, Page 4A)
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projects general fund revenues totaling $1,658,900 with anticipated expenditures of $1,444,400. City officials project a total general fund balance of $3,205,971 on Dec. 31. Of that amount, $2,483,771 is unreserved.
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Lindbergh Schools students, staff and families throughout the district helped make the holidays brighter for those in need this year. To read about Lindbergh giving back to the community and view other online content, including photographs, visit the Call’s website at www.callnewspapers.com.
Page 2A Page 3A Page 3A Page 4A Page 5A Page 6A Page 7A Page 11A Page 12A Visit www.callnewspapers.com to read more on the Page 13A Lindbergh school board’s annual meeting with clergy.
Call Publishing, Thursday, January 5, 2017 - Page 11A
• Choice Committee bases decision on school’s recurring costs (Continued from Page 1A)
the ongoing cost to Mehlville of operating the CSOI could add up to $400,000 annually if six new teachers are added. Students in the lottery-based CSOI would move at their own pace through projectbased curriculum designed to prepare students for the challenges of the real world better than traditional desks-in-rows classrooms. CSOI could open in the former St. John’s Elementary, 3701 Will Ave., or the district could rent or buy space for more money. The board could take a final vote on CSOI as soon as Jan. 18, following an overall look at district finances at a work session at 6:30 p.m. today — Thursday, Jan. 5 — in the Mehlville High School Library, 3200 Lemay Ferry Road. The board is looking to save money and also eyeing a way to free up funds for CSOI, board President Samantha Stormer said. “Is there a better way of using the resources that we have?” she said. “Without having this conversation first, there’s no way of being able to make that (CSOI) decision and make an informed decision.” The Finance Committee handed down its decision at the same meeting that the board decided to accept another committee’s recommendation to keep high school block scheduling largely as is next year — a decision with budget implications up to $2 million a year. To decide if the district can afford CSOI, the committee looked at five-year forecasts from Chief Financial Officer Marshall Crutcher with and without the school, taking into account Mehlville’s historical 1.18-percent annual increases in revenue and 2-percent hike in expenses. Without CSOI and with annual raises, the panel estimates the district starts deficit-spending in 2020. Opening the new school, however, would speed that up by a year, with the district slipping into the red in 2019. The recommendation is based solely on that sped-up recurring spending, not educational impact or benefits to students. Members said they could get behind $1 million in one-time startup costs, four times the projection. They acknowledge they take a conservative view of the district’s finances, but say that cautious perspective is what’s needed to keep the district on track financially. The $250,000 startup estimate does not include a $350,000 upgrade of St. John’s kitchen funded from the $1 million balance in the food service fund, which is selffunded through school lunch payments and by federal law can only be spent on food service. Even after the upgrade, the balance would stay at $1 million next year. Fowler disputes findings Former Board of Education President Dan Fowler immediately objected to what he called the committee’s “doom-andgloom” take on Mehlville’s finances, especially in the wake of the successful passage of Proposition R in 2015. Noting that five of his eight grandchildren are slated to attend Mehlville schools, Fowler told the board Dec. 15 that the dis-
trict is in better financial shape than at any other time in the 28 years since he first ran for the board. The district should embrace the CSOI as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to impact the education of generations of students, he said. Historically, Mehlville overestimates expenses and underestimates revenue “to the extreme,” he noted. As an example, favorable budget adjustments so far this year have increased operating funds by $900,000 beyond projections and allowed the district to pay off debt early while still keeping reserve balances at $26 million. “I’ve never heard such doom and gloom about the finances of our school district, which I think is ridiculous,” Fowler said. “The school district can pretty much do what it wants to do, and part of that is School of Innovation. I think this is an opportunity that doesn’t come very often in my time in the school district. Very few times do you have the money and the resources to do bold things. And I think this Board of Education has an opportunity to do bold things.” Gaines still recommends CSOI The CSOI is the brainchild of Superintendent Chris Gaines, who still stands by his recommendation to open the school as a way to increase opportunities for children in the district. As a side effect, officials believe the school would likely increase test scores. The committee’s verdict is not against CSOI as much as it is against any new recurring spending, Gaines noted. “You can look at it through a lens of if — and it’s a big if — revenues and expenses track the way they have historically, there’s going to be a crossover point (to deficit) in the future,” he said. “And anything pushes that forward, that’s just the nature of numbers. So then you also have to contextualize ... the notion that typically the projections are wrong. So what’s the balance between the two?” The numbers the panel looked at are the worst-case scenario, he said, but he expects a brighter outlook. The data assumes that the district hires six new teachers for CSOI, out of 13 full-time positions. Initially, Gaines planned to pick up some of those positions through a change in block scheduling, which requires more teachers than other schedules. It’s possible that could still happen next year as the district moves to a flex schedule. But even without a scheduling change, the district could make up six positions through attrition or cutting positions that won’t be needed as class sizes decrease through redistricting. Class sizes are a problem in several elementary schools, and since the CSOI draws from existing students, the new school and redistricting could help fix that problem, Gaines said. “It lowers class size across the district,” he said. “So while you say there are some people freaking out at the number of what it’s going to cost, a corollary question is: What would you invest to lower class size? “If you could invest $700,000, $500,000 to lower class size in the elementaries, would you do that?” Next: Officials eye the impact of a possible $9 million annual extension of Proposition P on district finances and CSOI.
