Rockwood Braces for Influx of Students from Failing Districts

Like many suburban school districts in St. Louis, Rockwood is preparing for a possible influx of students from the area’s two failing school districts in the wake of a Missouri Supreme Court decision earlier this month.

The ruling on Breitenfeld v. Clayton (formerly known as Turner v. Clayton) requires that accredited school districts located in St. Louis County, such as Rockwood, must admit any students who currently reside within the area’s two unaccredited school districts, Normandy and Riverview Gardens. 

It does not apply to St. Louis Public Schools, which gained provisional accreditation last year.

Kim Cranston, the district’s chief communications officer, told Patch that at this point, they have received calls from four families interested in transferring their child to Rockwood. The number is small, but if it grows, the district has no legal recourse to turning aside requests or directing students to less crowded schools.

It creates a complicated situation for districts on both ends, since the ones losing students are still on the hook to pay their tuition while those receiving them face uncertainty about if, and how, they can accommodate the new students.

Cranston said it is “difficult to determine” the level of hardship it puts on Rockwood, since the total number of students and their grade levels is still in flux.

“Rockwood is working with district attorneys to determine the impact of the ruling on our schools and what may need to be done to comply with the law,” the district said in a news release concerning the case. “Among these actions, it may be necessary for the district to update school board policies and other procedures related to tuition, student admission and existing classroom sizes to comply with the ruling.”

Suburban districts have been coordinating closely with the other educational organizations to help prepare for the transfers, namely the Cooperating School Districts of St. Louis and the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Cranston said Rockwood has been appreciative of the guidance from the two organizations, which recently released a set of guidelines for district’s to use and are continuing to urge legislators to alter the state’s school transfer statute.

“The only way to seek legislative help for the Governor to call a Special Session of the Legislature to address the matter,” the district’s news release said. “In the meantime, Rockwood is keeping a list of interested transfer students based on phone calls to the district.”