Metro Mania

Metro Mania

Apparently, St Louis Public Schools Superintendent Creg Williams thinks that Metro High School -- ranked in the Top 50 Public High Schools in the U.S. last year by Newsweek magazine -- can hold as many as 500 students. He says they can just convert office space into classrooms!

I'd like to see him convert his own office at 801 N. 11th into a classroom and see how much work he gets done.

My recollection from when the building was built in 1996 at 4015 McPherson Ave off Lindell is that it was built for a maximum of 300 students, ideally 270. At that level, it's already pretty crowded. But since the "Metro II" proposal last year was pretty much killed, now they just want to try and cram a 130-student freshman class into the place.

Meanwhile, SLPS has also started enforcing a "no free bus tickets/pass if you live within 2 miles" policy for the high schools whose students rely on public transit. These include Metro, Roosevelt, Vashon, Beaumont, and Clyde C Miller Career Academy.

Back in my day (1993-1997), at Metro you usually had to pay $1 for a 10-ride student ticket book for which Bi-State charged $6 or so. Of course, those student tickets are only good Monday-Friday, 6 am to 6 pm, so it's not like you can use them any time you want (although I sure did try!).

Dr. Williams seems to be an advocate of small high schools. So why mess with a place that works? Metro works partly because it is so small. Trying to cram more bright students into a finite space is a recipe for disaster.