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Volume 20, Number 2
1 Section, 16 Pages
Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017
9977 Lin Ferry Drive St. Louis, MO 63123
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Disenfranchisement of south county ends, Trakas says By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter After being sworn in last week, new 6th District County Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, promises that south county residents no longer have to worry that they
have no voice in Clayton. “The disenfranchisement of the citizens of District 6 ended the day I was sworn in,” Trakas told the Call after taking office. To engage residents, Trakas plans to hold quarterly
town-hall meetings rotating through Oakville, Concord, Lemay and Affton, starting with a kickoff meeting in Lemay in March. Former Councilman John Campisi, who was the last
(See ENDS, Page 3A)
Mehlville school board weighs OK of proposed school of innovation By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The Mehlville Board of Education will weigh whether to green light a sea change in the way education is offered in the district next week when it decides whether to start an elementary school of innovation. The school board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, in the Mehlville High School Library, 3200 Lemay Ferry
Road, to discuss and likely vote whether to open the lottery-based Choice School of Innovation, or CSOI, in the former St. John’s Elementary on Will Avenue. Every board member has said they support the idea behind the new school and its emphasis on problem-based learning, but several are unsure that the district can afford it, especially in light of a recommendation (See INNOVATION, Page 6A)
Retiring Prop P bond-like certificates in ’21 could boost Mehlville’s finances By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The financial outlook of the Mehlville School District could improve dramatically if the Proposition P tax-rate increase approved by voters in 2000 is permanently extended when its bond-like certificates are retired in 2021. Although 2015’s Proposition R mostly restored money to school operation budgets rather than added new money, the $9 mil-
lion the district receives annually in Prop P revenue could fund operations after certificates of participation, or COPs, issued to fund Prop P are paid off in 2021. And due to a legal technicality stemming from Proposition T, Mehlville’s 31-cent tax transfer that was approved by voters in 2008, the school district could potentially keep collecting the money without another public vote. (See FINANCES, Page 8A)
Mehlville collaboration hits a high note
The Mehlville School District is teaming up with the St. Louis Science Center, the Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries and Boeing to integrate STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math — skills into the study of music. The collaborative program is called the Science of Learning Instrument Design, or SOLID, Music Project. The project will help students first understand the science of sound and then let them create their own instruments. Above, Beasley Elementary School teachers Ben McClusky and Doug Timme create a musical instrument. To read more, visit www.callnewspapers.com.
Filing for April election to end next week
Election of Trakas to council top story of past year
Staff Report Candidate filing for the Tuesday, April 4, elections will end next week. Filing for municipal and school-board seats continues through 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17. Aldermanic seats are up for election in Green Park and Sunset Hills. In addition, seats held by Crestwood Mayor Gregg Roby and Green Park Mayor Bob Reinagel are up for election. Three seats on the Grantwood Village Board of Trustees are up
News analysis By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor A proposed apartment complex vehemently opposed by neighbors and an unresponsive councilman created the perfect storm to propel a political newcomer to victory in the November election for the 6th District County Council seat. Republican Ernie Trakas, an Oakville attorney, defeated former Rep. Pat Yaeger, D-Lemay, to win
(See FILING, Page 15A)
(See TOP, Page 2A)
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the council seat held by Kevin O’Leary, D-Oakville, who did not seek re-election. Trakas beat the odds as his grass-roots campaign catapulted him to victory in what is, without a doubt, the No. 1 news story of 2016. Trakas was outspent roughly 3-to-1 by Yaeger, according to campaign finance reports. O’Leary faced a barrage of criticism from south county residents, as he advanced legislation to approve
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Lindbergh Schools ranks in the top 10 of all Missouri public school districts for academic excellence and quality of teachers, according to Niche’s 2017 rankings. Lindbergh also ranks as the 12th-best place in the state for teachers to work. To read this story and other online content, visit www.callnewspapers.com.
