Archival article — originally published in The Paper, May 1973. By Jody Creighton.
Archival date note: only the issue month or season is established. The first-of-month date used for chronological indexing is not a verified publication day.
Two long-time dreams of Skinker-DeBaliviere residents will come true in September. The busing from Hamilton School will be ended and a completely new primary school will be opened in the center of the neighborhood, according to Charles Brasfield, Jr., district superintendent of the Northwest-Soldan district.
The plans, which were announced at the first meeting of the Hamilton School Resource Committee, entail changing Hamilton Branch No. 3 on Des Peres from a federally funded Rooms of 15 program to a regular primary school with grades kindergarten through fourth. Approximately 227 primary children in the area bounded by DeGiverville which cuts an arc through the neighborhood to the city limits (see map) will be eligible to attend. Hamilton will continue to have its outstanding primary program for children in the rest of the district, as well as grades 5 through 8 for the entire school district.
BOUNDARIES REDUCED.
Mr. Brasfield also announced to the group of community representatives that Hamilton School's boundaries will be reduced so that busing can be eliminated. The busing problem, with as many as 500 pupils bused daily, has long been a source of discontent in the neighborhood with parents complaining that they have children in four or five schools.
It might be necessary, Mr. Brasfield cautioned, to have some limited busing next year to Mitchell depending upon enrollment. However, Hamilton students will no longer be bused to Wheatley School which is near Vandeventer across Highway 40.
"As school population declines, and we project it will, we plan to reduce the boundaries of Hamilton School to reflect those of the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood. We want the school to be a source of community loyalty and pride," Mr. Brasfield stated.
The Rooms of 15 program will be transferred to two other nearby Rooms of 15 programs at Cook Branch and Hamilton Branch II. The Rooms of 15, which is federally funded and regulated, provides special remedial help for pupils who are more than a year behind in school. These pupils are assigned to the small classes and given intensive remedial instruction for a year's time. Thus, the proposed plans will not affect students presently enrolled at Hamilton Branch III. Mr. Brasfield reports that enrollment has been dwindling in Rooms of 15 so that next year even fewer pupils are expected to be eligible. Those who are eligible will be assigned to the Cook Branch and Hamilton II programs.
INTEGRATION POSSIBLE.
Calvin Stuart, executive director of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council, sees the new school as an opportunity for voluntary integration which would give the Skinker-DeBaliviere area one of the few, if not the only, integrated neighborhood school in a residential area in the city.
"We have long said that the stability of the community is tied to the schools. For too many years realtors and loan companies have pointed to the over-crowding at Hamilton and steered prospective homeowners away. Now we have an opportunity to develop a whole new community-school relationship. It's going to take commitment to make it work and I am confident that this community which has, time and time again, given of its time and energy will work with the schools and take advantage of this opportunity," Mr. Stuart stated.
JUNE PARENT MEETING.
In order to find out how many children, not presently enrolled at Hamilton, might be attending the new school, Mr. Brasfield will hold a meeting for parents in June. Full details will be announced in the June issue.
According to Mr. Brasfield, enrollment at Hamilton School is expected to decrease. He points to the low pupil teacher ratio, 22 to 25 per teacher in the primary and the higher numbers to 33 per teacher in the upper grades. Average pupil-teacher ratio is 31. This figure will not be significantly changed by the boundary changes, although Mr. Brasfield expects it to go down in subsequent years. Another indication of the declining enrollment is the drop in busing. This year only 372 were bused compared to 526 last year. This fact and the enrollment decline enabled the school administration to make the changes and add the new school.
In addition, enrollment at the school should decline even more when and if the proposed Kingsbury redevelopment goes through. This area adjacent to Hamilton School is presently high density apartments. The redevelopment will be low rise with two to three units where now there are six to twelve. The redevelopment, which will cover ten acres of the most heavily blighted area in the neighborhood, will have two and three bedroom apartments and much more green space.
HISTORY OF EFFORTS.
Two years ago the Skinker-DeBaliviere education committee contacted the district office to propose that they consider Delmar Baptist Church as a possible site for an additional school. Because of state regulations governing school buildings, the church was rejected. The district office also looked into leasing the Ann Raskas Co. 5967 Delmar, which was rejected because the owner wanted an unreasonable price, and the former Bettendorf store on DeBaliviere. However, the Missouri Division of Welfare purchased the building before the district office could negotiate.
The next year residents began mass meetings to seek ways of solving the overcrowding. At one such meeting, Clyde Miller, superintendent of schools, spoke in October. He promised to set up a neighborhood committee to solve some of these problems. The Hamilton Resource Committee was formed with representatives from the entire community as well as Hamilton teachers, parents and school officials.
The resource committee, which plans to meet the second Wednesday of each month, will continue to work on developing a school-community action to combat some of the apathy toward the school and to serve as a bridge between the schools and the community.
The following people are on the Hamilton School Reference Committee: Rick Bender, Associate Professor in the School of Education at St. Louis University; Charles Brasfield, Jr., district superintendent; Sister Leo Ann Bubb, principal of St. Roch's School; Mrs. Jody Creighton of The Paper staff; Mrs. Jane Davis, Hamilton parent; Mrs. Shirley Deavens, principal of Hamilton Branch III; Mrs. Magnolia Dorsey, Skinker-DeBaliviere resident and Hamilton teacher; Ozzie Flagg, Urban Renewal Office; Jim Garrett, Hamilton parent; Sam Gregory, district assistant; Allan Hamilton, president of Parkview Agents; Mrs. Clarice Haynes, head of People's Community School and neighborhood resident; Mrs. Pat Kohn, of the Neighborhood Un-School; Richard Krueger, president of Rosedale-Skinker Association; Mrs. Dorothy Lloyd, president Hamilton PTA; Michael MaGrath, president of Washington Heights Neighbors; John Roach, alderman; Mrs. Louis Rogers, president of the Hamilton Mothers Club; Calvin Stuart, executive director of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council; Mrs. Eloise Wright, teacher at Hamilton and neighborhood resident and Cleveland Young, principal of Hamilton School.
Read the original newspaper issue: Archive reader · Direct PDF fallback. Originally published in The Paper, May 1973, pages 3.
