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FEATURE
Jason Growe
The Globe talks with new school board member Jason Growe about his upcoming term.
OWEN AUSTON-BABCOCK | SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR
O
n May 19, 2021, David Gulick, a sales director at a software company, National Guard veteran and Meramec Elementary School parent, resigned from the Clayton Board of Education, citing concerns about the way the board conducted its business. The board nominated Steve Singer, a former member, to temporarily fill the position until an election could be held. When the filing opened for the April 5, 2022, municipal election in St. Louis County, Jason Growe was the only one to file. According to state election rules, no election will happen because the number of people who filed equaled the number of positions open. When we spoke, Growe had not yet officially become a board member — his oath of office will occur at a board meeting in April. Growe and I spoke at a coffee shop in late February, and I talked with Gulick about a month prior. Gulick remains involved in Clayton politics and the school district (his son is in the district). The following interview is slightly edited from my conversation with Growe in February, and includes context in footnotes from Gulick’s in January. Can you tell me a little bit about your background and your connection to the district? Yeah, sure. So, you know, born and raised here in St. Louis. After college — I went to Indiana University — I moved back here to do Teach for America. So I really wanted to do some form of community service after college and Teach for America, if you’re not familiar with it, it’s exactly what it sounds like. It takes recent college graduates and it places them in low income areas of the country to teach the public schools for two years. And that was something that spoke to me, that mission spoke to me. Improving the achievement gap in public education is basically the ultimate goal, right? That’s sort of a
Above: Jason Growe, who will be sworn in as a member of Clayton’s school board in April. Photograph provided by Jason Growe.
line in the organization. That spoke to me for a few different personal reasons, and so I wanted to do that. And I wanted to come back to St. Louis to do that. So I taught at Roosevelt High School for a couple years in St. Louis Public Schools, and had a great experience. Fast forward to today, professionally, I own a small home health business. We provide nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and medical-social services in the home setting for patients who are able to safely be at home but maybe need a little bit of extra care and education on how to manage whatever they’re going through independently or with caregivers. That’s what I do professionally. I’ve lived in Clayton most, if not all, of my adult life; I moved back to the district in 2016. And now I have one daughter in the district and will have a second daughter in the district come next fall. So I’m very invested in it. How old is your first daughter?
This is the first of a two-part series about new school board members. Next month, Sofia Mutis interviews Christine Win.
My daughter’s in second grade,1 so she just turned 8. And it’s a fun age. And then my other daughter just turned five, so she’ll start kindergarten next year. What was your inciting incident for why you chose to run for the board? What was your reason? Yeah, I don’t think there has been a more important time to have good quality board members on a board of education. Regard-
1 He later joked that his second grade constituents (his most outspoken, I assume) were very pro-snacks.
