Mehlville School District parents have the unique opportunity to enter their children in the lottery for the district’s new school of innovation that will open for the coming school year.

But parents must hurry, as the lottery for the Choice School of Innovation, or CSOI, is set to close Friday, Feb. 24. Applications for the new school can be printed or submitted online by clicking the “Choice School” tab at

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Mehlville’s school of innovation will be the first of its kind in the region and one of just a few nationwide. The school will allow students to move at their own pace through project-based curriculum designed to prepare them for the challenges of the real world better than traditional desks-in-rows classrooms.

As we’ve noted before, CSOI will be a game-changer in terms of academic achievement for the Mehlville School District.

Superintendent Chris Gaines, who recommended the Board of Education approve CSOI, believes the new school is how education will be delivered in the future.

For the 2017-2018 school year, CSOI will have 250 K-4 students.

For the following year, CSOI will expand to fifth grade and 300 students.

Mehlville launched the lottery for the school of innovation a few days after the Board of Education voted Jan. 18 to open CSOI.

“It’s pretty cool, so now we’ve got to do a whole bunch of work,” Gaines said right after the board’s CSOI vote.

Interest is running high in the new school given the fact that it had 35 applicants even before the district announced that the survey was posted on the website.

The school had 200 applications by the end of the first week, and at press time earlier this week, it had 365 applications.

CSOI applications will be accepted through Friday, so we urge Mehlville parents not to waste any time and enter their children in the lottery to attend the school of innovation.

In the decades that we’ve covered the Mehlville School District, this is one of the most exciting times we can recall, and the school of innovation is just one reason for that.

District officials believe the school of innovation will revolutionize education districtwide by pioneering new ways of learning and increasing test scores and student engagement.

We agree, and see this as just another step toward Mehlville becoming a destination school district.