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Students in Shearwater's first graduating class.

Shearwater High School, a public charter school geared toward dropouts and at-risk youth in St. Louis, is closing its doors after three years in operation, shedding light on the obstacles facing the most vulnerable students and the educators trying to help them graduate.

"Young people are continuing to hemorrhage out of our public-school system at an alarming rate," Stephanie Krauss, president and CEO of Shearwater Education Foundation, tells Daily RFT. "We have to figure this out."

Krauss, whose efforts RFT chronicled in a 2009 cover story on the dropout crisis in St. Louis, says that the model was just not working, and it is time to reevaluate.

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Pevely sign.

One of the biggest St. Louis stories this week is news that Father Lawrence Biondi, president of Saint Louis University, will be stepping down after months of faculty and student protest. One controversial component of Biondi's leadership is his record on land acquisition and development -- with some preservationists and civic groups arguing that he has had a negative impact on the area around SLU.

And one site that has sparked quite a lot of debate is the historic Pevely Dairy complex on South Grand Boulevard. A lingering question there (and one we got from several readers after we wrote about the site eariler this year): What happened to the iconic "PEVELY" sign that once stood tall atop the building?

Daily RFT obtained these aerial photos showing the red letters sitting flat on the roof, generally invisible from the surrounding streets. Will the sign ever be viewable again to the public?

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Lawrence Biondi's gala speech.

It is time for Lawrence Biondi to move on.

So said Saint Louis University's president Father Lawrence Biondi in his announcement that he will be stepping down as head of the school -- a move that surprised many and sent reporters scrambling for details Saturday night. He broke the news at a private 25th anniversary gala over the weekend, and shortly after, rumors started to spread on Twitter about the embattled president's retirement. SLU officials sent out a statement saying the university will be searching for Biondi's successor in the fall.

Now, SLU has released footage of his much discussed speech. Watch his remarks below.

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via slu.edu

Father Lawrence Biondi.

Father Lawrence Biondi, the embattled president of Saint Louis University, announced tonight that he is stepping down -- after months of protest from faculty and students pushing for him to resign as head of the Jesuit school.

"Just as I helped lead SLU's transformation when I arrived here more than 25 years ago, I know it is now time for the next transformation to begin," Biondi says in a statement just sent out by the university. "And, so, with the blessing of our Board of Trustees, I have decided it is time for a transition in leadership for Saint Louis University -- time for me to move on to the next phase of my life. This fall, the Board will launch a search for my successor. I will be here as long as they need me, and will do everything I can to make the transition to our next president as smooth as possible."

The move comes after a particularly contentious two weeks involving a dispute at a student-government meeting as well as Biondi's decision to skip out on a much anticipated faculty-senate meeting. The full statement from the university is below.

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Past protest of Biondi.

In a lengthy response to a string of controversies and negative media coverage over the last two weeks, Father Lawrence Biondi, the embattled president of Saint Louis University, sent out a campus-wide message defending his recent actions and saying, "We cannot forget that we share a common goal."

The number one goal, however, of the faculty and students who are protesting on campus right now is that Biondi step down -- immediately.

In his message, which was sent out yesterday to faculty and students, Biondi says, "As I have stated before, I believe that if we can all work together collaboratively, I am confident we will move forward in the best interest of OUR University." And the university, in a written response to today's demonstration, says that the march is a "counterproductive effort" and an "unwarranted attack" perpetuated by a "small group determined to undermine the leadership of Father Biondi."

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slu.edu

Lawrence Biondi.

Editor's note: The following is an op-ed submission to Daily RFT from Steve Harris, a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Saint Louis University and the president of the SLU chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Check out our latest news coverage on the controversy at SLU here.

"The faculty are revolting!"

What's all the hubbub about, anyway? President Biondi of Saint Louis University has always been something of an autocrat, but he got stuff done: He made a coherent campus where there had been a mere scattering of academic buildings among apartment complexes and warehouses. He greatly increased the student body, changing SLU from a St. Louis-based local school to a university of international appeal. He brought SLU up to the level of a nationally recognized research institution. Isn't that worth putting up with top-down management style?

And so I thought for ten years, for fifteen, almost for twenty. But no longer.

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slu.edu

Lawrence Biondi

Update below: Critics of Father Lawrence Biondi, the embattled president of Saint Louis University, say that the latest internal protest of the school's leadership is an unprecedented sign of frustration that the administration can't ignore.

SLU Students for No Confidence, a group which has been pushing for Biondi's resignation, has posted an angry letter that Mark Knuepfer, president of the SLU faculty senate, fired off in response to the news that Biondi and Thomas Brouster, chairman of the board of trustees, would not be attending the final faculty senate meeting of the year -- apparently breaking a commitment made through a formal agreement back in December.

"I hope that the President realizes that the University is far more important than his ego," Knuepfer writes. "It is clear that a graceful resignation would truly help solidify his legacy at St. Louis University; however, his blundering attempts to hold on to his eroding power base is making his exit less graceful and more disgraceful. There is a time for him to retire and it is now." Check out the full letter below.

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Thomas Brouster.

Just one day after a professor released results of a survey showing that a majority of faculty members at Saint Louis University want Father Lawrence Biondi removed as president, the chairman of the school's board of trustees has announced his resignation.

The two, Thomas Brouster says, are not at all related.

"I'm not being pushed out," Brouster tells Daily RFT, with a laugh. "There's no coup on the board."

Still, his decision to step down as chairman may well reflect some of the challenges the board of trustees faces -- with growing dissent among faculty and others at the university around the president's leadership.

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Father Lawrence Biondi.

Steven Harris, a professor at Saint Louis University, wanted to gauge faculty opinion on embattled president Father Lawrence Biondi. But as we reported earlier this month, when he began that process, counsel at SLU contacted him and threatened him with legal action -- for copyright infringement. (SLU had previously distributed a survey that neglected to focus on Biondi; Harris wanted a supplemental one about the president's leadership.)

As he predicted, that story got a whole lot of media attention and Harris, president of the SLU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, went forward with a one-question survey.

"Is it time for Saint Louis University to choose a new president?"

Today, the results are in -- and they're not good for Biondi.

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Father Lawrence Biondi.

Over the past month, we've reported on the latest controversies of Saint Louis University, first with the high-profile resignation of the theology chair and most recently with the departure of the interim law dean over inappropriate comments. At the center of much of the conflict at SLU is Father Lawrence Biondi, the president who has faced intense backlash from faculty, and the board of trustees, which so far hasn't done much publicly to address the overwhelming dissent.

University officials and the board have been notoriously silent, but when assistant professor Matthew Hall wrote to them to explain why he would be leaving SLU, they responded -- with personal insults and attacks.

"It's extremely difficult," Hall tells Daily RFT of his departure from SLU. "I wish I could stay here and keep teaching these students."

What went wrong?

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