Page 3A Page 4A Page 5A Page 6A Page 7A Page 9A Page 10A Page 11A Page 12A Read more on Page 10A about these high school Page 15A students honored by the Mehlville Optimist Club.
Page 6A - Call Publishing, Thursday, January 12, 2017
• Innovation Board of Education to meet next week at Mehlville High (Continued from Page 1A)
against the extra spending by the district Finance Committee. In a work session last week on issues surrounding the new school, board member Lisa Dorsey said she wants to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and not put the district and its students at risk. “But I actually believe that not doing this is a far greater risk to our students and our community,” Dorsey said. As Superintendent Chris Gaines first proposed a year ago, the new lottery-based school would allow students to move at their own pace through project-based curriculum designed to prepare students for the challenges of the real world better than traditional desks-in-rows classrooms. The district received hundreds of entries in a naming contest and will unveil CSOI’s name at the meeting. Students at the school would move “through at their own path and pace,” the school’s slated principal, Forder Elementary Principal Scott Clark, said in a district Hourly, Overnight Laundry and Light Caring Companionship video. That is an exciting prospect for and Live-In Care Housekeping Transportation/Errands board members ranging from Dorsey, a Meal preparation Bathing, Dressing Dementia/Alzheimer’s professor at St. Louis University, to Jamey and Grooming Medication Reminders Trained Murphy, who said that the possibility of revamping education in the district excites SIZE OF ISSUE RUN ARTIST/ PROOF him even if theFINAL cost does PROOF not. SAINT LOUIS 314.631.1989 SAINTDATE CHARLESDONE: 636.724.4357RECEIVED BY: AD(S) DATE: APPROVED BY/ DATE: After one-time startup costs of $250,000, www.AssistanceAtHome.com the ongoing cost of operating the CSOI in 1/8 1/12/17 Proof 1: MGand 1/6/17 St. John’s could add up to $400,000 annuCaregivers are carefully screened, bonded insured. ally if six new teachers are added. The school will require 13 staff members, but the district can cut enough staff and aide positions through redistricting to make up for the other seven positions. None of the funds budgeted for Prop R would be used Are your estate planning for the school, which would be funded documents up to date? from operating funds like any other school. A solid estate plan ensures that your The district Finance Committee recomfamily and beneficiaries will be able mended against the new school, since it to settle your estate in the simplest, would speed up the point at which the most cost effective manner. district falls into deficit in five-year projections by one year. Contact South County Senior Law At the Jan. 5 board work session, board & Estate Planning Center, LLC to members said they would be more likely to schedule an estate planning review at favor the CSOI if the recurring cost could be no cost. Then cross this off your “To further brought down. Gaines outlined how a Do” list for 2017! change in high-school schedules from a block schedule this year to a flex schedule in two years will take fewer full-time employees, or FTE, because study halls will decrease. As innovative opportunities outside the classroom expand at the high schools, including early college at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, online classes and intern314.845.0541 ship programs, fewer overall high-school www.stlseniorlaw.com teachers may be required, Gaines told the 5518 Telegraph Road, Suite 101 board. An upcoming look at middle-school St. Louis, MO 63129 scheduling and staffing could also yield The choice of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertising. more resources to devote to elementary Compassionate listeners. Experienced advisors school, Gaines noted. Board member Larry Felton said he felt better about the finances around CSOI “When I advertise after seeing the other areas the district is in Oakville Call my saving money. response is always posiSIZE OF ISSUE RUN ARTIST/ PROOF “I thought itFINAL PROOF was significant that by shifttive. I like being in the AD(S) DATE: DATE DONE: RECEIVED BY: APPROVED BY/ DATE: ing some things around, the district could local paper. Thanks, be able to recover the recurring costs for Oakville, for your con3/16 1/12/17 Proof 1: MGtinued 1/5/17support.’’ CSOI,” Felton said. Angela Hines Board President Samantha Stormer noted Telegraph St. Louis Pizza & Wings that the finance panel had approved up to a
