Media Mentions
Rohde-Collins, who has two children in SLPS, said she grew concerned earlier this year “seeing that the board has strayed away from what I would call standard operating procedures.”
The board has a yearlong backlog of meeting minutes that haven’t been approved and regularly pulls items off agendas without a vote.
“It indicates there are issues in how the board is functioning together as a team,” Rohde-Collins said. “Once Dr. Scarlett was put on leave and the audits were underway, it didn’t feel like the board was looking to communicate in an upfront and transparent way. Those of us who signed the letter reached out to each other to say this doesn’t fit with our perception of how a school board should operate.”
Bernhard, B. (2024, September 24). Ex-leaders call on St. Louis school board to rebuild trust in the district. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
However, she said, St. Louis is in a different position. She thinks charters and the SLPS district have a unique opportunity to work together.
“We’ve got magnet schools that act as neighborhood schools and neighborhood schools that are more like magnets, and it's this extremely convoluted system of choice in St. Louis and so here, I don't think the differentiation is helpful anymore,” Rohde-Collins said. “I think that if we want our public school system to improve and thrive and truly serve the children of the city, we have to stop fighting. That hasn’t gotten us anywhere. We’ve been in that mindset for 25 years.”
Wimbley, L. (2024, September 17). Far more charter schools than public schools have opened in St. Louis since 1991. St. Louis Public Radio.
So the proposal by Dorothy Rohde-Collins, a former board member and current Ph.D. candidate at SLU, is to put part of the Rams money in a fund dedicated to erecting new school buildings. This money, she suggests, could be matched with capital from bond issues and even philanthropic dollars, given a consensus around a vision for the future.
Rather than repeat the agony of closing aged neighborhood schools and then figuring out how to send students to equally aged schools, this would be an opportunity to “flip that process, ” she told me: You get community input and build a high-quality building in a sensible location first. That way, parents and kids would see where they’d be going—and, in theory, would consider the transition worth it.
Phillips, N. (2024, January 23). Should the city use Rams money to erect new public schools? St. Louis Magazine.
Among the ideas up for a vote in the city (residents each get 10 votes):
Fund construction of new public school buildings, with the city portal claiming that Saint Louis Public Schools deferred maintenance costs exceed $330 million. "St. Louis needs new, larger, and updated school buildings to attract and accommodate new families," the entry, from Dorothy Rohde-Collins, says.
Kirn, J. (2024, January 5). St. Louis' legislative leader asks public to vote on 20 ideas for Rams money. St. Louis Business Journal.
Normandy and Riverview Gardens will certainly benefit from the intangibles of local control, said Dorothy Rohde Collins, who was president of the SLPS elected board when it regained power.
School boards enact policies that shape communities, from real estate to employment opportunities, in addition to the role they play in improving academic outcomes, Rohde Collins said.
“There’s something to be said about living in the school district that you serve,” she said. “You feel a weighty responsibility when the impact of your decisions are being carried out on your neighbors, your friends and your children’s classmates.”
Bernhard, B. (2023, October 16). Normandy and Riverview Gardens schools faltered under state control. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“It's frustrating to see a two-year-long process end in essentially the same place that it started,” Rohde Collins said. “We've talked a lot about what the problems are for many years. The problems are well documented, but the solutions aren't. And we can't generate those solutions until we have data.”
Grumke, K. (2023, July 11). St. Louis school board accepts citywide plan blueprint, despite price tag and lack of details. St. Louis Public Radio.
Rohde Collins, who was school board president in 2021 when the last closures were approved, called the citywide plan a disappointment.
“Two years after the vote to close schools, we’re in the same place,” she said. “It’s a missed opportunity because now enrollment is even lower, the population is lower, and the likelihood of having to make those decisions again is very real and we still don’t have the data to do it well. We need a plan for St. Louis, and this isn’t it.”
Bernhard, B. (2023, July 11). Citywide plan for education in St. Louis lacks details, strategy; cost $625,000. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“We don’t have the enrollment in the schools that allows for enough resources to reach the students,” said Dorothy Rohde Collins, a former school board president and member from 2017 to 2021. “The new superintendent and the board have tough decisions around the potential closure of more schools or redrawing the boundary lines to think about where kids are living.”
Bernhard, B. (2022, August 21). From falling enrollment to culture, top challenges for next leader of St. Louis Public Schools. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In a March 23 letter, Dorothy Rohde-Collins, president of the St. Louis School Board, wrote, “I believe the taxpayers of the state of Missouri do not need to subsidize a multi-million dollar organization whose goal is to dismantle traditional public schools and their elected school boards.”
Erickson, K. (2021, April 19). Senate cuts funding for ‘controversial’ St. Louis school program. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Suntrup, J. (2021, April 19). $2 million in Missouri budget could flow to nonprofit funder of charter schools. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“I do see this as a real turning point as far as the role that the school district and the School Board play,” board president Dorothy Rohde-Collins said about the incentive debate. “I’m hopeful that the next mayor of the city of St. Louis will take an active role in the school district. I think that’s been missing for a very long time.”
