A letter sent by Karen Collins-Adams on behalf of the St. Louis Board of Education to former Superintendent Millicent Borishade sheds some light on why she was fired without cause on Oct. 17.
Former board member Ben Conover shared photos of a letter addressed to Borishade with St. Louis Public Radio. Collins-Adams and board Vice President Emily Hubbard confirmed the letter’s authenticity.
“This communication is to document a growing concern among the members of the Board of Education regarding an increasing pattern of unauthorized communications from you over the last several months,” the letter states.
The letter did not notify Borishade that she was going to face any sort of disciplinary action or termination, but it did state that the board found the pattern of behavior to be “unacceptable” and that it would require “further Board discussion to determine next steps.”
A list of 'prominent concerns'
The first listed “prominent concern” was a press release that went out on Sept. 24 in response to an audit from state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick’s office that Collins-Adams said contained an unapproved quote from her on behalf of the school board.
“The Board President did not give quotes or statements for the press release regarding a collaboration with RBC, nor a quote for the St. Louis American newspaper,” the letter states. “This was done without consent, as she was completely unavailable during that time period.”
Collins-Adams said she was unavailable to provide a direct quote or approval of her quote on Sept. 24 because she was dealing with a personal matter.
Neither Borishade nor the district has any control over what the St. Louis American publishes.
Borishade and Charles Poole, executive director for communications for the district, usually signed off on any external communications from the district. Neither could be reached for comment for this story.
Other issues cited in the letter:
- Borishade’s approval of a notice that went out to families and staff about staff and student reassignments in the wake of the deadly May 16 tornado that temporarily closed seven schools in north St. Louis.
- A “premature release” of the Cordogan, Clark & Associates preliminary report that was presented in July.
- The American Federation of Teachers Local 420 petition of “no confidence” in Borishade.
- Increased complaints from district staff citing Borishade’s leadership as a reason for their resignations or early retirement. (STLPR has not been able to independently verify these claims, and no evidence was presented in the letter.)
The letter was first shared by Collins-Adams with the school board during a closed session on Oct. 14.
Former board member pushes back
Collins-Adams said the complaints listed in the letter come from various members of the board and are “representative of concerns of board members.” Hubbard said she agreed.
Conover, who resigned from the school board on Monday, said in an interview that he disagreed with the letter and its allegations against Borishade.
He said he recused himself from the portion of the closed session on Oct. 14 when Collins-Adams first presented the letter because he thought that she had possibly violated board policy by adding an agenda item at the last minute. Conover said he then left the closed meeting.
He believed the letter should have been shared with the entire board and then voted on before it was sent to Borishade. Hubbard confirmed that a vote did not take place, and Collins-Adams said that a board vote was not necessary in order to share the letter with Borishade.
Conover also said he didn’t understand some of the communication issues cited in the letter.
That includes Borishade’s presentation of the preliminary report from Cordogan, Clark & Associates, which proposed closing 37 of the district’s more than buildings. The presentation was on the agenda days prior to the July 22 work session.
According to Conover, if board members took issue with an item on the agenda, they could request that Collins-Adams work with Borishade to remove it and discuss it at a later point.
The timing of the presentation of the report was criticized by community members, including the president of AFT Local 420, Ray Cummings, who called it insensitive and irresponsible.
In response to why board members didn’t request to remove the report from the agenda, Collins-Adams played down the significance of the report and said that it was one of many from the firm.
“I made it very clear in that meeting that it was simply a report,” Collins-Adams said. “But the information from that report took on a life of its own.”
When asked why she felt it was important to send the letter to Borishade, Collins-Adams didn’t provide a clear answer. She said that “it was a collection of all of the major things that were still pending at that moment and some unresolved issues.”
She also said that the letter doesn’t provide a full picture of the board’s concerns about Borishade’s leadership.
Collins-Adams said that the board had flagged these communication issues to Borishade on multiple occasions , a claim that Conover denied.
“It's not been the subject of any official board business,” Conover said.
When pressed on whether the board should have given Borishade a chance to work on what the board saw as her shortcomings in communication, Collins-Adams said the board spent hours talking through its different options on Oct. 17, but then a final decision was made to terminate her without cause.
The board voted 6-0. Conover was not present for the vote, but said he would have voted against terminating Borishade.
As a result of the decision, the district will pay out the remainder of Borishade’s contract, which is about $730,000, along with COBRA health insurance until June 2028, or until she gets a new job.
Conover believes that Borishade should have been presented with the board’s criticisms of her leadership during a superintendent evaluation, which is required by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and given the chance to improve.
Collins-Adams said she’d like the district and community to look ahead to the future.
