Latoshia Morrow gets a hug from her daughter Kyda Bryant at the end of the muffins with mom event at EAGLE College Preparatory School Gravois Park charter school in St. Louis on Friday, April 22, 2022. The school, now known as Momentum Academy, will close down in May 2025 because of low enrollment.
ST. LOUIS — Momentum Academy will close one of its four charter schools this spring due to low enrollment.
The Gravois Park campus has 91 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, filling less than half of the school’s capacity of nearly 250 seats.
“Since opening, this campus has faced unique challenges that we’ve worked to address,” said Miranda Ming, Momentum’s executive director, in a statement. “This transition enables us to uphold our promise by focusing resources and support where they are most impactful and enhances our ability to provide a richer academic and enrichment experience for all Momentum scholars.”
Momentum’s four campuses in south St. Louis combined have 580 students enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grades.
School enrollment has dropped statewide following a decline in birth rates, but St. Louis has been hit hardest with a loss of about 40% of its childhood population since 2000.
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In the last five years, the city’s public school enrollment has declined by 3,000 students in St. Louis Public Schools and 400 students in charters. Kairos Academies charter school laid off seven staff members this month after enrollment numbers failed to reach projections.
Charter schools are publicly funded but operated by appointed boards outside of the school district. Their success rate has been mixed since first opening in St. Louis in 2000. Half of the 32 charter school operators in the city have folded due to financial or academic failures.
On state tests last spring, 17% of Momentum students scored proficient in English and 19% in math. Scores for SLPS students were 21% proficient in English and 17% in math.
Momentum, formerly Eagle Prep, opened its first two campuses in 2015 as part of a recruitment effort for new charter schools by then-Mayor Francis Slay. Three of the eight charters opened that fall have since closed: Hawthorn Leadership, LaSalle and St. Louis College Prep.
Eagle opened the Gravois Park campus in 2018. The school peaked four years later with 195 students in kindergarten through eighth grades. This year, the school eliminated the sixth, seventh and eighth grade classes.
Eagle changed its name to Momentum in 2022 after the state sanctioned its sponsor for allowing religious influences in the schools, which are all former Lutheran schools.
The Gravois Park campus at 3630 Ohio Ave. was formerly Holy Cross Lutheran School. City records show the building is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
Momentum leaders said they are “evaluating the future of the physical building.”
“We will work with community stakeholders over the coming weeks and months to evaluate options and identify the best use of the building going forward,” Ming said.
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