It all began when the Turners, a St. Louis family that had been sending its kids to the Clayton Schools as tuition-paying students, decided to sue for reimbursement when the St. Louis Public Schools became unaccredited. The decision for the Turners to pursue the lawsuit was based on Missouri Statute 167.131, which allows students residing in an unaccredited school to go to a school in another district.

“It’s really quite simple,” Jane Turner said. “We understood that we had a statutory right to have our children attend the Clayton Schools and not as tuition students, but under the Missouri statue, as transfer students”

Turner argues that, despite the tuition contracts that they had signed with the Clayton School District, the statute should still apply to her children.

“We really had no choice but to sign a contract,” Turner said. “If we didn’t sign a contract, then our children would have been forced to attend an unaccredited school.”

And, thus, Turner v. School District of Clayton was born.

Both parties initially decided to handle the case without going to trial, but the Supreme Court has sent the case back down to the Circuit courts so that both parties can amend their arguments.

“Details need to be worked out and I think that’s what the Supreme Court wants done at the Circuit level,” Turner said.

The  Supreme Court’s July 16 opinion may not have granted the Turners reimbursement for the tuition money that they’ve already paid, but the long-term effects of this ruling will still affect the Clayton School District.

In the Missouri Supreme Court’s non-final action, the Court declared that, if a student in an unaccredited public school transfers to an accredited school district in the same or a neighboring county, then the original school district must pay said student’s tuition.

Clayton Chief Communications Officer Chris Tennill believes that, were the Supreme Court’s decision to stand, it would have the potential to make a dramatic impact.

“I think the Supreme Court ruling has the potential to change the educational landscape in St. Louis County if it stands as ruling,” Tennill said. “But, I think the important thing to keep in mind is, while there was a ruling, it was not a final resolution of the case. The ruling just overturned a judgment of a lower court that was granted in Clayton’s favor, did not grant anything in the plaintiff’s favor, and just said to take it out in trial court and work it out there.”

Additionally, in what is the aspect of the ruling that will likely affect Clayton schools the most, the Court decision stated that the receiving accredited school districts must admit all students who wish to enroll from these unaccredited school districts.

Tennill is concerned about this aspect of the ruling and believes that, were this aspect of the ruling to stand as is, many schools in St. Louis County would be adversely affected.

“It would affect more than just Clayton,” Tennill said. “There would be a watershed of students from the city and from Riverview Gardens just descending upon all St. Louis County Schools, and we would have no ability to turn them away. So most county schools would quickly be overpopulated and understaffed to handle such a huge influx of students.”

For Turner, however, “Our concern is just with our family.”

With public schools across St. Louis County opening this week, the fates of potential transfer students in failing districts and accredited county schools subject to the ruling are still up in the air.

Chat Leonard had been a CHS college counselor for 13 years leaving students and parents shocked at her sudden resignation.

“[Losos] said that we would be receiving a letter in the mail that had just gone out announcing Chat Leonard’s resignation, and that technically Ms. Leonard had retired at the end of the year with the expectation that she would be coming back in the fall, and she basically got an offer that she couldn’t refuse….” Breckenridge said.

According to Losos, because of fears that experienced teachers were being “forced” to retire by the retirement system, the system was changed several years ago. It now allows teachers to retire at the end of a school year, receive a payment from the retirement system, and be rehired by the District. This is what Leonard was expected to do, but she received a more attractive offer from Metro High School.

“We had sat down and come up with a plan that she would be here for another at least one to three years, very specifically to give time to recruit or to train someone to replace her,” College Counselor Carolyn Blair said. “That was the conversation that we had….  I was pretty shocked. I felt that we had this settled.”

Losos said that Leonard was informed about the position in the spring but that the city’s budget was not finalized until early August, when she was actually offered the job. She informed the District of the job offer on Aug. 3 and of her resignation two days later.

“When Dr. Doug Moore, principal at Metro Academic and Classical High School, which is a magnet school in the St. Louis Public School District, called during the last week of July to offer me a position as college counselor, I was both humbled and honored,” Leonard said in a statement. “However, I was torn… not because of the challenge, but because of the timing. This was a one-time opportunity where I would hopefully stay until I actually retired from education… which will hopefully be five years plus some.”

