Normandy again starts school year at center of turmoil

One day after a St. Louis County judge upheld the right of Normandy schoolchildren to transfer to higher-performing schools, Lorrine Goodloe brought her two children to the district’s back-to-school rally to pick up bus times, class schedules and free supplies.

Her daughter, Naomi, had spent sixth grade in the Francis Howell School District, but she’ll return to Normandy despite getting the green light to leave on Friday. Naomi said she’s not happy about returning. But, “I’m tired of fighting,” her mother said.

Five miles away from the crowds protesting the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who graduated from here, students are preparing to return to a district that will be directly run by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Normandy once again finds itself at the heart of a situation that has brought statewide attention to its most troubled schools. A law that gives students in unaccredited districts access to higher-performing schools left the Normandy district close to insolvency last year from the cost of compliance, and led to the state stepping in.

It could be weeks before Normandy school officials know the impact of Friday’s ruling, and just how many Normandy transfer students will return to Francis Howell, Ritenour, Ferguson-Florissant and Pattonville. The four are the school districts that said Normandy transfer students couldn’t return this fall after the Missouri Board of Education took a string of actions in June.

Those actions were intended to get the newly formed Normandy Schools Collaborative out from under the transfer law to allow the system to remain intact and prevent financial collapse. But Judge Michael Burton’s ruling on Friday says the state board did not follow proper rule-making when it tinkered with the district’s accreditation status in June, and that all Normandy transfer students have the right to return to their new schools as early as Monday, if they choose to.

This puts Normandy back in the situation it was in last year — complying with a law that cost it about $1.3 million in monthly tuition and transportation costs for transfer students. As a result, one elementary school closed and 104 staff were laid off, affecting the 3,000 children who stayed.

Superintendent Ty McNichols didn’t rule out layoffs in coming months.

“We just don’t know,” he said. “We’ll have to look at the total enrollment. Even though all those students will have the option to go, they won’t all go.”

DeQuan Holloway, a junior, is returning to Normandy after having attended Francis Howell North High School last year.

After accepting that district’s decision not to re-enroll him, he wouldn’t consider going back to North now. “I’m with the old people I used to know,” he said, sitting beside two friends at Saturday’s back-to-school rally.

District officials will have to figure out how to transport students to Francis Howell — the district they chose to send buses to last year, where about 450 transfer students attended school. And the four receiving districts could have to reshuffle some things.

“Do they have classes set up for those kids?” McNichols asked. “Do they have teachers to accommodate those kids if they come back?”

Changes in the district should be apparent on Monday, when children return to class. At the high school alone, 70 percent of the staff will be new to the school, Principal Derrick Mitchell said. In all schools, there will be more focus on student engagement and literacy.

There is a moment of silence planned for Monday at the high school in honor of Brown, whose death at the hands of a police officer last week has touched off protests and rioting in neighboring Ferguson. Grief counselors will be in the school all week for students who need them.

Brown wasn’t well-known at the school.

“He was real quiet,” said Kearrion Coleman, in a Normandy Vikings football jersey.

“We just have to stay focused,” said Keevon Collins, standing next to him. “Ahead of the game.”