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$1 million one-time cost for CSOI, which would cover two years of total CSOI costs. She suggested other ways that the district could cut costs could include expanding early-childhood education and expanding summer school. “Do we want to continue following, or do we want to be a leader?” she said. “I don’t think there’s any question about the concept, it’s just the resources of it.” The Finance Committee’s decision was based only on finances, not educational benefit, and does not take into account a possible $9 million annual increase in operational funds if 2000’s Proposition P 49-cent tax-rate increase is permanently extended in 2021. If board members vote against opening the school, Gaines does not believe the issue is dead. Schools similar to CSOI are the way education is going in the future, and he believes the district could add it into its next strategic plan, which would be written in 2019. One consideration in why now might be the time to open such a school is in the changing environment in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C., where Gov. Eric Greitens and President-elect Donald Trump could bring more conservative views to education funding. Mehlville would be a prime area for a charter school to open, due to its population density, demographics, empty school space and many private school families, Gaines noted. If a charter school opened in Mehlville and siphoned off 300 students from Mehlville schools, the district could lose $1.5 million a year in state funding. The district looked into opening CSOI as a charter school that it would run, but the finances and governance were not feasible, he said. Aside from the finances, the CSOI could help improve academics in the district as it has at similar schools in the Liberty School District near Kansas City, where scores are 15 to 20 percent higher at the innovative school, EPiC Elementary, than at other district schools. It could also attract some private school families back to public school, Gaines noted. And it could attract families to the district, with many young parents inquiring to the district already how they would apply for the lottery for their child. One prospective applicant is only 2 years old right now, but his parents wanted to know how to sign him up for the lottery. One of the key questions around the school is whether the district could accomplish the same end result — converting to a more innovative style of teaching and learning — in each individual school, instead of first concentrating innovation in a separate school. “The belief of the people who have really put the time and effort and work into this is that in order to be successful and in order to have it push and scale out, we need it all in one place, so it’s that lab, that catalyst,” Gaines said. To understand the way personalized learning works, educators have said it’s almost necessary to visit a school that does it and see it in action. The closest examples are near Kansas City. “This would change the educational landscape in St. Louis,” Clark said.
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Mehlville school board OKs Choice School of Innovation Board votes 5-2; Palamand, Murphy opposed By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The Mehlville School District is set to open the St. Louis area’s first school of innovation this fall after the Board of Education gave the go-ahead last week. The board voted 5-2 Jan. 18 to approve the new school at a meeting packed with Oakville Elementary parents dressed in orange to support their school, the district and the concept behind the innovative school, which would be open to all students districtwide through a lottery. Board President Samantha Stormer,
Vice President Jean Pretto, Secretary Lisa Dorsey and board members Larry Felton and Kevin Schartner voted for the school, while board members Venki Palamand and Jamey Murphy were opposed. The school will be the first of its kind in the St. Louis region and one of only a few such schools nationwide. The district is referring to it as the Choice School of Innovation, or CSOI, until results of a naming contest are unveiled. Students at the new school would move at their own pace with personalized and (See INNOVATION, Page 6A)
Teachers for the new Mehlville school of innovation celebrate with Forder Elementary School Principal Scott Clark after the Board of Education approved it last week.
Missouri soon could become 28th right-to-work state, as Greitens promised By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Missouri could soon become the 28th right-to-work state, as promised by Gov. Eric Greitens after his election in November.
Right-to-work legislation passed the House last week 100-59 and heads to the Senate this week. Legislators from south county split down the middle on the measure, which prohibits union dues as a condition of employment. Proponents say right to work will kick start
the lagging state economy, while opponents believe it will damage unions and drag down wages. “The sooner we get it done, the better off the entire state will be,” said Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-Oakville.
