A large majority of students who transferred out of the Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts this year have stayed in their new schools, a follow-up attendance count has shown.
More than 90 percent of the 2,500 students given seats in accredited schools as of Aug. 9 were attending those schools when officials took a count last month.
Still, there were defections as the unprecedented process to transfer students unfolded over the last few months.
Throughout that time, more than 500 — or one-fifth — of those who were interested decided not to transfer, according to numbers compiled by Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis. Some fell out of the process before they were even assigned a school, while others got a placement and opted to stay put, struggling with transportation if it was not available.
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“Even though they were given a placement, they couldn’t get there,” said Don Senti, executive director of Cooperating School Districts, the organization that coordinated the transfer lotteries and placements.
Those vacancies are not likely to be filled with new transfer students midyear when the semester changes, following new guidance from the state department of education and a vote by area superintendents on Friday.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said it is generally in the best interest of students to transfer in the beginning of the school year. But the department also advised districts to consider transfers midyear if there are extenuating circumstances that would make it in the best interest of a child.
Mehlville Superintendent Eric Knost said that of the 216 students accepted, just a few have left his district. He said Mehlville has a small waiting list of students, and administrators will consider whether they can give them seats when the new semester starts.
“The bigger part of my concern is: What are we doing to help the Riverview and Normandy school districts to get back on their feet?” Knost said. “I don’t predict that there would be a large amount of students wanting to leave at semester. I think ultimately people want to go to school in a community where they reside.”
Mehlville is one of the districts to which students transferring from Riverview Gardens can get a free bus ride. When a limited number of seats there were filled, Riverview Gardens chose Kirkwood as a second district to send buses. In all, nearly 800 students requested to attend those districts, but only 426 got placements; 395 were attending on the count date.
Under the law upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court last summer, the Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts are responsible for paying tuition and transportation costs for students who choose to transfer to accredited districts. Those bills — estimated at $35 million total for both districts — are likely to leave Normandy without money sometime this spring. Riverview Gardens has more of a cushion in its reserve fund, but is still worried about the impending costs.
The majority of students in both Riverview Gardens and Normandy stayed put in their home district.
Missouri’s Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro has asked the governor for $6.8 million to help Normandy make it through the end of the school year. Ultimately, state legislators would have to approve that money as part of a supplemental budget request.
Officials placed transfer students in 24 districts this year. The mid-September count showed that if a student had transportation or if the school was close to their home district, the students who had placements there were most likely to be attending in September. Others given seats never officially enrolled or stepped foot in their transfer district.
In Parkway, 118 students were assigned seats but 90 students actually enrolled. The others said the schools were too far away or they didn’t have transportation, officials said. Of the 90 who transferred, just three have since left, they said.
In Rockwood, 28 students had spots, but only four actually decided to attend schools there. Fifteen students who could have enrolled in Ladue Schools never pursued registration. That was the case with nine students in Clayton. Ladue currently has 88 transfer students and Clayton has 45. Kirkwood’s transfers have held steady at 179.
In the Francis Howell district, 450 transfer students were attending in mid-September out of the 496 who could have enrolled. Hazelwood officials say that 239 transfer students currently are enrolled there. But 318 students were placed in that district in the lottery process.
Superintendents already are discussing the application process for next year, which according to guidelines set by state education officials, will have a deadline of Feb. 1.
“Unless the Legislature comes up with a lot of money, I don’t see how in the world we’re going to continue this,” Senti said. “But we’re going to assume we are.”
Children who transferred from the Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts this year will not need to reapply for the 2014-15 school year.
