Mehlville Superintendent Eric Knost has “significant concerns” about the Riverview Gardens Board of Education’s decision selecting the Mehlville School District as the district it will send buses to for students who transfer under a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
The Riverview Gardens Board of Education voted tonight — Tuesday — in a closed session to select the Mehlville School District as the transportation district for Riverview Gardens students who wish to transfer because of Riverview Gardens’ unaccredited status. The Mehlville School District’s Administration Building on Lemay Ferry Road is roughly 22 miles from the Riverview Gardens School District.
Under the Missouri Supreme Court ruling on the Breitenfeld v. Clayton — formerly Turner v. Clayton — case, students residing in unaccredited districts may choose to attend another district in the same or adjoining counties. Furthermore, the unaccredited, or sending district, must choose at least one accredited school district where they will transport students interested in a transfer.
The Mehlville Board of Education and Knost had no involvement in the transportation decision by the Riverview Gardens Board of Education, according to a Mehlville School District news release issued Tuesday evening. Mehlville officials were officially notified of the decision after the Riverview Gardens Board of Education voted in tonight’s closed session, the release stated.
Knost has significant concerns relating to Mehlville School District’s current building capacities and current class sizes that are already above the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s prescribed desirable numbers, the Mehlville release stated.
“We are currently reviewing our educational capacity throughout the district to determine how many transfer students can be accommodated,” Knost stated in the release. “In the coming weeks, we will work to comply with the law, the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling and the decision of the Riverview Gardens School District Board of Education in a manner that is in the best interests of all children and families.”
