Looking for a 100-year old school building? It’s a buyer’s market!

On February 27th, St. Louis Public Schools put seven previously closed, vacant schools on the market. As the St. Louis Business Journal reported today, the asking prices for the schools total more than $7 million.

The listed the schools are:

• The Old Hodgen School at 2730 Eads Ave.
• Jackson School at 1632 Hogan St.
• Eliot School at 4242 Grove St.
• Central High School at 3616 North Garrison Ave.
• Hempstead Elementary at 5872 Minerva Ave.
• Garfield School at 3200 Texas Ave.
• Euclid Branch at 5057 Ridge Ave.

Hilliker Corp. and Linda M. Walsh Real Estate LLC are marketing the schools for the school district. “This offering provides a rare opportunity for redevelopers and users to have a choice of large, historically and architecturally significant structures located throughout the city of St. Louis,” said Hal Ball of Hilliker Corp told the Business Journal.

According to district officials, all of the buildings have been vacant for at least three years and represent just a fraction of the vacant buildings owned by the district. “We do have approximately 20 buildings that are vacant,” Kruger told the Journal, “although not all of them will be considered for sale.”

The Special Administrative Board of SLPS approved the sale of the schools in January. News of these school listings comes as discussion continues on yet another round of school closings. Read our previous report on town hall meetings where parents and community members gave feedback about the possible closings.

The current recommendations for school closings have been reevaluated in the context of those public comments. New recommendations for closings and consolidations will be announced Monday, March 3, and Tuesday, March 4.

In the meantime, you might consider investing in one of the beautiful 40 bedroom, 5 bathroom, possible summer homes, with convenient locations throughout the city.

Thursday, February 28, 2008, the Special Administrative Board held a meeting at the Saint Louis Public Schools’ headquarter. While the meeting was in order, parents, teachers, students, voters, and tax payers gathered outside the building to show there support for Dr. Diana Bourisaw.
The rally started at 5:30 PM. Candles were handed out and lit while participants of the rally read letters from supporters that couldn’t make it, discussed other issues, and introduced new ideas on helping the SLPS. This rally was a public statement about the decision to seek another superintendent.
Nearly 55 supporters gathered sharing the same opinion about Dr. Bourisaw. They stressed how Diana Bourisaw took this position during a difficult time in the SLPS. She made every effort to respond to emails, phone calls, and questions asked concerning the public schools. “No one could ever do the job Dr. Bourisaw has done and it was a big mistake to fire her,” said many of the teacher and parent supporters.
Around 7:00PM, everyone went into room 108 in the Administration building where the meeting was being held. They lined the walls and silently continued to support Dr. Bourisaw.

Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, announced yesterday, Feb. 28, 08, that her office has placed online a five-part video series highlighting African-American genealogy. African-American Genealogy: Putting Together the Pieces of Your Past was created by the Missouri State Archives.
“I am pleased that we made this series available to assist researchers in overcoming many of the common obstacles encountered in tracing African-American roots. Finding genealogical records for ancestors can be challenging, so these videos are designed to help people track their family tree,” said Carnahan.
In the five-part series, Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, a Family History Research Consultant, provides helpful tips on accessing the best websites, which records are most beneficial, and how to get the most out of original records. Together, “What’s Out There?;” “What’s Your Story?: Finding It on the Web;” “How Do I Find Out More?;” “What Happened During the Wars?;” and “How Do I Put All the Information Together?” teach researchers to use all the pieces they find to gain a better understanding of there ancestors.
Wilson-Kleekamp guides researchers through the process of identifying ancestors from the era of slavery through a variety of records and documents. The series provides a solid background in conducting slavery-era research and reviews specific books, databases and online resources that contain vital information for African-American genealogical study.
The new website is part of Secretary Carnahan’s long-term commitment to the African-American History Initiative, a program that aims to create a broad public awareness of the rich contributions of African-Americans to the state. The initiative also strives to offer new resources to historians, genealogists and to others studying Missouri’s culturally diverse history.
You can view this series online at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/about/presentations.asp

St. Louis Public Schools has announced that revisions to the administration’s recommendations for school closings and consolidations will be announced next week.

Superintendent Diana Bourisaw will lead two town hall meetings to unveil the recommendations she says are a direct result of the feedback received from parents, teachers and students during the community forums held this month. Public comments will be heard following the presentation.

Dates, times and locations:

Monday, March 3 at 6 p.m.
Carr Lane VPA Middle School, 1004 North Jefferson Avenue

Tuesday, March 4 at 6 p.m.
Roosevelt High School, 3230 Hartford Street

Public comments may be submitted online at www.slps.org, by calling (314) 331-6100, or by writing to: Operations Division, St. Louis Public Schools, 801 N. 11th St., St. Louis, MO 63101.

Before tonight’s meeting of the Special Administrative Board, supporters of outgoing Superintendent Diana Bourisaw will be gathering outside the school district’s administrative building to show support for the woman who was as expectedly pushed out of her job as she was unexpectedly appointed to it just over a year and a half ago.

The event will be part rally and part candle light vigil. Supporers are scheduled gather at 801 North 11th Street tonight starting at 5:30 PM. Candles will signify the loss the district is suffering with Bourisaw’s exit, says organizers. Close to 7:00, statements of support from parents and legislators will be read.

While Bourisaw’s supporters are outside, Bourisaw will be inside with the three-member board the state put in charge of the city schools just months after she was hired.

Here is the agenda for tonight’s SAB meeting, part of which will be closed to the public:

OPEN SESSION AGENDA

1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Student Recognition
5. Public Comments
6. Approval of Minutes
7. Superintendent’s Report
a) Information Items
b) Action Items
8. Board Member Updates
9. Adjournment

EXECUTIVE SESSION AGENDA

1. Call to Order
2. Roll Call
3. Motion to go into Closed Session
4. Approval of Minutes
5. Legal Matters
6. Real Estate Matters
7. Personnel Matters
8. Adjournment

Missouri Congressional candidate and former college football player Brock Olivo got an unexpected — and probably unappreciated — mention on MSNBC tonight.

Here’s the video that started it all:

A Washington University fraternity will be hosting a panel of state legislators this week as part of their student political awareness campaign.

As part of their yearlong “I Will…” awareness project, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity will welcome State Senator Jeff Smith (who is actually a Wash. U. professor) and State Representatives Margaret Donnelly, Talibdin El-Amin, Jamilah Nasheed, and Clint Zweifel on Thursday at 7:00 PM in Room 100 of the Brown building.