Pousosa challenges Reinagel for mayor Staff Report Green Park Mayor Bob Reinagel will be challenged by former Ward 1 Alderman Tony Pousosa in his bid for a third term in the April 4 election. Filing for the April 4 elections ended Jan. 17. Besides the Green Park mayoral post, aldermanic seats are up for election in Green Park and Sunset Hills, along with trustee seats in Grantwood Village. Four seats on the Lindbergh Board of Education and three seats on the Mehlville Board of Education are up for election. Also up for election is a seat on the Mehlville Fire Protection
District Board of Directors. Grantwood Village In Grantwood Village, Board of Trustees seats held by Chairman Kevin Kelso, Building Commissioner Rick Wagner Tony Pousosa Bob Reinagel and Public Works Commissioner Mark Kienstra are up for election in April.
(See MAYOR, Page 10A)
Roby unopposed in his bid for second term as Crestwood mayor By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor Crestwood Mayor Gregg Roby is unopposed in his bid for a second three-year term in the April 4 election. Filing for the April election ended Jan. 17, and Roby is the only candidate to file for mayor. Board of Aldermen President Grant
(See ROBY, Page 5A)
Stenger, County Council at odds over mall project By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Just a few weeks into a new year and a new County Council, the infighting between County Executive Steve Stenger and the council abruptly returned last week in a showdown over the redevelopment of Jamestown Mall. The dispute ended a two-week mutualadmiration society between Stenger and the new council members, 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, and 4th District Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray, D-Black Jack, who both took office Jan. 1. As Gray took office, she halted final approval of a bill that blights the now-closed (See ODDS, Page 2A)
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Mabie of Ward 3 had filed for mayor on the first day of filing, Dec. 13, but officially withdrew his candidacy Jan. 11 — the day after Roby filed. Roby, a former Ward 3 alderman, was elected in 2014, defeating incumbent Jeff Schlink. Schlink, a former Ward 2 alderman,
(See SOON, Page 4A)
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Page 6A - Call Publishing, Thursday, January 26, 2017
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• Innovation Palamand cites finances as a concern about new school (Continued from Page 1A)
problem-based learning through lessons that are geared to the students’ own style of learning. Superintendent Chris Gaines unveiled his vision for the school a year ago, and an implementation committee led by the school’s slated principal, current Forder Elementary Principal Scott Clark, has studied the issue since that announcement. Under the plan, the school will open in the former St. John’s Elementary on Will Avenue, so no new construction is required. After one-time projected startup costs of $250,000, the ongoing cost of operating the CSOI in St. John’s could add up to $400,000 annually if six new teachers are hired. However, the school district’s residentled Finance Committee recommended against the school because the recurring costs would speed up deficit spending by one year, from 2020 to 2019. The school was Gaines’ vision of what the district could do post-Proposition R — the 49-cent tax-rate increase that shored up finances in 2015. But Gaines didn’t say a word to the board last week, as Clark made the case to the board directly, challenging members, “Are you going to be a leader?” Although some critics have pointed to the district’s disappointing test scores in math and other areas as a reason not to open the school, Pretto made the opposite argument. “What if this school is the answer to many of the issues that are facing our district? What if? It could be,” she said. “What if some of our overcrowding improves with this school? It could. And what if our students actually become higher performing on all levels — science, math, everything? What if it’s so cutting edge that not only students but educators want to move in, because they want a piece of
this pie? And finally, what if a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s disease is trapped in some kid’s head and it can’t come out because he hates to diagram sentences?” The district has modeled its idea for Scott Clark the new school on a successful existing school of innovation in Liberty near Kansas City, EPiC Elementary. Test scores at EPiC are double Mehlville’s in math, Schartner pointed out. Other school districts were cheering Mehlville on in the decision, Clark said, hoping its board would approve the school and herald a wave of innovation in the St. Louis suburbs, just as EPiC has spurred the start of similar schools both in Liberty and elsewhere in outstate Missouri. As one of the board’s only longtime members, Palamand was the voice of caution about the school’s potential impact on district finances. “I like the idea, I think it’s creative and the buzzword of the day is innovative — but my concerns really revolve around priorities in finances,” Palamand said. “Is this a need, or is this a want?” Murphy also said he believes the school is a great idea, but he wishes the board would have explored other options. “I would like to see more options of achieving the same goal that might not be the same cost,” he said. “Right now what we have is a yearlong study of one approach. We haven’t really studied other ways of doing it to the same degree.” But Schartner referred to what he called the “academic return on investment” of opening the school, where the educational benefits outweigh the financial concerns. The recurring costs will be less than half a penny on every dollar the district spends, he said, but the educational outcomes from higher test scores would be worth much more than that.
