Metro Academic and Classical High School


Metro Academic and Classical High School is a magnet public high school in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, that is part of the St. Louis Public Schools school district.
As of the 2016–17 school year, the school had an enrollment of 340 students and 24 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 14.2:1. There were 340 students eligible for free lunch and none eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
Metro is notable for being one of two International Baccalaureate World Schools in Missouri. Their IB Diploma Programme is coordinated by Dr. Sharleta Williams.

History

Metro opened in 1972 in a five-room building at 2135 Chouteau Avenue as an Alternative public high school. It became one of the first magnet schools in the St. Louis Public Schools in 1981. In the early 1980s, the school moved to the Temple Israel building at 5017 Washington Place and in 1996, it moved to its current location in a purpose-built school building.
In 1997, the school's founder and principal, Betty M. Wheeler, retired. Her replacement, Pamela Randall, served until 2003, when she entered district administration and later served as superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools. Randall's replacement, Wilfred Doug Moore, was principal from 2003–2017. Steven Lawler is the current principal.
All Metro students are required to perform 200 hours of community service prior to graduation.
Metro has been ranked among the top public high schools by Newsweek and has won national and state-level awards for quality. For the 2003-2004 school year, Metro was named a Missouri Gold Star school and a national Blue Ribbon school. It was again named a Missouri Gold Star school and Blue Ribbon school in 2007-2008. In 2012, Newsweek ranked the school as 125 out of the top 1,000 public high schools in the United States. In 2016, the school earned the top scores for Missouri end-of-course exams in English, science, and social studies in the state. In May 2018, Metro earned the top ranking in the state. In May 2020, Metro once again was ranked high by US News and World Report, ranking #1 high school in the state of Missouri, and #114 in the United States.

Notable alumni