An Interview With the Superintendent of the Ladue School District, Part 1

Patch: How important is this, and what does it mean to the future of the Ladue School community?

Marsha Chappelow: We want to maintain an overall 15 percent fund balance which the board has set for this year. That will help us with our obviously increasing expenditures, just like a home. We have no control over our increased utility costs. Looking at salaries, maintain our salaries, lower class sizes— particularly at the elementary level—equipment and supplies. Our revenues are down over the last few years, about 9.1 percent. We have increased about 700 students the last six years. The downward economy has effected us.

Patch: Do people understand how a downward spiral in the economy affects a school district?

Chappelow:It is similar, but we are not a homeowner, but we are affected in just the same way individuals are affected. The 9.1 (percent) decline in revenue, we figured out, is unprecedented in this community. By adding 700 students, we had to increase our staff and our supplies. You have to do that.

We get 92 percent of our revenue through property taxes. We will forward information, and the board will set an election date of either February or April.

Patch: How important is a 60-year tradition of excellence when you do your long-range planning for the school district?

Chappelow: Anytime you have a successful history like a district like Ladue, you always want to consider past traditions, because they are obvious strengths for the school district. But I would say you have to look at needs of current students and needs for future students. The best approach is to marry both this items, and that will give you the best planning options for the future.

Patch: With many community leaders coming out of Ladue, how do you view Ladue in the bigger universe?

Chappelow: Ladue has the obvious capability of producing leaders in the community. I hardly don’t go anywhere without meeting someone who is a graduate of Ladue.

However, I think we have the talent on our staff and the partnership with our parents that we can produce students who will be successful any place in the world. If our students want to go overseas, federal government, larger companies—I think they can be successful there, too.

Patch: Should the district make concerted efforts to track these graduates, to find out where these alumni are and what they are doing?

Chappelow: It's hard to do. I think districts have been trying to do that for a long time. You can have surveys that will go out, and sometimes people just don’t respond to them. I think there’s been more success lately just using social media, especially with young adults who want to keep in contact. But I don’t think there’s a perfect system out there to do that yet.

Patch: Please elaborate on the progress of the Ladue Education Foundation.

The foundation has been very successful. They’ve been in operation now for five years. As with any new organization, they are evolving. When you start a new organization, you think this is where we are going, this is what we are going to do.

As with any new organization you find that to be true, but as any new organization, you find it not to be true as originally thought. They have given teacher grants, especially to programs the district would not have been able to. With their breakfasts and their community events, and because Ladue is not in one town, I think they have helped to create a sense of community for our whole school district through their events. And also I think that’s very important, so it's another way for parents to be involved with the district, even though we are separate organizations but we are the focus of their organization. It's just a great way for parents to be involved.

Patch: It takes more than just a staff person to make this happen?

Chappelow: Yes. If you have a staff person, they are able to coordinate the efforts. There’s a place for parent organizations, the Dad’s Club, a place for a foundation—they just serve different needs.

Patch: Have you or other districts ever thought of rolling all of these fundraising efforts into one group?

Chappelow: Not to my knowledge. I wouldn’t say you couldn’t do that. Usually there’s one person who coordinates those efforts. Dr. Joan Oakley (Human Resources) is our person to coordinate the foundation and the communications department. Susan Dielmann knows a lot about what’s going on with parent organizations.

Patch: How are you able to support your teachers with lifelong learning?

Chappelow: You want your students to learn, and your teachers too have to be learners. In our current financial situation, we have reduced professional development for our staff, but we’ve maintained a level of that to maintain our strategic plan. We have not cut those budgets entirely, nor do I think we should.

If your staff quits learning, then that trickles to students. Hopefully the economy should get better, and we should invest in training of the professional development of our staffs.

Sunday, Dr. Chappelow will answer questions about the Westminster Campus in Creve Coeur; reducing the size of classrooms, the task of running a district and more issues.