Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Yesterday, we elected our city’s first Black woman as Mayor! We also chose three new school board members in St. Louis. These leaders are faced with enormous challenges and opportunities. They will guide our district’s response to the continued exodus of families and the devastating learning loss and emotional strain experienced by our most vulnerable children. And they will decide how the district and city collectively spend more than $600 million in unprecedented stimulus funding.

The conversation on educational change in our country and in our community is at a fever pitch. With new leadership, we have the chance to change the tone and to start a new dialogue. We have an opportunity to bring our charter public schools, district public schools, parent and community organizations, and business and philanthropic groups into meaningful collaboration. We have an opportunity to collectively imagine and create a radically more responsive, just, and innovative public school system for the 21st century.

I am a firm believer in the mantra that we must be the change we seek in the world. So I took time this week to reflect on this moment — to share our beliefs about what this change could look like and the commitments we are making to support tangible progress toward racial and economic equity in education in St. Louis.

I hope you will take a moment to read these reflections and to reach out to our newly elected leaders. Call for a commitment to transformational change that yields measurable progress for the most vulnerable children in our community. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that can only be captured by embracing new approaches and breaking down silos.

Here’s to working together to ensure every child who calls St. Louis home is prepared to thrive–

Eric Scroggins
CEO + Founder