Today (Thursday, December 17), Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro is expected to recommend a merger of the Wellston and Normandy school districts to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“We’re not happy with student performance,” Nicastro said at a public meeting on Monday.
“While some things have shown promise of improvement, it has been too little, too slow.”
The Wellston School District does not have the financial means to restore its facilities, and since 1994 the district has been struggling to maintain or regain accreditation. The school district has been under State control for the past five years.
Normandy and Wellston parents, faculty and staff met at Normandy’s Lucas Crossing Elementary School to discuss the proposed merger. According to St. Louis Public Radio, the meeting included loud outbursts from angry Wellston faculty and parents.
Faculty contracts in the Wellston district will expire June 30, 2010, leaving more than 130 jobs in jeopardy after the school year ends – with no guarantee that the Normandy School District will hire them.
Some parents said they feel that the Normandy district is no better than the Wellston district. While Wellston lost its accreditation in 2003, the Normandy district is currently only provisionally accredited and also dealing with low test scores.
However, Normandy student scores are higher overall than Wellston scores. The Normandy School District just broke ground on a new elementary school and is under the direction of a new superintendent, Stanton Lawrence.
“Some of the greatest opportunities present themselves as challenges, and we know that our young people will step up to the plate when challenged and they will perform,” Lawrence said in a statement provided by the district.
Wellston superintendent Charles Brown Sr. also favors the merger. After this school year Brown is retiring, which is an additional reason for the two districts to join.
“We need to bring needed changes to our children or they will continue to suffer the loss of needed resources that they need to compete,” Brown told St. Louis Public Radio.
Some parents also said they fear that a merger between the two rival districts would cause more problems than it would solve.
“They can’t even have a basketball game together without some type of confrontation or conflict,” concerned parent Michele Bullock told St. Louis Public Radio.
“And with the Normandy-Wellston conflict, somebody always ends up severely injured.”
During the Monday meeting, though, members of the Normandy High School football team and the Eskridge High School basketball team (in the Wellston district) joined together and served cooperatively as ushers.