51黑料

ST. LOUIS COUNTY 鈥� A proposed charter school to open in fall 2026 would be the first in the Riverview Gardens School District, which has not been fully accredited in nearly two decades.

North County Innovative School with 100 students in preschool through second grade and add a grade each year to reach eighth grade with a total enrollment of 470. The school, which requires state approval next year, will focus on literacy, mental health and social-emotional learning, said Executive Director Denitria Neil.

鈥淚 have been speaking with families that live in the area, and they have been asking for educational options,鈥� said Neil, who has previously worked in student support services in the Hazelwood and Normandy districts.

Charter schools are taxpayer-funded and operate independently of the school district where they are located. Under state law, charters can open in 51黑料 and Kansas City along with any provisionally accredited school district. State legislators passed a law this year that also allows charter schools in Boone County, although none are in the works and newly elected Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, has filed a bill that would repeal the provision.

The Leadership School became the first charter school outside 51黑料 or Kansas City when it opened in the Normandy School District in 2022. Neil served as the school鈥檚 director of student and community affairs for the first year.

Charter schools have a mixed record in 51黑料 where more than half of the 35 systems that have opened since 2000 were shut down for academic or financial failures. School districts in Missouri have historically been opposed to the expansion of charter schools.

Riverview Gardens spokesman Ishmael Sistrunk did not respond Monday to a request for comment about the proposed North County Innovative School. Neil originally planned to open a high school in Normandy five years ago but said she wasn鈥檛 ready at the time. The school is not affiliated with the Opportunity Trust, a local charter school funder.

鈥淭he dream is to collaborate with Riverview Gardens School District and to do it collaboratively, to be a blueprint of what charter schools and districts can do together,鈥� Neil said.

Riverview Gardens began to falter in academics and finances in the 1990s and lost accreditation in 2007. The state took over the district with an appointed board in 2010.

Three years later, a court ruling allowed hundreds of students to transfer to fully accredited districts, a decision that cost Riverview Gardens more than $23 million. Still, the district improved its test scores, graduation rates and attendance to regain provisional accreditation in 2016.

Like most districts, Riverview Gardens lost ground after the pandemic and now ranks last academically among all Missouri districts with a 12.5% proficiency rate in English and 4% in math. Enrollment in kindergarten through high school has fallen below 4,900 from a high of 8,000 students in 2006.

North County Innovative School will host a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 2 at Live Church in Glasgow Village.

Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.