NORMANDY • The Normandy School Board voted Wednesday night to reverse its earlier decision and pay tuition to 17 accredited school districts where Normandy students have transferred this fall. The total bill was $1.37 million.
Board member Terry Artis cast the sole dissenting vote. He said that voting to pay the money to other districts when Normandy needed it to educate its remaining students was “like someone handing you a pistol” to commit suicide.
The board had voted in October not to pay a bill for tuition and transportation costs to the other districts where Normandy students had transferred. On Oct 31, the board reversed its earlier decision and voted to pay a $108,635 bill to bus students who transferred to Francis Howell schools. But it still had to deal with the tuition.
The withholding of the tuition had put the cash-strapped district at odds with state law. Supporters of the vote not to pay said then that they could not justify paying money to other districts while leaving Normandy students without the needed funds for a fair education.
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At the meeting Wednesday, the board also heard from students and community members who implored members not to lay off teachers as they try to shore up the district’s troubled finances.
The board plans to save more than $3 million this year by closing Bel-Nor Elementary School and laying off 103 employees, most of them teachers. Those cuts and the school closing are to take effect Dec. 20.
High school senior Avriel Clincy told the board: “I have wonderful teachers. If my teachers were laid off, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Robert McRath, a junior, warned the board that if they cut good teachers, attendance would drop even more.
Raquan Smith, a senior, said he had already endured the closing of Wellston schools before being transferred to Normandy.
He said the current situation in Normandy was “heart-breaking. It’s gut-wrenching. I feel like I’m about to lose a part of me . ... I don’t want teachers to be laid off.”
Among others who spoke was Lisa Woods, a kindergarten teacher at Bel-Nor, who said the district needed more not fewer, teachers and support staff,.
Homeowner Sharon Owens-Hare described the district’s situation as “torment for all of us.”
Margaret Gillerman is a reporter for the Post-Dispatch.