To help students and parents deal with the situation, brown-bag lunches will be held for students and parents, a senior class meeting has been added in early October, and Blair said that she will be setting up a blog that will answer frequently asked questions.  She hopes to use more group discussions to address the common questions to avoid individual meetings where students ask the same thing.

“Now is a really anxious time,” Blair said. “People are trying to finalize lists, ‘Do I need to retake a test?’, ‘Do I need SAT II’s?’, ‘Which ones should I take?’− those types of questions are all sort of swirling around.  So to be able to have someone to talk about that with is my first thought. My second thought is the letters.”

Leonard did not write the letters over the summer. Instead, Blair will seek advice from other staff to ensure the letters maintain their characteristic high quality.

“Mr. Gutchewsky and Ms. Smith know the whole class best,” Blair said. “They will feed me all of those personal details that go into the letter, and I will in effect craft the letter tailored to the student and their list and that kind of thing.”

As far as hiring a replacement, which is undoubtedly necessary, Losos said the process is underway but uncertain.

“It could happen tomorrow or it could take a few more weeks…” Losos said. “We’re trying to locate a few recent retirees that she knows and thinks highly of, because once we get that in place, we can start looking for a permanent replacement. NACAC, which is the National Association for College Admission Counseling, is holding their national convention in St. Louis this year, which is convenient .So then we can go out and recruit for the 2011 school year.”

Though Blair said she had talked with Leonard about possible replacements, it is difficult for high school and even college counselors to leave their schools at this time of year. For this reason, Blair said they are looking at possibly hiring a retired counselor.

In her statement, Leonard said that she feels that her departure will have “very little at all” impact on the current seniors, saying that “counselors do not get students into college, the students get themselves in.”  She said that CHS students are their own best advocates, and that they will also have “some of most knowledgeable, caring and professional teachers in the state of Missouri” to help them through the process. As for her new job, Leonard said the administration and PTO at Metro have been supportive and welcoming.

Though Blair said that she is not stressed out– “that wouldn’t help me”– and is not concerned that seniors will receive poor or worse than normal counseling, she emphasized the need for finding a replacement.

“To be sure that everybody gets the service that they’re used to, we’ve got to get somebody in here,” Blair said. “I’m one person. But it is what it is; we’re just going to have to make it work.”

A prototype of the Loop Trolley sits outside the History Museum.

St. Louis is soon to experience a novel type of change: the rebirth of its historic trolley system.

The Saint Louis Loop Trolley Project was selected to receive about $25 million in federal funding in July.

“So many cities were competing for the money,” said Joe Edwards, founder of the Loop Trolley Project. “All the cities put in an application, and our application was as strong as or stronger than the others.”

Congressman William Lacy Clay, who has supported the project for 10 years, announced the grant on July 8.

“I am so grateful to President Obama and my former colleague, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, for supporting this wonderful project with a major federal investment,” Clay said in a release. “I have been pushing the Loop Trolley for almost ten years because it will connect two great neighborhoods that I am proud to represent, the U-City Loop and Forest Park. This exciting new attraction will serve both visitors and local residents, while generating jobs and lots of fun.”

The latest estimated cost of the project is $44 million; according to Edwards, $38 million of that has been acquired in total, thanks to the recent grant.

“We already had some money raised,” Edwards said. “Several years ago, we started taxing ourselves an extra cent, and so we’ve gotten some revenue from that. Over 97 percent of the eligible voters voted in favor of it. It really shows that citizens support our project.”

Edwards, who founded Blueberry Hill, restored the Tivoli, and opened the Pageant, among other attractions, is sometimes referred to as the “loop visionary”. He began the venture as his latest project in 1997 in hopes that the trolley system would stimulate development in the area east of Skinker.

“People were saying, ‘Let’s put flowerpots out, let’s put banners on poles’—and those are nice ideas,” Edwards said. “But those don’t really revitalize an area.”

He then hit on the idea of a something simple—to bring back the historic trolley system in hopes of stirring growth.

“I like how people are trying to find new ways of public transportation to move people to “happenin’” places within St. Louis,” junior Jason Riss said. “Obviously, the cost is just in building and maintenance of the trolley, but when it is in use, I know for sure I will use it, mostly so I can park my car in the park and feel safer knowing it is there than in the Loop.”

The perks from the project are threefold.

