Arts and culture leaders pen letter in support of sparing Sumner High School from closure

The St. Louis board of education will vote Tuesday on a proposal to close 10 schools, including Sumner, the first African-American high school west of the Mississippi.

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On Tuesday, members of the St. Louis board of education will vote on a proposal to close 10 schools within the school district. On December 1, St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams recommended a consolidation plan that would close the following: Clay, Dunbar, Farragut, Ford, Hickey, and Monroe elementary schools; Fanning Middle School; and Cleveland, Northwest, and Sumner high schools. Enrollment numbers, the conditions of school buildings, and neighborhood population were factors in recommending the schools' closing. A group of arts leaders, however, have signed a letter expressing support for keeping Sumner High School, the first African-American high school west of the Mississippi.

Located in the Ville neighborhood, Sumner was remarkable at the time of its opening in that it was a brand-new building. (The building there now is a second location; the original was located at 11th and Spruce.) As SLM contributor Chris Naffziger has written: "For once, the school district was not giving African-Americans an old, obsolete building, but rather a brand-new, Georgian Revival edifice designed by William Ittner and built from the ground up. State of the art, the building towered over the small houses of The Ville like a palace of education." 

Now, in a letter, arts leaders including Tom Ridgely of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Jayvn Solomon of PaintedBlack STL, Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis, Marie-Hélène Bernard of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Ron Himes of The Black Rep are asking the school board to spare Sumner. The arts leaders are keen to preserve a piece of St. Louis' history. Notable Sumner alumni include Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Arthur Ashe, and Dick Gregory.

"We see how traumatic any school closure can be for the students, teachers and residents of its home community," the letter states. "And we know that you all are thinking first and foremost of about [sic] the systemwide welfare and education of the many young people in your care. 

"Sumner though is a special case. Its cultural, historical and symbolic importance are simply too great to let it succumb to the same forces of divestment, depopulation and decline that have closed so many other schools in our region."

The letter goes on to pledge support in finding a way to keep Sumner open. "If it’s creative solutions, that’s what we do best," it states. 

You can read the full letter below:

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