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ST. LOUIS — Leaders of the St. Louis Board of Education defended their oversight of the school district after a member resigned for what she called unethical behavior and mismanagement of taxpayer funds.

Sadie Weiss, who was elected to a four-year term in April 2023, said the final straw was the lack of concern for $53,567 charged to the credit card of the board’s executive assistant. The charges were part of $1.6 million spent on 21 credit cards issued by St. Louis Public Schools from July 2023 to July 2024, mostly for travel expenses.

“Most of that was professional development for the staff,” said board president Antionette “Toni” Cousins on Tuesday after Weiss read her resignation letter.

The credit card charges included Cousins’ seven trips to conferences in Boston, Washington, San Diego, Atlanta and Dallas including three flight upgrades, a violation of district policy. Cousins also regularly socialized with Superintendent Keisha Scarlett and interim Superintendent Millicent Borishade, including at 801 Chophouse in Clayton, where $3,613 was charged on district-issued cards over six visits.

“This is not about President Cousins. I know this is about an attack on SLPS,” Cousins said at the board’s monthly meeting. “But hey, you wanna hit me for a $40 upcharge on Southwest airline? Come on, y’all.”

“But nobody ever factored in that I have to use PTO — my vacation time — when I’m going on those conference trips and bringing back information of the positive things that we’re actually doing for this district,” continued Cousins, who is CEO of the nonprofit development group North Star Community Partners.

Weiss said her request for documentation supporting the credit card spending on board members was ignored.

“It became apparent that the board was OK with not doing anything in regard to these expenses,” Weiss said in her resignation letter. “I can no longer serve on a board, in good conscience, that isn’t acting ethically and upholding our responsibility to the public to thoroughly evaluate and report on the district’s mismanagement of funds.”

Weiss also said Cousins and vice president Matt Davis worked “outside of their bounds as board members, getting involved in the operations of the district.”

Closed-door meetings were often “derailed by angry outbursts directed at board members,” she said. “It has been difficult to serve in this role when asking questions and trying to hold ourselves accountable is seen as problematic.”

Davis said he was “disappointed” that Weiss resigned from the board but that he understood.

“This has been a very difficult and challenging time,” Davis said at the meeting. “Governance has been very difficult.”

A recent survey of the school board showed that all seven members believe they follow the norms for conduct, but their colleagues do not. Only one member trusts the others, according to the anonymous evaluation conducted by the Missouri School Boards’ Association.

Tension on the school board has been high since their vote in July to place Scarlett on leave for an investigation of hiring and spending practices during her one-year tenure. The board fired Scarlett in September, and she has vowed to sue for wrongful termination.

Soon after, board member Emily Hubbard said Cousins and Davis should resign for their roles in approving more than 20 staff hires and consultants connected to Scarlett, who was terminated in September. A state audit of SLPS is ongoing.

“When the Board of Education realized that our superintendent was not following through on her job, we held her accountable and that’s really all we can do,” Davis said Tuesday.

Board secretary Donna Jones, who has served for 19 years, also defended her colleagues and said “only the strong survive” after Weiss resigned.

“I’m so proud to be able to sit up here with the strong because there have been so many lies and mistruths that have been spread about the board,” Jones said. “This board has fought hard to make sure that the privatizers, the people who want to get rid of (or) dismantle SLPS are not successful.”

Public comments were cut short at the end of the meeting after SLPS critic Chester Asher violated district policy by naming Cousins in his remarks.

“You all fired the superintendent … you fired her for the same things that Toni Cousins does,” Asher said before his microphone was shut off.

Asher, who has no known connection to SLPS and is a former charter school director, sued Cousins and the district this month after they banned him from board meetings in half of 2024 for disrespectful and profane comments.

The school board has not announced its plans for appointing a replacement for Weiss, whose term ends in April 2027.

There are also three school board positions up for grabs in the April election including those of Cousins, who is a candidate. The other two incumbents Davis and Natalie Vowell opted out of running.