ST. LOUIS - The Local 420 Teachers Union president is calling for all hands on deck to address plummeting enrollment.  

"This organization will not idly stand by and see the death of the public school," said Ray Cummings, AFT St. Louis Local 420 president.

Cummings wrote a letter, calling on the superintendent to implement a new enrollment push.

"We have free pre-K. We have some of the best-performing schools in the state. We just need to get our word out there," Cummings said.

The concerns come in the wake of an SLPS study that projects the district to lose 20,500 residents in the next 10 years.

The May tornado exacerbated the problem, displacing an estimated 2,000 students. The study says there are currently more than 18,000 students enrolled, but that number could drop by 30% in 10 years.

"When you have a competitive environment, it just makes sense; if you have a better product, you get the word out that you do have a better Product and that's exactly what we're not doing," Cummings said.

Cummings called for an investment in an all-hands-on-deck campaign.

His proposal includes spending $250,000 on advertising and communications. He also recommends paying employees to man a phone bank and for teachers to call parents to make sure kids can get to school at the start of the new semester.

"Parents are suffering out there and they need to feel like we're in their corner," Cummings said.

The SLPS superintendent was not available for an interview Friday.

Cummings says the district has not given feedback on his proposals.