D303 grade level center lawsuit dismissed

A judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by parents to stop the formation of grade level centers in St. Charles Unit District 303.

The summer transformation of Richmond and Davis elementary schools into kindergarten through second grade and third- through fifth-grade level centers is expected to proceed without legal impediment.

A group of 13 parents, all in the Davis Elementary attendance area, filed the suit on the idea that the grade level center plan circumvented the No Child Left Behind Act. Richmond Elementary stood 25 percent vacant at the time of the grade level center plan. Richmond had to offer a school choice alternative after low test scores by some of the school’s demographic subgroups tagged the building with the failing school label created by the federal law. The parents in the lawsuit believed district officials created the grade level center plan to avoid the escalating repercussions of being a so-called failing school.

“Under this plan, Richmond school no longer exists,” said Tim Dwyer, the attorney for the parents. “The kids who generated this (school improvement plan) are lost in the shuffle. It’s a sign of desperation. The reason why we’re here is not because my clients want their kids to go to Davis school. We’re here because we want (the district) to follow the law.”

Robert Swain, the attorney representing the school district, said the grade level center idea was simply not a school improvement plan as No Child Left Behind envisions. If that were the case, the federal law would also have to consider the hiring of any new principals and the purchase of new books or equipment anywhere in the district a school improvement plan.

Judge Thomas Mueller ultimately agreed with that logic. Mueller said the formation of the grade level center plan was only a “coincidence from a legal standpoint” in that it came at the same time Richmond had No Child Left Behind problems.

“It is simply a plan adopted by the school board to deal with other issues which, coincidentally, hopefully, will deal with reason for the (school improvement plan),” Mueller said.

Mueller also said he could find no support in the law for the idea that taxpayers to a school district have any right to a traditional neighborhood school. That leaves only one other option for people who disagree with the grade level center plan.

“The outlet for disgruntled parents ... is the election process,” Mueller said.

After the decision, Superintendent Don Schlomann said he is glad the specter of the lawsuit is gone so the plan can move ahead on a positive note. So far, eight students outside the Davis/Richmond attendance areas have filed to opt-in to the grade level center schools.

Schlomann also said the idea of the district escaping the repercussions of No Child Left Behind aren’t true. He expects Richmond will not be seen as a “new school” under the federal law even with the grade level center change. In fact, with the new setup of the two schools and the mingling of the student populations, Schlomann said it’s possible Davis would receive the failing school label now as well.

The most recent round of state tests will determine the status of those labels, Schlomann said. District staff are aware of the results, but they won’t become public until the fall.