“The beauty of this project is that it’ll spur economic development,” Edwards said. “Two, it’ll increase tourism, and, three, it will help stabilize the neighborhoods around.”

The Loop Trolley's 2.2 mile route will take it through some of St. Louis' most popular areas.

The trolley’s 2.2 mile route would take it along Delmar, starting at the Lion’s Gate in University City, down DeBaliviere Blvd., and lastly, circle around the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park.

Other stops include the Tivoli and the Pageant—there will be nine total. It will intercept two existing MetroLink stations, thereby linking them to both the Loop and Forest Park.

Edwards is especially proud of the fact that the trolley system will not be an “imitation”—that is, use rubber-wheeled trolleys—but run on a track instead. He claims that ridership of trolleys goes up 70 percent when they are built on rails.

“The fixed-track nature of the project worked so well in other cities,” Edwards said. “Plus, the Saint Vincent Greenway will be built on DeBaliviere at the same time as the trolley system will be, so that we’ll eventually have four unique modes of transportation on that street: automobile, pedestrian, bike and trolley.”

Though the route isn’t exactly the same as the historic one that gave the Loop its name, Edwards asserts that it is the most logical.

“The Loop was designated ‘One of the 10 great streets in America’ by the American Planning Association,” Edwards said. “So this route makes the most sense—it connects one of America’s 10 great streets to Forest Park.”

Edwards hopes to one day extend the route to Forest Park’s many attractions as well, saying that the trolley system is really a “prototype for other parts of St. Louis”. He hopes to connect different sectors of the city and perhaps eliminate some of the stresses and damages that come with individual automobile transportation.

“Hopefully the trolley could one day save people the stress of a second automobile,” Edwards said. “The trolley could serve as their transportation instead.”

In addition, the trolley will be what Edwards proudly refers to as “good, clean electric transportation”.

“Young people in particular are really aware of environmental concerns,” he said. “We bought two of the old trolleys and refurbished them, and they’re ready to run, but we might buy new battery-run cars instead. They’ll have the same classic lines as the old ones, but in some parts of the route, we won’t have to have overhead wires.”

But Edwards doesn’t just stop with attracting one demographic; he hopes to extend the trolley’s influence throughout the city once the initial system takes off.

“The next step will be through Forest Park and out to Central West End, maybe to Clayton,” Edwards said. “Maybe one day we can bring conventions back to St. Louis—maybe someone will be caught between three cities… they’ll see that we just recently built this trolley system. I’d love to see [St. Louis] get back again.”

Edwards hopes to break ground in the fall of 2011, and to have the trolley up and running in September 2012.

“That’s fast for a project this big,” Edwards said. “But we’ve been working long to make sure it happens.”

“This summer is going to be mostly focused on getting the addition steel up, getting the brick on under roof so we can start working on the interior finishes this fall and winter,” said Mark Winschel, the Project Manager from S.M. Wilson & Co.

Winschel estimates that work at the high school is about 15 percent complete, while work at the elementary schools, which is scheduled to be finished by this fall, is about 40 percent complete. The bulk of the work will happen over the summer, once the steel starts to go up later this month. While there are only 15 to 25 workers on site at the high school currently, that number will begin to increase dramatically in the coming months.

“Once the steel is up, that opens up a lot of work,” Winschel said. “You can start working on the inside, you can start working on the outside. I’d say our peak at the high school is probably going to be later on this fall. We’ll probably have close to a hundred guys here.”

Winschel said that the project has gone smoothly for the most part, despite a problem early on involving the locating of utility lines under the cottage and tech. building.

“A lot of times the utility information that we have on the plans doesn’t match exactly what’s shown in the field, so sometimes we’ll hit water lines or hit sanitary lines that are in the way,” Winschel said. “You have to work and get those repaired, and that delays your schedule a little bit because you’ve got to get all that stuff out of the way before you can do your foundations and steel.”

There have been some complaints from staff, which Winschel said is normal for a demolition project.

The sounds of jack-hammering and heavy machinery can be heard through the walls of the math wing, which has been a source of disruption for many teachers.

“It’s tough because if it’s loud and it’s disruptive, it’s not fair to kids to have class in there,” said Math Department Chair David Kohmetscher. “But the difficulty is that we don’t have space, that’s one of the reasons we’re building an addition; we don’t have enough rooms to send people to…. We’ve got one of our overflow rooms as an art bay, so you take your math class from here down to the ceramics room – not the most efficient place to learn.”