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MFPD on cusp of changing how EMS service delivered for the district’s new critical care paramedic program. Critical care paramedics have the ability to perform advanced clinical patient assessments and provide invasive care beyond the standard scope of treatment to patients. The Mehlville Fire Protection District is the only fire department in St. Louis County with a critical
By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor The Mehlville Fire Protection District is “on the cusp” of changing how emergency medical service is delivered, according to Chief Brian Hendricks. Since the beginning of the year, the Board of Brian Hendricks Directors has approved the hiring of 13 paramedics
care paramedic program, Hendricks told the Call. “This is something that no one else in St. Louis County is doing, and that’s not a negative reflection on them, maybe they don’t have the problems we have. They don’t have the issues we face,” the chief said. “But at the end of the day, we serve an (See CHANGING, Page 8A)
Mehlville’s new school of innovation, Mosaic, opens to students this week By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter The first day back to school always marks a new beginning and a new start for every school and student, but this year is a unique one in the history of the Mehlville School District as the district opens the St. Louis region’s first school of innovation. The 250 K-4 students stepping through
the doors of Mosaic Elementary, 3701 Will Ave., for the first day of school Wednesday — after the Call went to press – will find a cutting-edge school in one of the district’s oldest buildings, the former St. John’s Elementary that originally opened in 1922. The students at Mosaic, Mehlville’s 11th elementary school, were chosen from every
By MIKE ANTHONY Executive Editor After Crestwood Mayor Gregg Roby cast a tie-breaking vote last week to reject placing a proposed Charter amendment before voters, the Board of Aldermen adopted an ordinance aligning a section of city code with the Charter.
The Board of Aldermen deadlocked 4-4 Aug. 8 on whether to place the Charter proposal before voters next April, asking whether language in the Charter should be amended to increase to six the number of aldermen required to comprise a quorum for special meetings.
(See MOSAIC, Page 10A)
Roby votes to nix Charter amendment; board agrees to align code with Charter
(See CHARTER, Page 12A)
Link Crew welcomes Class of 2021 to LHS
Several Lindbergh High School juniors and seniors welcomed incoming freshmen during the school’s annual Link Crew orientation day last week. See Page 15A for another photograph and more information about the event.
Call Newspapers to celebrate its 28th anniversary with soon-to-come new website The newspaper started as the Oakville Call, but has expanded to other areas of south county to include the Concord Call, the SunCrest Call, the Green Park Call and the expanded Mail Call edition that reaches nearly every home and business in south county, including Affton and Lemay. To build on the success of the print edition and reach readers however they want to read the news from the Call that they’ve come to rely on, the Call will soon debut a
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By GLORIA LLOYD Staff Reporter Every year, Call Newspapers celebrates its own anniversary by also celebrating the anniversaries of the businesses throughout south county that have kept the newspaper in business since 1989. For those 28 years, the Call has delivered the week’s most important and most interesting news to readers’ mailboxes every Thursday.
new and improved website at www.callnewspapers.com. The new mobile-friendly website will be an upgrade from the Call’s current website, which has served online readers faithfully since 2003. The news will be the same as readers have come to expect from south county’s premier newspaper, but the new website should load faster, look more modern, feature larger photos in more galleries, interact better with social (See ANNIVERSARY, Page 14A)
Last week’s question: Do you agree with the sanctions the United Nations has imposed against North Korea? This week’s question: Should the start of the school year be moved until after Labor Day? Visit www.callnewspapers.com to share your opinion.
