Politics & Government

No Open Enrollment, School Transfers Ruling Favors School Districts

The decision was announced Tuesday, and frees Hazelwood School District from having to let students from unaccredited schools attend for free.

A judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the School District of Clayton in a widely watched case that deals with the transfer of students from unaccredited schools to accredited ones.

Under the ruling, students from unaccredited school districts would not have the right to transfer to better school districts for free.


Chief Communications Officer Chris Tennill of the said the district is "thrilled" with the ruling.

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"This is a statute that, in its current form, doesn't work the way it's intended to," said Tennill, describing how the ruling by Judge David Lee Vincent III aligns with the district's positions on student transfers.

He said it's unclear whether plaintiffs will appeal the case, so the district will take a wait-and-see approach for the immediate future. If it is appealed, he said, the district is prepared to continue facing the issue of transfers with the "same dedication and intensity" as it has for the last five years.

Find out what's happening in Hazelwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Elkin Kistner, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he has 40 days from Tuesday to file an appeal. He isn't sure when the filing will occur.

"That's the reason appeals exist," Kistner said.

As for the ruling, he said: "It's not good news."

Impact on Hazelwood School District

Turner v. Clayton had serious implications for the , which has more than 300 students from the Riverview Gardens School District and St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS)—both of which are unaccredited—on a wait list to attend district schools, Diana Gulotta, Assistant Superintendent for Communications, said.

"When we first started hearing about Turner versus Clayton, it seemed like students would be able to go wherever they wanted and that was scary to us because we have attendance zones with our schools so we can keep class sizes that are reasonable," she said . "And when you have this unknown factor affecting the school district, it can be quite frightening."

Following Tuesday's HSD Board of Education meeting, Gulotta said she believes the ruling is a win-win for both sides by allowing SLPS to keep its students and have the opportunity to revive the school system and for HSD to keeps it order in tact.

"We were rooting for them (SLPS)," she said. "I think every school district wants to see them get better and gain their accreditation and they are taking steps towards that."

Find out what else Gulotta had to say about the Turner v. Clayton ruling on Thursday morning on Patch. Think you might forget? Signup for our newsletter to receive email notification when the article publishes.

More about Turner v. Clayton and Open Enrollment on Patch:


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