North Side Board of Directors
School Founder: John Grote: (Ph.D, 1989, Washington University)
Mr. Grote has 20 years of teaching experience in many educational settings – university, high school, and elementary. He has taught in four different states – Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Missouri. John returned to St. Louis in 2001, after retiring as the Principal of St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Since that time he has devoted himself to improving the opportunities for St. Louis urban students.
Five years of hands-on experience in the urban core of St. Louis convinced John that the students of the City of St. Louis need an option. After examining many possibilities, John’s experience and vision coalesced into the North Side Community School. Highlights of that experience include:
John founded and heads a task force for Cole School, a SLPS elementary school. His role has included fund raising, community outreach, and acting as an on-site consultant during traumatic times, including a facility upgrade that required a move to another building for an entire school year.
Having witnessed first hand the travails of urban education in St. Louis, John expanded his role at Cole to include voluntarily assisting the after-school tutorial program at the school. Each afternoon of the week John works with those students needing additional help.
John has worked as a Big Brother, mentoring two young brothers as they have traveled the difficult inner city education road. His efforts have resulted in success as one brother is succeeding academically and athletically at a SLPS high school, and the other is preparing to enter a private Catholic high school on scholarship.
Byron E. Francis: Attorney, Armstrong Teasdale, St. Louis, MO.
Mr. Francis is primarily engaged in commercial litigation practice and is Practice Group leader of the Firm’s Construction Law Practice. He also has extensive experience in the areas of real estate, securities, and environmental litigation in state and federal courts. His securities practice includes the representation of investment firms and brokers in state and federal courts, as well as before the NASD and NYSE. Mr. Francis is a graduate of the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Economics, 1971) and the University of Missouri Columbia School of Law (J.D. 1974).
Thomas M. Grote
Mr. Grote is the past President of Anderson, Hall, Marsh Benefits Group, a full service employee benefits brokerage and consulting firm. From 1981 to 1989 he was President of Grote Financial Futures, Inc., a foreign exchange and interest rate risk management/forecasting firm. He has been published in local and international financial journals, and has spoken at several organizations, including the World Trade Institute and the National Association of Home Builders. Mr. Grote is a graduate of the University of Oregon (B.S., 1979).
Karen Kalish
Karen is an active social entrepreneur focused on literacy, closing the academic achievement gap, and issues around racial discrimination. She is President of the Estelle W. and Karen S. Kalish Foundation that funds programs in the areas listed above, and of Kalish Communications which does media and speaker training both nationally and internationally. Karen taught elementary school for six years in Washington, D.C. before becoming a consumer and investigative TV reporter for CBS-TV, and later for ABC-TV in Chicago. In 1987, she started Kalish Communications to help clients work with media.
Patricia A. Shipley: The Rossman School
Since 2003, Ms. Shipley has been the Head of School at Rossman School, a private elementary school located in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Prior to this position, she was the Director of Admission and Financial Aid at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School for four years. She was previously the Associate Head of the Middle School at MICDS for seven years, and a member of the school’s faculty since 1987. She is a Cum Laude graduate of Webster University.
Raymond Thorpe
Mr. Thorpe brings over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry to the North Side Board. A long time AT&T, SWB, and SBC veteran, Mr. Thorpe managed both small and large departments within the organizations. After retirement, he has turned his talents to two long standing passions, teaching and coaching football and track at the high school level. Over the past years, he has taught grade school mathematics in both public and private schools. He is a past director of the St. Louis University Upward Bound Program, an education program designed for at-risk high school students. Ray is a 1968 University of Missouri graduate, and has Masters Degrees in Human Resource Management and Secondary School Administration from Washington University.
Ross A. Woolsey III: Owner, Founder, Monkey Business, LLC
Mr. Woolsey worked in the wholesaling/distribution business for 24 years, before selling his company in 1996. He returned to school, obtaining his MSW from Washington University in 1997. After working as a counselor in alternative schools, he co-founded Sports and Family, a family counseling practice in 1999. He also founded Monkey Business, which offers after-school alternative fitness programs for elementary school children who have no interest in competitive sports. Mr. Woolsey, who received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1971, has also worked on athletic facility projects with the St. Louis Public Schools for the last three years.