St. Paul Public Schools has postponed the vote on its school consolidation plan in order to comply with public notice requirements for permanently closing schools.
The school board now plans to vote on Dec. 1, not Nov. 16.
A public hearing is required only if a school is going to be closed for more than three years. District leaders have said they expect to find new uses for the schools being closed, but they decided to hold a public hearing in case that doesn’t happen.
In addition to the hearing, the district must publish public notices for the hearing in the official newspaper for two weeks; the district so far has published only one notice. The district went forward with a planned public hearing on Thursday and will hold another Nov. 30.
“This new date gives us the opportunity to fully comply with Minnesota statute that requires a public hearing on school closures be publicly noticed two weeks ahead of a Board vote,” board vice chairman Jim Vue said in a news release. “This also gives Board members additional time to analyze the proposal, as well as permits all current Board members the opportunity to vote on this important matter.”
Board chairwoman Jeanelle Foster, who supports the Envision SPPS plan, has missed recent meetings while recovering from COVID-19.
A school district spokesman previously said that because Foster chose to run in the special election for a two-year term, instead of her own four-year seat, her victory last week would leave only six members on the board at the time of the Nov. 16 vote. Yusef Carrillo was to leave the board once the votes were canvassed, and no one was to fill Foster’s seat until new board members are sworn in in January.
But on Tuesday, the board agreed to wait until after the Envision SPPS consolidation vote to make that transition. That means Carrillo will remain on the board through Dec. 1, after which Foster will take his place and vacate her current seat.
“It’s important that all seven current Board members have the opportunity to vote on this recommendation,” Superintendent Joe Gothard said in the news release. “I want to help ensure they have the time needed to hear from the community and fully review this important proposal and make an informed vote.”
That delay may have no practical implications on the vote; Carrillo opposes the plan, and it needs four votes to pass, whether there are six board members present or seven.
However, some board members have expressed interest in amending the plan, despite warnings from the administration that the mergers and closings are intertwined. The components that have received the most attention from the board are the planned closures of Highwood Hills Elementary, LEAP High School and Wellstone Elementary.