The Missouri State Board of Education has approved the application of Friendly Academy, a charter school set to open in north St. Louis next school year, despite opposition from St. Louis Public Schools.
Friendly Academy does not have a building yet. Tesha Robinson, the school’s founder and CEO, said she’s looking at buildings on the north side and hopes to have a location later this fall.
It plans to open applications for families as early as this week. The school plans to serve kindergarten and first grade students its first year and then add another grade level each year, with the goal of serving students up to eighth grade. State education officials approved the charter for five years. The school plans to enroll 50 kindergarten students and 50 first graders to start.
“The thing that makes us special is that we're doing it in a way that we love on students.” said Tesha Robinson, the school's founder and CEO. “When they're at Friendly Academy, they will feel like they belong because of the way that we treat them.”
The academy’s sponsor is the Missouri Charter Public School Commission. The school also has ties to the Friendly Temple Church, led by Bishop Michael Jones Sr. He also serves as a founding board member for the school.
Some critics have raised concerns about the link between a publicly funded school and a religious organization.
“Everyone should be concerned about blending churches and public tax dollars,” said Bryon Clemens, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Teachers Local 420, which represents the district's public school teachers.
The news of another charter school opening in St. Louis comes at a time where the district is grappling with tough decisions to close down and consolidate schools with low student enrollment or with major maintenance issues. SLPS has about 18,000 students across both traditional and charter schools.
“We do not need any more elementary schools in St. Louis,” said Ben Conover, an organizer with Solidarity with SLPS, a group that advocates for traditional public schools. He laid the blame for increased student mobility, in which a student switches schools during the school year, at the feet of charter schools.
City School Board President Toni Cousins also is disappointed in the state’s decision to approve the new school. In a letter sent to the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education in July, the board discouraged the approval of any new charter schools.
“We should really look at how do we come together as a community … on giving and affording everyone what’s best for all,” Cousins said this week. “Not trying to come up with other alternate ways of looking at education, but trying to figure out, how do we fix what’s right before us?”
Critics of SLPS administrators have said that the district’s leadership has a strained relationship with some of the charter schools in its district. At a school board meeting earlier this month, members initially pushed back on a request to repair the boiler at KIPP Inspire Academy before deciding to do so, citing the upcoming winter months. The school is currently housed in the Pruitt School building, built in 1955.
Noah Devine, executive director of Missouri Charter School Association, acknowledged the challenge of population decline in St. Louis, but he said the state of schools in the district may be a contributing factor.
“One reason that families leave a city is they are upset with the quality of the educational options that they have,” Devine said. “I think we are in no position to say we don't need more schools. What we do need is more high-quality schools, and so I'm excited about Friendly being able to hopefully provide that.”
Friendly Academy still has benchmarks it needs to meet before it can officially open next fall. It must enroll at least 22 students across the two grade levels being offered and secure a building by March. Only then will the Missouri Charter Public School Commission provide a final letter of approval.
