School Transfers Ruling Favors Clayton District

Updated Wednesday 12:15 p.m.

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, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Quoting from the Post-Dispatch article:

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

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."

The has not yet made a public statement about the case as of Tuesday afternoon.

Read more about the Turner v. Clayton decision and read reaction from an attorney for the plaintiffs in the complete Post-Dispatch report.

More about Turner v. Clayton on Patch: