Missouri education officials have voted to strip the accreditation of the Normandy School District.
Under Tuesday’s decision from the Missouri State Board of Education, the Normandy School District’s loss of accreditation takes effect Jan. 1. The district then gets two school years to improve and regain accreditation or face state intervention.
Normandy has noted previously that it absorbed students from The Wellston School District – which was closed by the state in 2010.
Districts are evaluated based on how many academic performance standards they meet for things such as test scores and attendance. According to the Associated Press, the most recent review shows Normandy met five of 14 performance standards.
Normandy School District Superintendent Stanton E. Lawrence released the following statement to KSDK NewsChannel 5:
“Earlier this morning, the Missouri Commissioner of Education Chris Nicastro recommended to the State Board of Education that the accreditation status of the Normandy School District be lowered from provisionally accredited to unaccredited. The State Board of Education subsequently approved the recommendation. In spite of this decision, some issues related to the reliability of the data used by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to make this classification determination remain unresolved.
“Although we are disappointed in the decision, we will keep a laser-like focus on improving the performance in our schools. We look forward to continuing our work with DESE. As always, we have an obligation to keep what is best for our students first and foremost in our planning and decision-making. On Wednesday, September 19, 2012, the administration and school board will host a press conference in our board room at 10 a.m. to share additional details. The board room is located in the rear of the district’s administration building, 3855 Lucas & Hunt.”
Information from The Associated Press and KSDK.com contributed to this report.