Since 2012, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in St. Louis has partnered with the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS). SLPS's mission to "provide a quality education for all students and enable them to realize their full intellectual potential" aligns with our own: "to partner with youth and help them gain a sense of their own power to create change." We believe that AFSC and SLPS both desire a St. Louis where every young person's wellbeing is prioritized, and where every young person thrives, socially, emotionally, and academically. We stand with and support SLPS because we unapologetically love St. Louis students.
Because of this love, we launched the #RealStudentSafety campaign in June 2020 calling for SLPS to end its relationship with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) and to transform its Office of Safety and Security by divesting the $6.3 million it currently spends on "security services" and investing in wraparound services and enrichment programs that promote real student safety. Since the beginning of our campaign, Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams has repeatedly stated that SLPS does not have a "financial contract" with SLMPD. We believe this is likely true, but our demand has been, and continues to be, for SLPS to end its relationship—not its contract—with one of the most violent police departments in the United States.[1]
According to SLPS's website:
"We have School-Based, Mobile Officers, Supervisors and Command Security Staff to monitor inside and outside of our schools. Our Officers, Sergeants and Command Staff are licensed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department."
Even if there is no formal, financial contact between SLPS and SLMPD, there is clearly an ongoing relationship, one that involves training and licensure. To understand the extent of this relationship, AFSC St. Louis made a formal Sunshine Law Request on April 3, 2021 to Meredith Pierce, SLPS's Custodian of Records at the time. In that request, we asked for five records: 1) Any agreements or memorandums of understandings (MOUs) between SLPS and SLMPD; 2) Any agreements or MOUs between any SLPS school and SLMPD; 3) Any training materials provided by SLMPD to SLPS; 4) Any expenditures from SLPS to SLMPD; and 5) Any documented complaints against security professionals within SLPS.
Under Section 610.023(3) of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, "Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third business day following the date the request is received by the custodian of records of a public governmental body … If access to the public record is not granted immediately, the custodian shall give a detailed explanation for the cause for further delay and the place and earliest time and date that the record will be available for inspection."
Despite numerous follow-up attempts, AFSC St. Louis did not receive the requested documents from SLPS, nor an explanation for the delay. On August 5, 2021, a second formal request was sent to Jordan Grimes, SLPS's new Custodian of Records, who quickly responded: "I've logged this request into our database and made the appropriate departments aware. I will follow-up Monday August 9, 2021."
Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Grimes did not follow-up. In fact, it has now been over five months since AFSC St. Louis' initial Sunshine Law request. By ignoring these requests, SLPS has been, and continues to be, in violation of Missouri's Sunshine Law, a law designed to promote transparency between public governmental bodies and its constituents. Because AFSC St. Louis believes that transparency is a necessary building block for a healthy and thriving public education system, we have made, and will continue to make, Sunshine Law requests to public schools, charter schools, and police departments in the St. Louis metropolitan area. AFSC St. Louis will continue to partner with and support SLPS to ensure that all St. Louis students receive a quality education, and, we know that true partnership requires transparency and integrity. We call on SLPS to comply with Missouri Sunshine Law and grant us immediate access to the public records we requested.
[Updated November 9, 2021] Legal Services of Eastern Missouri's Education Justice Program (LSEM EJP) has released a statement supporting AFSC's efforts to access documents regarding the relationship between SLPS and SLMPD. Read LSEM EJP's statement in full on our site.
Sarah Nash is the Potts Intern at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) St. Louis.
[1]Mapping Police Violence, "Police Accountability Tool," https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/cities.