ST. LOUIS 鈥 The director of safety and security is the second administrator in a week to leave St. 亚洲无码 Public Schools as leadership turnover continues to roil the district.
Col. DeAndre Davis, a St. 亚洲无码 native and former Vashon High School basketball coach, resigned Monday, according to multiple SLPS staff members.
Davis鈥 resignation follows the retirement on Friday of Toyin Akinola, director of transportation at SLPS, seven weeks into the school year. The school district has vacancies at the top of seven or more divisions including academics, accountability, communications, food services, public relations, security and transportation.
The departures came in the wake of former Superintendent Keisha Scarlett鈥檚 departure. The superintendent was placed on leave in July and fired last month after an investigation of hiring and spending practices during her one-year tenure. The St. 亚洲无码 Board of Education has not released any details about the third-party investigation, including the cost to the district.
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Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick in August started a forensic audit of the school district鈥檚 finances and operations which is expected to take at least a year.
The SLPS board replaced Scarlett on an interim basis with her deputy, Millicent Borishade, pending approval of her application for state superintendent certification. Borishade was one of at least nine administrators hired at SLPS in the last year who have connections to Scarlett in her previous role as an administrator at Seattle Public Schools.
A spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said Monday that Borishade鈥檚 application for certification lacks a recommendation from National 亚洲无码 University, where Borishade received her doctorate. Borishade will also need to obtain a Missouri teaching certificate.
A 1992 graduate of Vashon, Davis was well respected among SLPS staff as he guided the security team through the pandemic and a shooting that killed a teacher and student two years ago at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
Before joining SLPS full-time, Davis served with St. 亚洲无码 Metropolitan Police as an officer, a detective with the juvenile unit and a school resource officer at Vashon. He has also coached softball at Vashon and basketball at Gateway STEM High and Vashon, where he played four years on the varsity team under legendary coach Floyd Irons.
鈥淗e was an outstanding player for me, and not only an outstanding player, he was an outstanding student,鈥 Irons said Tuesday after speaking to Davis on the phone.
Irons said it was a shame to see Davis leave SLPS so suddenly.
鈥淚 would have loved to see him finish his career there,鈥 Irons said. 鈥淗e had the kids鈥 best interest at heart. I鈥檓 sure there has to be a good reason for him to decide to retire.鈥
Barbara Sharp, then principal at Vashon, hired Davis as basketball coach in 2008.
鈥淚n his role as a resource officer, I recognized the patience that he had with the young people we encountered. He was an active listener. He paid a lot of attention to what the students said to him,鈥 Sharp said in a 2013 Post-Dispatch profile of Davis. 鈥淲hatever he said he was going to do, he did that. He was committed to the school and the students.鈥
The SLPS board was scheduled to hold its monthly meeting Tuesday night at Sumner High School. The agenda included a discussion of the second annual 鈥淒ay of Remembrance鈥 commemorating the Central High shooting that killed student Alexzandria Bell and teacher Jean Kuczka.
On Oct. 24, students and staff at Central and Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, which share a campus near Tower Grove Park, will spend the day at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Therapy dogs and counselors will also be available at the schools that week.