Winschel said that the noise level should be lessening soon as the demolition phase ends and crews start focusing on constructing the addition.

“We’re going to get to the stage where we get the shell enclosed, masons are working – that’s not a particularly loud activity – and then once the building’s enclosed we’re going to be working inside, so there’s going to be a pretty good buffer from the addition to the existing building,” Winschel said. “So I would say the disruption is probably going to go down in the near future.”

Because the math wing already has Smart Boards in every room, a central office and other perks from the most recent construction project, it will not be gaining any new facilities from the addition. In fact, the largest math classroom will lose about a third of its floor space to accommodate a hallway.

“We’re not getting anything from this one, but we’ve been pretty lucky we got this area in the last construction,” Kohmetscher said.

Health and P.E. teachers have also been affected by the construction, though not that of the new addition.  Renovations to the Stuber facilities have forced the health teachers to move out of their office, and the same fate will soon come to Coach Samuel Horrell, who is scheduled to move to one of the learning annexes later this month.  However, he said that the minor hassle of moving offices is outweighed by the positive changes that the construction will bring.

“I think the new facilities that we’re going to be getting are going to be phenomenal for our classes and for our athletics,” Horrell said. “So it’s worth that little price of inconvenience that you have to pay.”

The changes in store for Stuber will bring new rooms and capabilities that will greatly aid the athletics program.

“They’re redoing the locker rooms upstairs, they’re redoing them downstairs, and then on the girls’ side they’re actually putting an athletic training facility… where people can come in from outside and do rehab,” Horrell said. “Our athletes are going to have access to all the rehab and all the high tech. equipment that’s going to be in there.”

Construction crews will continue to hammer and bang as they build and renovate, which will likely bring more disruptions to staff and students.  Yet the end result, new buildings and facilities that will revitalize and modernize numerous classes, will surely be worth the price.  As Horrell said, “You’ve got to give a little to get a little,” and in this case, CHS is getting quite a lot.

That’s the question that the new “Panera Cares” café seeks to explore. A formerly run-of-the-mills Panera, it is now the first pilot restaurant in the franchise to try a novel idea: pay what you want.

But it’s not just offering negotiable—or even negligible, if you prefer—prices. It is completely nonprofit, and any extra money left over from expenses is given, as one employee told me, “back to the community”.

Of course, this spawns a natural number of other questions, the most important one being: how can one be sure that the offer won’t be completely taken advantage of?

When I first heard about the unique establishment, I was completely taken aback and a tad wary of its existence at all. Just a couple of weeks ago, I’d visited that same Panera. The whole operation, truthfully, seems like a suicidal one. Visions of snickering students getting sandwiches and then paying with a lucky penny found on the floor persisted.

The plan could never work—simply because there are, at the moment, too many obnoxious people out there ready to milk the system. Right?

Nevertheless, I decided to visit the place, scope out how it was doing in the first couple days of its rebirth as a charity foundation. Even as I pulled up outside, I could see the crowd inside. It seemed to confirm my worst fears.

Warily, I opened the door, and was greeted by a large banner over the bakery counter: “Take what you need, pay your fair share.” To the side were bagged breads—presumably leftovers from the day before—on a table. Directly in front of me, I found two cheery employees waiting. They were there to explain the system, they said. Lots of people—especially those had already been coming daily for lunch, I imagine—were naturally confused as to how they were supposed to even begin.

I was limited to one entrée, they told me, unless I was willing to donate the extra cost. Was I?

I nodded.

They smiled. It seemed that most customers were in fact paying—or, as they called it, donating—anyway, as they hoped they would. The objective, they explained, was not simply free meals, but to have those who could pay make up for those who couldn’t. In other words, they were relying completely on the goodwill of others.

At the register, my order was rung up, not with a price, but a sort of accepted value. Feeling charitable, I dropped extra into the donations box, which was already starting to look quite well-fed.

Where were those awful, awful people walking out with bagels, cookies and sandwiches all gotten shamelessly for free? Where were they? While I sat there during the peak lunch hour, I seldom saw anyone who didn’t drop their payment into the donation box anyway. I have even overheard people vowing to lend their business to the place even more than they might have before.

