ST. LOUIS COUNTY — The superintendent of Mehlville schools will host a meeting Tuesday to hear from families concerned about changes to the district’s signature programs for personalized learning.
Next year, the “academy†program for seventh and eighth grades, which blends multiple subjects into longer class periods, will only be offered at one of the district’s four middle schools according to a recent letter sent to parents.
The nontraditional learning style featuring collaborative projects is considered a continuation of Mosaic, an elementary ““ where enrollment is by lottery. In the middle schools, students direct their own learning paths while guided by teachers to “,†the district’s website states.
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The academies will be offered in sixth grade at Bernard, Oakville and Washington middle schools, but Buerkle Middle near Jefferson Barracks will have the only program for seventh and eighth grades.
Parents in a Mosaic school Facebook group said they were shocked by the change to a program they chose for their children.
“I almost feel like our kids are being treated like science experiments that are now being discarded,†said one mom.
Part of the challenge for the district is hiring teachers with certification to teach multiple subjects in seventh through 12th grades. Bernard and Oakville academies are underenrolled, and students had a hard time fitting in electives around the alternative schedule, district leaders said.
The goal of meeting with parents is to gather feedback over what is a “fluid situation,†said Mehlville Superintendent Jeff Haug.
“We’re probably going to come to a compromise,†Haug said Friday. “We didn’t do it to shut things down; we want to continue what parents are getting at Mosaic.â€
Mehlville has long been considered a front-runner in the field of personalized learning, which gives students more autonomy to choose curriculum for college prep and career training. In fall of 2019, superintendents from around the country visited Mehlville to learn more about the district’s programming.
Haug said the district’s mission hasn’t changed, and plans are underway to create more flexible coursework in all schools.
“We’re not changing our goals for personalized learning, we’re actually going to make it better,†he said.
The decision to downsize the middle school academy program comes on the heels of the school board’s vote in December to end Mehlville at Home, a virtual school launched during the pandemic that now serves more than 100 students from across the state.
Mehlville and the Ritenour School District in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County were the last two local districts to continue virtual learning after the 2020-2021 school year. Ritenour Virtual Academy closed in fall 2022 because of a lack of interest.
More than a dozen teachers, parents and students spoke in opposition to closing Mehlville at Home during a special board meeting last month. The virtual school was a safe space for students with health conditions and those who were bullied, anxious or otherwise uncomfortable in a traditional school setting, they said.
“What started as a necessity turned into the biggest gift for my family,†said Holly Mroczkowski, whose son has autism and struggles to focus in the classroom.
Mehlville will spend $1.1 million on the final year of the virtual program, including nearly $500,000 for students who don’t live in the district. Teachers in Mehlville at Home will be offered other jobs in the district, and students will be helped with a transition to their home schools or another virtual program through the state.
School board members said it was a difficult decision to close Mehlville at Home after hearing the passionate pleas to save it.
“It’s heartbreaking when you consider the services that we want to provide our students versus what our budget will allow,†said board member Scott Huegerich.