Barker, J. (2021, February 15). School closures revive debate on St. Louis tax incentives. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Ultimately, St. Louis has to decide what we believe about education — what purpose we want it to serve in our city and in our community. Because the way that we’re going, without an overarching plan we all commit to, we run the risk of waking up in five years, in 10 years, with an education system we don’t recognize.”
Hurwitz, S. (2021, February 12). SLPS board passes new school moratorium as Missouri legislature debates charter funding. St. Louis American.
“There just isn’t a coherent, cohesive plan for what education in the city looks like,” said Dorothy Rohde Collins, president of the St. Louis School Board. “There’s so much money that’s pouring in to sustain this fragmentation — buildings and transportation, duplicative services, administrative salaries, marketing, and it’s coming at the expense of the kids. What we need to do is reinvest in the schools we have.”
Bernhard, B. (2021, February 8). City schools in turmoil: District closes buildings, charters open. St. Louis Post -Dispatch.
Dorothy Rohde-Collins, president of the Board of Education, agreed that this moment comes from disinvestment in the district. “But if we do not close schools, our children are going to suffer. We are not going to be able to provide them with the things that they deserve.”
Hurwitz, S. (2021, January 14). 7 schools slated to close after delayed SLPS Board vote. St. Louis American.
“If we don’t close schools tonight, our children are going to suffer, we are not going to be able to provide them with the things that they deserve,” said Dorothy Rohde Collins, board president. “I don’t want to see our kids suffer because we’re tying ourselves to elected officials who have ignored us forever.”
Bernhard, B. (2021, January 13). St. Louis School Board grants temporary reprieve for closure of Sumner High. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“I think there are clearly systemic equity issues within our city that we have a role in rectifying, but if we continue to operate as many schools as we have, I don’t know how we fix this,” said board President Dorothy Rohde Collins.
Delaney, R. (2021, January 12). St. Louis Public Schools Will Close 8 Schools, Sparing 3. St. Louis Public Radio.
“Many of these schools have been on the (closure) list before. Nobody has come to save them any of the other times,” board President Dorothy Rohde Collins said.
Delaney, R. (2021, January 12). St. Louis Public Schools To Consider Consolidation Plan After Delay for Feedback. St. Louis Public Radio.
Adams and board members have since met with at least 20 groups about the closure process, but any ideas to save schools “are largely in the formative stages and would require substantial financial backing to implement,” said Dorothy Rohde Collins, board president.
Bernhard, B. (2021, January 12). Delayed vote for closing St. Louis schools arrives with no plan to save them. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Board President Dorothy Rohde Collins opposed postponing the vote, saying Tuesday that complaints from city officials and community members “have not had anything actionable behind them, no commitment of funds or resources.”
“Many of these schools have been on the list before (and) nobody’s come to save them any of the other times,” she said. “Relying on the business community or politicians to save us … it’s too easy for them to walk away when they realize how hard this actually is.”
Bernhard, B. (2020, December 15). Vote to close St. Louis schools postponed to January. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Asked for a response to the resolution, Dorothy Rohde-Collins, the School Board president, said in an email the timeline leading to next Tuesday’s vote “was carefully planned with the goal of transitioning students and staff to receiving schools, developing next year’s budget, and entering into contracts fully informed.”
She added that the board looked forward to future city legislation that would support and protect the city schools “to ensure we are never faced with these decisions again.”
Kohler, J. (2020, December 12). St. Louis Board of Aldermen opposes school closings in near-unanimous resolution. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“There are parents on this board and we don’t take this decision lightly,” said board President Dorothy Rohde-Collins. “We know how big of a part school is in your child’s life and in your family’s life.”
Delaney, R. (2020, December 8). St. Louis Public Schools Plans 11 School Closures To Consolidate Resources. St. Louis Public Radio.
“This is a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking situation to be in … but we do owe a quality education to every one of the kids in our district and this is one option to be able to do that,” said board President Dorothy Rohde Collins.
Bernhard, B. (2020, December 8). Community pleads for delay in decision to close St. Louis schools. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
SLPS Board President Dorothy Rohde-Collins said she was deeply saddened that federal and state leaders chose to prioritize the economy over children and their safety these past months. These decisions have given school districts no choice but to go virtual, which will hurt the district’s vulnerable students the most, she said.
“Structuring it in this way and saying, ‘We will have some places open because we know you need us,’ is going to be something that we look back on and are proud of having offered,” said Rohde-Collins. “It’s important to me — to the extent that it is safe — we are able to offer these sites to the families that need us.”
Rivas, R. (2020, July 29). SLPS, Parkway, Kirkwood and KIPP will start 100-percent online learning in fall. St. Louis American.
“Demonstrating that we do know what we are talking about, that we’re in a good position to lead, and that we want the best for the district,” Rohde-Collins said. “Getting that out there will be important for us.”
Delaney, R. (2019, April 16). State School Board Ends Decade-Long Oversight Of St. Louis Schools. St. Louis Public Radio.