By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The St. Louis school board has offered deputy superintendent Floyd Crues the job of interim superintendent.
Crues is a former police officer and state fraud investigator who's spent 26 years with the St. Louis public schools. He'll replace current interim superintendent William Roberti.
Crues gave few specifics about his plans for guiding the district. "I'm going to continue to move forward in what we're trying to do, and that is to have a strong academic program in our district," Crues said Tuesday night.
"But I'll roll all that out when that time comes when I have a chance to do this. But right now it's just an honor and a privilege to do this and to serve the district."
Crues is still negotiating his salary with the school board, but is expected to begin his new duties July 1.
BUDGET UPDATE
Also, St. Louis Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Harry Rich says the district will start the next school year with 273 fewer employees because of attrition and retirements.
Last month, the school board approved a voluntary retirement incentive program designed to cut costs. However, fewer employees have signed up for the program than expected.
Rich says though the personnel reductions will save the district $15 million, another $8 million must be cut from the budget.
But Rich stresses that at this point, the prospect of more school closings are not on the table. "Everybody's already made up their minds about what we're going to do, how many schools are going to be closed. I'll go back to what I said before: no recommendations have been made, no decisions have been made about which schools, if any, would be closed, modified,whatever."
District officials must present a proposed budget for next year before the school board's July 13 meeting.