It was then that I realized how much of a cynic I had been. In the café, surrounded by benevolence, there was a tangible sense of community, something that I’ve never experienced before. Patrons genuinely wanted to give more, enjoyed the fact that their meal’s cost was going to a better cause. As did I. I’ll be back again soon. The experience was truly rewarding.

I promise that it will be just as rewarding for you as well. Sure, you could give your business to the Starbucks across the street. But, really, where’s the pleasure in that? Order your favorite food from Panera—it’s still there, all of it, despite the changes in structure. And chew over your good deed of the day as well.

How far can human goodness go? As of what I’ve seen, pretty far.

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee pays homage to this part of our history.

Students in the US/World History II class were given the chance to go and see the National Civil Rights Museum and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis. US/World History II teachers Mark Bayles, Paul Hoelscher and Rick Kordenbrock helped plan the trip.

The US/World History II class studies the civil rights movement in the classroom, and the teachers believed students would learn even more if they could visit museums on the topic and crucial sights that shaped the movement.

“It was really cool to see the National Civil Rights Museum after having studied the civil rights movement in class,” sophomore Bianca Vannucci said.

The experience also allowed students to gain more knowledge than they otherwise would have by just sitting in the classroom.

“I feel that this trip was more in-depth than what we learned in class because we got to physically see things that happened fifty years ago,” sophomore Kendal Freeman said. “And the way the museum was set up, it almost felt like you were there.”

The National Civil Rights Museum and the vast amount of information it covers impressed many of the students and teachers.

“I think the museum itself was very educational because it covers a lot of African American history,” Kordenbrock said. “The focus being the civil rights movement, it has so much information it’s almost overwhelming.”

The museum on civil rights was able to give the students a much more knowledge on the civil rights movement, but it also touched and moved them emotionally.

“[The Civil Rights Museum] was such a moving experience because you got to stand and look at the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. fell when he was shot, and you can imagine back to that day,” Kordenbrock said. “I mean, if you’re not moved by that you’re probably not human because that was a powerful experience.”

The students were also able to visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and learn about the history of soul music. The small record studio changed the world of music, and it also changed the role of African Americans in music.

“It was really cool to see the Stax Museum because it was where so much music started,” sophomore Isabella Jacobs said.

Although students loved the trip and the knowledge they gained from it, many felt that the 24-hour voyage was too short.

“Looking back at the trip now, it feels like I was on the bus the whole time,” Jacobs said. “It was just so short. But it was still was very fun.”

Others felt that the trip should have incorporated more activities to further their experience.

“Maybe next year they can have another museum lined up because we finished early and got back really early,” Freeman said.

Students believed a great part of the trip was the culture and style of Memphis that you can only learn about if there, and wanted even more time to understand it.

“I wish we got more time to walk around Memphis and get a feel for it on our own,” Jacobs said.

The teachers planning the trip have already begun to think of ways to change the trip for next year. They hope to lengthen it and add more educational experiences.

“We may make it an additional day next year,” Kordenbrock said. “And maybe go to Graceland.”

Although students and teachers would make changes to the trip, they enjoyed it and believe it is a great trip and that students should continue to participate.

“More people should go next year,” Vannucci said. “Because I think that if more people went it would be even better.”

The trip was a great way to see an important part of our history’s past and partake in it being remembered.

“It’s a great out of town trip, and you get so much history,” Kordenbrock said.  “And you get the sense that you are somewhere where something really, really important happened – because you are.”

Senti leaves a legacy of achievements and the construction projects he began as superintendent. (Meng Wang)

