An informative and surprising story in the Post Dispatch on the growth of Charter Schools in St. Louis, most with the backing of Mayor Slay. So often big city mayors fight charter schools because of the longtime power of public school teachers unions, but not anymore.
This story includes Pastor Matt Hoehner, a 2008 graduate of Concordia Seminary and now wearing two hats-assistant pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church on Grand in the Tower Grove area and executive director of Educational Enterprises Inc., the nonprofit group managing EAGLE.
Last week Mayor Slay was at the opening of EAGLE College Preparatory Academy, an elementary charter school opening in the Tower Grove South neighborhood.
Once a charter school receives Slay’s backing, his staff offers support ranging from help with the city’s permit process to finding a building. “It takes collaboration to do it right,” said Matt Hoehner, regional executive director of Educational Enterprises Inc., the nonprofit group managing EAGLE.
The school opened in the old St. John’s Lutheran School building at 3716 Morganford Road. Some of its families would be in Lutheran schools, were they still around. Decades ago, there were 23 Lutheran schools in the city. Today there are three.
The school opened with 119 children in kindergarten through third grade. It plans to add a grade each year through eighth grade. Organizers hope eventually to open two more K-8 charter schools, plus a high school, in the city.
Hoehner is pictured on the front page of the print addition but not yet on the paper's website.
Charter schools may not be the complete answer to better public education, but they are definitely a step in the right direction. The public schools have been a failure and giving people a choice will force the public schools to perform better. Riverview and Normandy school districts will need to improve or they will just go away. Good news for the children.
Posted by: Ron | September 06, 2013 at 08:47 AM
Ron: the only problem with your argument is the fact that public schools outperform charters.
Posted by: Adam | September 07, 2013 at 10:33 PM