As enrollment falls, districts mull which schools to close. The decisions have big impacts for kids

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Thomasina Clarke poses for a photo outside Sumner High School Sept. 18, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

athomas edited. For Wednesday at 12:01 am ET

Thomasina Clarke has watched school after school close in her once thriving St. Louis neighborhood, which was hit by a tornado this spring and whose population has plummeted in recent decades.

“It’s like a hole in the community,” Clarke said. She fears a new round of closure discussions could strip the historically Black community of a storm-damaged high school, whose alumni include Tina Turner and Chuck Berry.

St. Louis Public Schools is among the districts nationwide weighing how many urban schools to keep open due to shrinking budgets, the falling birthrate