Choice for Riverview Gardens Students

Students in the Riverview Gardens district may be able to transfer to other districts next fall:

192 teachers have received layoff notices and another 100 employees are expected to get notices. State educators are expected to vote on Riverview Gardens at the next meeting in May. The district currently has provisional accreditation[…]

If the district loses accreditation, Riverview Gardens officials will have two years to try and gain it back.

Unlike St. Louis, the elected school board would remain in place and would not be replaced by a transitional school board.

But as early as next fall, students could be allowed to transfer to more successful schools in nearby school districts.

Here’s the surprising part of the story:

District leaders Rhonda Key and Natalie Thomas say they welcome the intervention and see it as an opportunity to improve.

Threatening a district with state control sends administrators scrambling to improve graduation rates and test scores. Imagine what an incentive for improvement the district would have if parents could choose to send their kids to different schools.