Before he came to Clayton, he was the Superintendent of the Parkway District, which had 22,000 students. “I had 2,500 employees at Parkway, more than there are students in Clayton,” Senti said. “At Parkway I was sort of a Public Relations guy, going from meeting to meeting. It was just a really huge operation. Moving to Clayton was wonderful. There’s only one high school instead of five, and one mayor instead of 11. I was really happy at Parkway, but when I got here it was really nice.” Senti is glad that all the administrators here fit around a large table, while at Parkway he had to use a microphone to address them. “It’s easier to get things done here,” Senti said. “To convince five high schools to do anything is very difficult. We also had a philosophy at Clayton that the district either had to be child-centered or data-driven. You had to be one or the other. I said that we had to be both because you can’t be more child-centered than wanting to know what makes kids tick. I think that over the years we’ve come to have a good balance of both and that’s something I’m very proud of.” Before he came to the District, he believes that Clayton was too concerned with the affective domain, or only thinking of decisions in terms of motivating students to learn. “There was nothing wrong with being [too focused on the affective domain],” Senti said. “Obviously Clayton has always been a very high quality district so this is all relative. I wanted to focus more on giving kids a diagnosis of what they needed to improve upon with the data.” About five years into his tenure at Clayton, Senti worked out what is now known as the Kid Check Statement. He views this Kid Check Statement as Clayton’s mission statement: “We are responsible for student learning by knowing students well, valuing every child, and placing students at the center of every decision.” “It looks simple,” Senti said, “but there are no qualifiers. The statement doesn’t just say ‘we’re responsible for the kids who want to learn.’ It doesn’t matter if the kid has a single-parent family or if they’re poor or wealthy. We assume responsibility for student learning, rather than teaching. We have to think about the kids first, and that’s really hard about this job.” Senti acknowledges that sometimes the adults want to be first. “For example, most kids think that all I do is decide whether we have snow days or not,” Senti said. “What you may have noticed is that the School District has never been sent home early. The reason is student-centered since a lot of kids’ parents aren’t home. If we decide to send everyone home in the early afternoon, then a lot of students aren’t going to know what to do if they don’t regularly walk home or don’t have the keys to the house. Most of the staff would prefer to go home early, but the decision is based on the kids.” While Senti is most proud of the Kid Check Statement, he realizes that most people will instead remember him for working with the Mayor to start the Center of Clayton among other construction projects. “I’m particularly glad about the success of the Center,” Senti said, “because its existence proves that two governments, the school and city governments, can work together. We have 10,000 members to the Center and it has almost broken even in terms of cost and revenue. It’s really become part of the community. The mayor at the time was looking for a community center and we were looking to expand our athletic and fine arts facilities. The architect who designed the structure was the one who envisioned where it would go.” Principal Louise Losos is agrees with Senti that the architectural additions to the district were some of his biggest accomplishments. “Dr. Senti has been a visionary on two fronts,” Losos said. “The first is the community partnerships that he has championed the Center, Metro Theater among other structures. He has been the leading force in the St. Louis community in keeping the VST program alive and viable. Finally, under his leadership the High School has undergone one major renovation and one major addition [Prop S] and the District has begun the process  of building a brand new middle school. The last two were accomplished in some of the worst economic times in this country since the Depression.” Senti is known for being in favor of the Voluntary Student Transfer Program. “The program is beneficial for kids that come from the city,” Senti said. “It’s also good for our students to have a diverse educational environment. I think if you weighed the positives and the negatives of the program, the positives would shine through.” The District surveyed all the residents in Clayton and found that two out of three residents really like the program. Back in 1983 when it started, either the district joined the program or was wiped out. The judge mandated that districts choose between those two choices and many districts “volunteered.” In 1999, none of the districts were forced to stay and Ladue was the only one that dropped out. “[VTS] is supposed to ‘end’ in 2014,” Senti said. “That means we wouldn’t be taking new kids. Our Board of Education will eventually have to make that decision.” Senti has been a huge proponent of student rights in the press during his tenure at Clayton. If a professional newspaper, such as the Post-Dispatch, ran a story against one of its financial supporters, the story could be censored. “It’s very usual for student papers where the administrators don’t review it [for content] before it is published,” Senti said. “We passed a policy entrusting the responsible staff members of the Globe. Some of the articles [the Globe] writes are critical of the school and I believe it’s good to have some dissenting voices.” The Missouri retired teachers system is so good that once he retires, he would make more than he currently is. However, Senti has other motivations for retiring. “That’s not the main reason,” Senti said. “The main reason is so I can do some other things while I’m healthy and able. I would like to be able to do something that’s a little less demanding.” Once he retires, Senti plans to keep working on educational issues like improving urban schools and continuing to work on the Mayor’s charter school committee. “My main problem would be, not staying more busy than I already am now because I’m a compulsive volunteer,” Senti said. “I’m going to read the newspapers in the afternoon instead of the morning like now and watch the sunset as often as I can.” As Senti leaves, Losos knows that Dr. Mary Hermann, his successor, will have large shoes to fill. “Taking over after a very successful, long-serving superintendent is difficult enough,” Losos said. “I think the trickiest issue facing Dr. Hermann is the current Math Curriculum review. Beyond that, I believe that most difficulties are inherent in her position.” Senti believes Hermann has had the experiences needed to be a great superintendent at Clayton, including being an elementary and high school principal and superintendent at a much larger district. “She’s used to meeting with a school board pretty much like ours,” Senti said. “They have high expectations for their own students and school. I think she’s going to be superb.” Losos deeply appreciates Senti’s many contributions to the district and the greater St. Louis area. “It’s hackneyed but he truly sees things as they might be and asks why not, rather then thinking of reasons not to do it,” Losos said. “I appreciate and respect Dr. Senti tremendously. He has been a rock to lean on and to learn from. We will miss his steadying influence and his vast experience in St. Louis Education. I think we often don’t appreciate what we have until it is gone.” As his final message to the district, Senti believes that while he has made many steps in the right direction, the work is far from done. “Clayton is one of the best public school districts in the country,” Senti said. “Our graduates attend the best universities. Frankly a Clayton School District diploma is worth more than most districts. That is a result of a world-class education. The reason for our success is an incredible combination of academic rigor and sensitive, caring teachers – the head and the heart. What is best for every student is the filter through which decisions are made. The challenge, a daunting one, is to continue to improve, day in and day out, year in and year out. Although Clayton Schools are outstanding, good enough can never be good enough.”

