Confluence Academies will close Aspire Academy, a charter school, next school year, and St. Louis Public Schools is readying itself to close schools in the 2026-27 academic year, according to St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Millicent Borishade.
Borishade made the announcement during an all-staff meeting at Roosevelt High School on Friday, which was a professional development day for the district. A similar meeting was held at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
St. Louis Public Radio obtained a recording of the meeting from a staff member who attended but asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
SLPS has sponsored Confluence Academies since July 2023, which is one of the largest charter school systems in St. Louis.
In the recording, Borishade is heard telling staff that Confluence Academies notified district leadership on Feb. 28 of their plans to close Aspire Academy, which has 118 students enrolled in kindergarten through second grade. The students will be moved to Confluence Academies’ Old North campus.
Aspire downsized its school in 2021 when it transferred students in grades 3-8 to the Old North campus and became focused on early childhood education.
In the same meeting, Borishade told staff that the district will not close schools in 2025-26 but is preparing to in 2026-27.
“We have to think about what this looks like for ‘26-’27, and my promise to you is that we will do this together,” Borishade said.
The superintendent said she has a three-phase plan for the district that she wants to show the staff before it’s presented to the public on March 14.
The first phase will consist of six meetings, during which Borishade plans to share with the community the findings from a demographic study conducted by Cordogan, Clark & Associates, an architecture firm that is evaluating all of the buildings in the district.
In the second phase, the district will ask for feedback from the community on “what needs to happen when we reimagine St. Louis Public Schools.”
The third phase will include recommendations to the city's Board of Education, which will be informed by feedback from the community.
“It is so important that I share with you all what is happening so that you can then communicate with our families, so they know what is happening,” Borishade said.
The first phase of meetings is to begin this month, according to a statement from Charles Poole, the new executive director for communications for SLPS.
Enrollment in the district continues to fall, down more than 5,000 students since 2017 to around 16,500. Enrollment peaked at more than 110,000 students in the 1960s. The district last shuttered schools in 2021, when eight closed their doors.
During the at-times contentious meeting, Borishade took questions from staff members and teachers.
One teacher who did not provide a name is heard saying in the recording: “I was around when we had 28 kids in a classroom or 32 kids in a classroom, and I’m teaching by myself. I don’t want to go back to that. It should be 12 … 15 … max. Don’t shut down nothing.”
“Class sizes do matter. You’re absolutely right. Class sizes do matter,” Borishade responded.
Another teacher asked if the Nahed Chapman New American Academy Program, specifically serving refugees and new arrivals, was being shut down at Roosevelt High School.
The role of the program is to prepare students to integrate into local public high schools after two years.
Poole said the program is not being discontinued but is being restructured.
“We are recommending that the program no longer encompass two years, but a year, to ensure that we provide students in the program the best opportunities for language acclimation and engagement,” Poole said in a statement.
During the meeting, Borishade is heard criticizing the program’s structure.
She said that Nahed Chapman students do not have access to the same programs as Roosevelt students, claiming they are offered fewer electives. She also thinks Nahed Chapman students do not earn enough high school credits.
“Our students deserve the same access to all programs. Our students who are immigrants deserve to be treated as first-class citizens each and every day,” Borishade said.
Poole offered more details on how the program may change in the future.
“One of the efforts this approach will involve is ensuring that language co-teaching between content-specific teachers and ESOL teachers to achieve the desired outcome,” Poole said.
Poole confirmed that the changes address an existing need in the district and are unrelated to the Trump administration’s rollback on federal funding for immigrants in the U.S.
