NORMANDY • In a reversal from its vote last week, the Normandy School Board decided Thursday to pay a bill to bus students who transferred to Francis Howell schools.
And the board will have a chance to make a similar decision for the looming $1.3 million in tuition payments to accredited districts that it rejected last week.
“We are reconsidering those,” School Board President William Humphrey said of tuition bills after a 2½-hour closed meeting on Thursday. “We’re having ongoing conversations with members of the board.”
Board member Nancy Hartman said that paying the transportation bill has a much smaller impact on the students who have stayed in the district compared to the $1.3 million monthly bill for tuition.
The payment is for the 1,000 or so students who have left the unaccredited Normandy district for schools in 14 higher performing districts. Under a law upheld by the state Supreme Court this summer, students in failing districts have the right to attend accredited schools in other districts. The cost of transportation and tuition falls to the unaccredited district.
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Before going into closed session on Thursday, the Board voted 6-0 to make the $108,635 payment to First Student for transportation. Board member Terry Artis abstained, and member Jeanette Pulliam voted by phone.
“What the state has imposed is just unbelievable first and foremost, but also unbearable,” Artis said. “I still have a great deal of trouble with paying for this transportation.”
In August, the board approved a contract with First Student to transport about 440 students to Francis Howell, the district to which it selected to send buses.
Hartman said because of the contract, the district should pay the bill from First Student.
“I do see the distinction between something that’s forced upon us and something we entered a contract for,” she said.
However, according to a copy of the contract between First Student and Normandy, the district may terminate the agreement for any reason, giving a 30-day notice.
Also on Thursday, the state’s education department announced it will hold hearings in coming weeks to “discuss the accreditation status and options for the future regarding the Normandy School District,” according to a news release.
The hearings are scheduled on Nov. 11 and Dec. 11 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Viking Hall, the high school’s auditorium, 6701 St. Charles Rock Road.
A statement from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education did not directly mention Normandy Board’s refusal to approve tuition payments, but said that the hearings “will receive information relating to district compliance with the statutory student transfer process.”
The Missouri education department has in the past assured districts educating transfer students that it would direct state payments owed to Normandy or Riverview Gardens, the other unaccredited district, to receiving districts if either school system were to become two months behind in paying tuition.
As for those tuition bills, Superintendent Ty McNichols said district administrators will continue to bring them to the board. The next regular Normandy board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13.
