Discussing Urban and Community Education in Saint Louis: A Roundtable

ABSTRACT

On November 14th, 2022, a group of Black community leaders from the Saint Louis, Missouri, area met to discuss their experiences with the serious issues surrounding urban schools in their communities. Although this discussion is specific to a particular time and place, the concerns expressed, and solutions, offered are transferrable to many other communities in the United States. Dr. Adrienne Dixson moderated the discussion. This article is a verbatim transcription of their discussion with minor edits to facilitate ease of readability. The voices of the participants have been preserved. (Adrienne Dixson = AD; Dionne Ferguson = DF; Jacquelyn Lewis-Harris = JLH; Art McCoy = AMC; Cynthia Chapple = CC; Aaron Williams = AW).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This roundtable was funded in part by the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professorship of Urban Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the Spencer Foundation’s Lyle M. Spencer Research Award, both held by Dr. Jerome E. Morris. Thanks to the members of SANKOFA at the Center for Communally Bonded Research (communallybonded.org) for input: Dr. Jacquelyn A. Lewis-Harris, Dr. Tenille Rose-Martin, Dr. Claire Martin, Luimil Negron, Nicole Misra, and Rev. jeff obafemi carr. A special thanks to Dr. Joan Dodgson for the editorial support.

Notes on contributors

Cynthia Chapple

Cynthia Chapple, MS ([email protected]) Founder and Managing Director of Black Girls Do STEM St. Louis, MO. As the founder of Black Girls Do STEM, an organization offering exploration of STEM career pathways, she created a hands on engaging curriculum in the areas of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to middle and high school Black girls to expose them to career pathways and empower them to become STEM professionals. She received bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and forensic and investigative science from Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis and a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Southern Illinois University—Edwardsville.

Dionne Ferguson

Dionne Ferguson, BS, BCE ([email protected]), Founder and Executive Director of Good Journey Development Foundation, St. Louis, MO. Dionne Ferguson, a St. Louis, Missouri native, founded Good Journey Development Foundation (GJDF) in 2004. GJDF is a community and youth leadership development organization, that supports youth leaders aged 8 to 25 years, across the St. Louis region as they promote justice, equity, and change. Dionne Ferguson attended Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology where she received a Bachelor’s of Science degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering. Her early work and cultural expansion experiences were with the U.S. Peace Corps, living and working in Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Jacquelyn A. Lewis-Harris

Jacquelyn A. Lewis-Harris PhD ([email protected]) Community Research Coordinator, Center for Communally-Bonded Research and University of Missouri, Saint Louis. Dr. Lewis-Harris is the former Director of the Connecting Human Origin and Cultural Diversity program. Her doctorate and master’s degrees are in Anthropology from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. In 2016, she received the Arts and Education Association award for Community Collaboration as well as the University of Missouri, Saint Louis' Trailblazer Award.

Art McCoy

Art McCoy, PhD ([email protected]), Regional Business Council STL Works President & Founder of SAGES (Severing Attainment Gaps that Exist in Society) LLC Saint Louis, MO. At age 19, he became Missouri’s youngest certified teacher. He was a principal by 23, District Gifted Director and Ferguson-Florissant’s first African American Superintendent/CEO. Currently, he is the Saint Louis University, Distinguished Fellow and Superintendent in Residence and the Jennings School District Superintendent Emeritus. Dr. McCoy has served on panels and plenaries with Dr. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III and over 35 boards (e.g., Mental Health of America in Washington D.C., Commerce Bank, the Urban League, Jobs for America’s Graduates-Missouri chaired by Gov. Parson, and BJC St. Louis Children's Hospital).

Aaron Williams

Aaron Williams ([email protected]), Co-founder & Board Chair, 4theville, Chair, The Sumner High Advisory Board and Chair, Urban Land Institute St. Louis District Council. Since earning a degree in architecture from Washington University, Aaron Williams has spent 15 years in the St. Louis area design and construction industry. He has focused his community development work on The Ville neighborhood through his work with 4theVille, a community-based cultural organization working to safeguard the legacy of The Ville and catalyze preservation through tourism, art, and economic development. Through his commitments, he endeavors to catalyze innovative solutions for land use challenges in under-resourced communities that build coalitions between the public and private sectors.

Adrienne Dixson

Adrienne Dixson, PhD ([email protected]), Executive Director of the ECR and Professor, Educational Leadership Studies, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Dr. Dixson’s research primarily focuses on how race, class, and gender intersect and impact educational equity in urban schooling contexts. She locates her research within two theoretical frameworks: Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black feminist theories. Most recently, Dr. Dixson has been interested in how educational equity is mediated by school reform policies in the urban south. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Dixson is the recipient of multiple awards and honors for her research on CRT. In 2021, she was inducted as a Fellow in the American Educational Research Association.

Jerome E. Morris

Jerome E. Morris, Ph.D. is the E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63121; [email protected]. Dr. Morris founded and directs the Center for Communally Bonded Research. His interdisciplinary and empirically-based research examines the institutional structure and culture in schools, highlights the centrality of the U.S. South in African-Americans’ experiences, provides innovative conceptual frameworks to study marginalized communities, and cultivates meaningful partnerships with communities and schools. Inducted as a 2022 Fellow within the American Educational Research Association (AERA), he recently served as a Vice-President for AERA. Dr. Morris has received numerous research awards and grants, over the course of three decades, to support his scholarship, including the Lyle M. Spencer Research Award of $1 million dollars to investigate the development of his theory of Communally-bonded Schooling.