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• Mosaic School to empower students to take ownership of learning (Continued from Page 1A)
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other district school by lottery. The school will focus on personalized and project-based learning, with students learning at their own pace and path and designing their own education by following their passions rather than a series of lessons dictated by a textbook. Every student will have a laptop and much of the learning will take place digitally. But it is the style and philosophical mindset of the teaching, rather than the technology, that sets apart the learning happening at Mosaic from that of more traditional desks-in-rows classrooms. Students at the school will learn the same curriculum as every other Mehlville school, Superintendent Chris Gaines said. “The thing that’s unique is the instructional model, and we’re just making that instructional model work in the space that we have,” Gaines said. “You still have the same standards, it’s just that the delivery method is different.” Parents and the public were set to get their first look at the school’s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday night — after the Call went to press. “I think there’s this overwhelming excitement to be a part of something new and different that parents think is going to be a better fit for their kid,” Gaines said. Principal Scott Clark, who previously served as principal of Forder Elementary, has been working with the school’s teachers for more than a year to plan for the moment when the students pour in. “It’s shifting from teaching to learning, and it is empowering students to take ownership of their learning,” Clark said. “Based off of what they love, but also delivered at a pace that is appropriate for them. If the student needs more time to learn and understand a concept, they have it. If a student has grasped the concept and wants to move on, they can. “It’s very personalized in that sense — you still have the content standards, but you are allowing the child to have a voice and say, ‘I want to discover more about this.’... That feels and looks different than what most classrooms look like. You go into most classrooms, the content is delivered by the teacher, and the student is expected to learn it.” Similar schools and initiatives are cropping up all over the country, but Mosaic is only the fourth such school in Missouri, following EPiC Elementary and Lewis and Clark Elementary in the Liberty School District and Fremont Elementary in Springfield Public Schools. Mosaic was called the Choice School of Innovation for more than a year before its name was unveiled in February. The moniker stands for “Mehlville Oakville Students Achieve Inspire Create” and was the brainchild of an Oakville Elementary teacher who entered a naming contest. Rather than only focusing on science or mathematics, the school takes an innovative approach to teaching all subjects, including music and physical education. Clark believes the style of learning will spread throughout the country, and he’s already seen it spread in Mehlville
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since the Board of Education signed on to Mosaic in January. 1/4 “If we keep using traditional approaches, we’ll be outsourced by Google in no time,” he said. The Mosaic building most recently housed the district’s alternative academy for suspended students,RUN SCOPE — South ISSUE DATE: County Opportunities for the Purpose of Education. That program is moving across 8/17/17 the street to the Witzel Learning Center. But before that, it was an elementary school, albeit a much more primitive one: A Mosaic student’sARTIST/ grandfather attended St. John’s from 1930 to 1938, when the DONE: cafeteria still hadDATE a dirt floor. Gaines warned of the grand Proofin 1:advance TK 8/11/17 opening that only so much could be done to modernize the nearly 100-year-old St. John’s building. But the large, bright classrooms in one of the oldest school buildings in south county at Mosaic are strikingly similar to the brand-new ones at the newest school in south county, the nearly $22 million Dressel Elementary in Lindbergh PROOF Schools, at a fraction of the cost. RECEIVED BY: Mehlville spent roughly $450,000 in onetime startup costs on Mosaic, most of it going to rehab the kitchen to make it possible to feed hundreds of children each day. “You can build a brand new building and have a very traditional approach,” Gaines said. “We’re taking an old building and FINAL PROOF putting a new function in it. We had to APPROVED make what tweaks we could on a BY/ relatively small budget to make that work.” DATE: And even with the largest or best facility, “That’s not going to move student achievement,” Clark said. “It’s all about teaching practices.” Furniture was mostly wrangled from other schools in the district, since the new school is siphoning students from every other school. The new furniture budget can be measured in the low thousands of dollars. But the flexible seating and tables in the classrooms mirror those at Dressel, down to the whiteboard tables and yoga ball seats. Clark, a former art teacher who shows his paintings at art fairs, collaborated with Mehlville’s facilities team to knock down walls, convert old lockers in rooms to wooden cubbies and cabinets and paint walls to bring life to the drab classrooms, some of which sat empty for decades before Mosaic moved in. The playground was erected in four hours by a group of 25 parent volunteers. Gone are desks for students and even teachers. Teachers won’t sit apart from students while students do work, but move around helping children as they learn. “We’re not stationary, we’re moving,” Clark said. “Moving and shaking.” The school has two classes at each grade level, but walls between most of those classes are knocked out so that two teachers will teach a combined 50 students in two classrooms. The colorful classrooms themselves are large, open and filled with a surprising amount of natural light, including skylights lining one hallway. But at Mosaic, even classrooms are not called classrooms anymore. Students will “go to studio” rather than go to class, Clark said: Studio K for kindergarten, Studio 1 for first grade and on up, with the library called Studio E for Exploration.