“Currently these institutions, which include the Zoo, Art Museum, Science Center and the History Museum, are not free; they are funded by property taxes that St. Louis City and County residents have been paying since 1971,” Bray said. “The tax was levied in response to financial troubles that three of these institutions faced. Since that time many circumstances affecting the ZMD have changed. Two more institutions have been added to the district, the population of the city and county has significantly decreased and attendance at these institutions has steadily increased, in part due to their continual expansion and improvement.”

Over the years these institutions have continued to rely on a combination of public tax dollars, individual and corporate donations and grants to keep them functioning as top-tier entities.

“As the economy has declined, however, so has area philanthropy and revenue from declining property values,” Bray said. “Providing these institutions with a mechanism that allows them to safeguard their financial security, at their discretion, makes sense.”

For these reasons, Bray filed Senate Bill 903, which puts into law the ability for the ZMD institutions to charge an admission fee to non-St. Louis City and non-County residents.

“It is in no way a mandate,” Bray said. “At the heart of this proposal lies preserving the quality of these institutions that are cherished by so many. Their excellence cannot be maintained unless they have an adequate source of revenue, and should their income ever decline to such a level as to be insufficient I would like them to have a means to act against that.  This proposal is not a mandate, but rather the creation of an option that leaves the decision to charge admission fees with each institution, where it belongs.”

To charge an admission fee, the bill states that the board of a ZMD subdistrict institution first has to vote to do so, then they have to apply to the ZMD board, and finally the ZMD board votes on whether to approve the application from the subdistrict. Even after approval, a subdistrict institution has the authority through this bill to exempt anyone else from the fee of their choosing such as students and senior citizens.

While officials at the Zoo and Science Center declined to lengthy interviews, they both issued respective brief statements.

“The St. Louis Zoo does not intend to charge admission,” said Janet Powell, Director of Public Relations. “We are committed to remaining free to all, including non-residents of St. Louis and St. Louis County.”

At this point, officials at the Science Center say that they are very unlikely to consider charging admission even if the bill passes.

“We are neither for nor against the bill’s passage,” said Science Center Spokesperson Beth McClure. “However, to even consider charging admission for non-residents, we would have to explore the possibility with the board and receive their input.”

Bray’s Legislative Aide Ellie Glenn gave further details regarding the bill’s history.

“SB 903, the original bill, has only been heard in committee thus far and must go through many more steps before arriving on Governor Nixon’s desk,” Glenn said. “However, because Sen. Bray’s amendment language was germane to both SB 580 in relation to local government and HB 2297 in relation to ZMD, it was able to be amended with a vote to the two bills.”

If SB 580 passes, then the language goes into effect as soon as the Governor signs the bill because it has an emergency clause. HB 2297, however, does not contain an emergency clause so it would go into effect on the normal bill date, Aug. 28.

“I hold every piece of legislation I am proposing in the same regard and [I]  hope to see them all passed,” Bray said.