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St. LouiS AmericAn The
91 years serving, empowering and advocating equity in St. Louis
CAC Audited MARCH 5 – 11, 2020
Vol. 91 No. 50 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
SLPS holds public meetings about school closings Twentysix of the district’s schools are less than half full By Ryan Delaney Of St. Louis Public Radio The long and potentially painful process of restructuring St. Louis Public Schools’ physical presence throughout the city is underway. The district held its first of six community visioning sessions Saturday, February 29. They will be followed by special school board meetings and more public forums in early spring. Superintendent Kelvin Adams laid out a data-heavy case for why SLPS needs to overhaul how and where it educates 21,500 students across 68 buildings. SLPS once educated more than 110,000 students and has been closing buildings for nearly three decades to keep up with a dwindling student population and overall shrinking city. Meanwhile, more independent charter schools have opened in the last 20 years and now educate one-third of public school children. Twenty-six of the district’s
Primary is March 10 After Biden upsurge, Bloomberg drops out, endorses Biden By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American Black voters were widely credited with Joe Biden’s upsurge in the Democratic Primary on Super Tuesday. Biden won 14 states and one territory with a total of 531 delegates, compared to Bernie Sanders’ 461 and Elizabeth Warren’s 53, according to unofficial election results. Mike Bloomberg – whose only victory on Super Tuesday was the American Samoa caucuses (five delegates) – suspended his campaign. In the most dramatic turn in the campaign to date, Bloomberg endorsed Biden and pledged his fierce campaign machine Joe Biden and vast resources towards the Biden campaign. House Majority Whip James Clyburn’s (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African American official in Congress, was credited with rallying black critical support around Biden. Clyburn told The Hill he started talking with black lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Benny Thompson (D-Miss.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) and Cedric Richmond (D-La.), late least year about what they needed to do to help Biden. “All of us felt he was our best hope not just to win the presidency but our best hope to maintain our majority in the House of Representatives and to split the Senate,” Clyburn told The Hill. Warren, who also had a disappointing night, remains in the race, though an See PRIMARY, A6
‘You were called for more’
Normandy Superintendent Charles Pearson will retire next June
Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts delivers praise words for women
By Chris King Of The St. Louis American
See SLPS, A6
Photo by Ryan Delaney
Jessica Perkins, a facilitator with Emerging Wisdom consultants, ran a discussion during St. Louis Public Schools’ first community visioning session at Clyde C. Miller Career Academy on Saturday, February 29.
Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts brought her “Refuse to Lose” tour to an overflowing Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, February 28.
By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American “Tonight, you didn’t just walk into a church. You walked back into the ring,” Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts told the women who packed into Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church on Friday, February 28. “There are some devils that you have been fighting that it’s time for you face head on.” “Hallelujah” and “amen” after “amen” rang from the crowd as she introduced herself. The building was on fire from the start. The church was the venue for the St. Louis stop of her “Refuse to Lose” tour, which is selling out across the country. Women began lining up along Dr. Martin Luther King Drive at least two hours before the event in a line See ROBERTS, A7 Photo by Kenya Vaughn
Normandy Superintendent of Schools Charles J. Pearson will retire at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and Normandy Schools Collaborative will begin a search immediately for his successor. Sara Foster, president of the Normandy Joint Executive Governing Board, said the district will hold a series of engagement sessions in Charles J. the coming months to gain Pearson feedback regarding the search. The district’s next public meeting is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 11 at Barack Obama See PEARSON, A7