Updated at 3:48 p.m. July 29 with comments from the school board president.
The head of the St. Louis Board of Education acknowledged Monday that Superintendent Keisha Scarlett’s abrupt leave of absence was not voluntary.
Board President Toni Cousins said board members had multiple concerns about Scarlett, including a hiring decision that came under fire after a new school district employee posted online about her plans to “float” between the job here and her home in Houston.
“Some of the things that we’ve been looking at right now, one of the biggest things we know, one of the priority alarms that we would say was in regards to one of the communications directors that we had,” Cousins said. “That was one of our concerns that we were kind of looking into. So maybe that was one of the things that probably led to this.”
When asked if Scarlett was fired, Cousins said, “Not at this time.”
Cousins declined to comment on reporting from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the district had removed some of the people Scarlett hired to key positions.
Original story below:
St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Keisha Scarlett has taken a temporary leave of absence one year after taking the district's top job, the Board of Education announced Friday.
She is stepping aside from her duties less than one month before students return to school on Aug. 19. In a statement, the board did not disclose how long Scarlett will be on leave or the reason for the move.
Board President Toni Cousins declined to comment further through a district spokesperson, who called Scarlett’s leave a personnel matter.
Critics have faulted Scarlett for hiring decisions, including recruiting a new communications chief who posted online her intention to “float” between St. Louis and her home in Houston.
The board has approved Deputy Superintendent Millicent Borishade as acting superintendent.
“We are fully confident that, under Dr. Borishade’s leadership as Acting Superintendent, there will be no interruptions in the ongoing work and preparations for the upcoming school year,” board members said in the statement.
Scarlett took the job as superintendent a year ago after arriving from Seattle Public Schools, where she had been chief academic officer and assistant superintendent of academics. She had also been that district’s chief of equity, partnerships and engagement and had been a teacher and principal.
The transition to Borishade’s leadership, even if only on a temporary basis, should be smooth, said Byron Clemens, a spokesperson for American Federation of Teachers Local 420, the union that represents the school system’s teachers, teaching assistants and other workers.
Borishade “has been the point person for running the district as it is right now,” Clemens said.
Scarlett told St. Louis on the Air that she wanted to come to St. Louis after watching how the district responded to the shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, 15 days before a school shooting in Seattle. She was impressed by the district's response and by the pride, resilience and commitment of school and district leaders.
“It just made me pay closer attention to St. Louis Public Schools,” Scarlett said then. “Also [I was] really inspired by the city-wide education plan work that’s happening across the city’s schools. … It really let me know about that.. St Louis is really a city that wants education to win, really wants their students to be educated. It’s just a great city.”
Before becoming superintendent in St. Louis, Scarlett said she planned to focus on student achievement and make school environments more welcoming and safe. School board officials praised her skill, knowledge and experience, and commitment to students, teachers and staff.
The district has faced challenges during her tenure, particularly involving declining enrollment, student transportation and aging building infrastructure.
Enrollment in the district has been declining for decades and was down to about 16,540 students in the 2023-24 school year. Many schools are at half-capacity or less.
District officials told the board on Tuesday that SLPS does not have enough bus drivers to transport students to school when classes begin next month. While most of the students will get there by school bus, some will travel by MetroBus, vendor-operated minivans and small vehicles, district officials said.
A regional architecture firm found that nearly half of the district's schools need to be repaired or closed in the next decade due to their poor condition.
Jeremy Goodwin contributed to this report.
