Laquette Collins has three children who transferred from Normandy to University City last year.
On Thursday night her voice quivered as she urged the University City School Board to reconsider their decision to no longer accept students from Normandy.
“Since they’ve been in U-City, my kids have made tremendous improvements,” Collins told the board, as she rubbed away tears.
Shortly after her comments, the board reversed its decision to refuse students from Normandy who were set to return to University City for the coming school year. Though state officials have recommended that districts accept a lower tuition rate for transfer students this year, the University City board kept higher rates in place.
Last month the board voted to close its doors to transfers students from the new, state-run Normandy Schools Collaborative, which replaced the unaccredited Normandy School District.
The new district began operations on July 1 with no accreditation status, and according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), receiving districts have the option as to whether or not they will continue to accept students who transferred last year. A student also must have attended the Normandy School District during the 2012-13 in order to continue in the transfer program, according to DESE guidelines.
With board member Tom Peters absent from the June 26 meeting, the vote was split on a motion to accept transfer students. In the event of a tie, district policy states that a motion fails, which ended the transfer process for Normandy students.
By a 5-2 vote on Thursday evening the board reversed course and reopened its doors to 80 students who transferred to University City last year.
Peters voted in favor of accepting transfers. Charlotte Tatum was the only member to change his or her mind.
She said in the weeks afterward she had time to think about her decision, and that comments from parents like Collins caused her to reconsider.
“If it were my child, what would I want someone to do?” Tatum said.
Linda Peoples-Jones, George Lenard and Lisa Brenner voted again to accept Normandy transfer students.
In contrast, John Clark and State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, voted again to no longer accept transfer students from Normandy.
Chappelle-Nadal maintained her position that accepting students could weigh down academic performance. She also brought up concerns about the outcome of a lawsuit filed by parents of students who are challenging state recommendations limit the number of students who may transfer out of Normandy.
While she agrees with the premise of the lawsuit, she said it could open the doors to far more than 80 Normandy students transferring into University City.
“We’re in a gray area where administrative rules are superseding and circumventing state law,” Chappelle-Nadal said.
During a work session prior to the board’s vote, concerns were raised that test scores from Normandy students could erode the district’s accreditation status.
In response, Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt said it would take more than a weak showing on the part of Normandy transfer students, which made up around 3 percent of the student body, for the district to lose its full accreditation.
“While I’m not a statistician, I don’t think that the 3 percent is what will cause us to lose our accreditation across the board,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt pointed out that in addition to test scores, other measures like attendance, graduation rates and ACT scores factor into a district’s accreditation score.
The board did not revisit its decision regarding tuition for transfer students. In its meeting on June 26, the board voted unanimously not to accept the lower rate of about $7,200 that’s recommended in DESE guidelines for students who transferred last year out of the former Normandy School District.
The district’s proposed tuition rate for the coming school year for K-5 students is $12,413; for grades six through eight the proposed rate is $13,283; and for high school the proposed rate is $14,381.
Pruitt had recommended that the board approve the lower tuition rate, but some board members worried that doing so could put the district in financial bind.
During the work session, the district’s Chief Financial Officer, Scott Hafertepe, said the lower tuition amount was intended to help stabilize Normandy’s finances. Costs related to school transfers forced Normandy to reduce staff and left it hanging by a thread financially by the end of last school year.
University City is the only district thus far to vote on the fate of Normandy transfer students in public. Other boards have settled the matter in closed sessions.
Edited for length and reprinted with permission from news.stlpublicradio.org/.