http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/2E59DA0377CEDDB1862572DF00122B2B?OpenDocument
Until last week, active charter authorizers in Missouri were limited to colleges and universities and local school boards. The Missouri Board of Education is now joining that group of authorizers, sponsoring a charter school for dropouts and students at risk of dropping out in St. Louis. While St. Louis Schools Superintendent Diana Bourisaw said the announcement was a "disappointment," mayoral aide Robbyn Wahby called the future school a bold move to "rescue children from a life on the street." According to state figures, the dropout rate in the St. Louis schools last year was 20.6 percent for males and 16.4 percent for females. The district's graduation rate in 2006 was only 55 percent. Jim Morris, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the "serious dropout problem" in the city schools led to the state's decision to sponsor the charter school.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Date: 05/18/2007
Note: Please be aware that online publishers often change URLs or no longer provide access to articles after 7 days. If the above link no longer works, access the publishing newspaper and search the archives for the keywords in the subject matter. Good luck.
