After troubles at Normandy Middle, a return to Francis Howell

Updated at 4:15 p.m. Monday to correct a detail about the incident in which Naomi Goodloe appeared to have a seizure at the middle school.��

Lorrine Goodloe believed it might be better in Normandy schools this year, and told her daughter so.

But barely two months into the school year, Naomi Goodloe has left Normandy again, bruised and now behind in her seventh-grade studies.

She has joined nearly 100 other students in the last two months who were granted court orders for the right to return to Francis Howell schools. Naomi said her schoolmates met her with cheers when she returned recently to Saeger Middle School in St. Charles.

“Everybody gave me hugs, and they dragged me around the school, letting everyone know ‘Naomi’s back!’” she said after school last week at her Northwoods home.

It was a needed welcome after a stressful summer and stint at Normandy Middle School.

The uncertainty of the previous year had left Lorrine Goodloe searching for stability. She didn’t want Naomi to go through another school year wondering when her time would be up at Saeger. They spent the summer grieving the loss of a school she had come to love, and one that had helped the middle-schooler socially and academically. Naomi made both good friends and good grades there.

In the spring, the Missouri State Board of Education voted to lapse the Normandy School District and start over. That opened the door for the Francis Howell School Board to tell Naomi and other transfer students they could not return for the 2014-15 school year.

Some parents added their names to a lawsuit demanding that school districts receive transfer students, but Naomi and her mother continued with their plans. They had already said goodbye to Francis Howell, coming to terms with starting at Normandy Middle in August. With state officials and a new board in place, maybe it was a good time to give the schools there a fresh chance, Lorrine Goodloe thought.

But that new start has been plagued with behavior problems at the middle and high school, as well as teacher resignations, the Post-Dispatch has previously reported.

For Naomi, two serious incidents led to the realization that she wasn’t safe at Normandy Middle School, her mother said. Both happened in class when teachers were present, Naomi said.

The first happened on the third day of school — a boy hit her in the face, she said. She still doesn’t know why.

Her mother went to school and spoke with principals, putting a plan in place that she hoped would keep Naomi safe. Every day, she told Naomi to stay positive. And she prayed, “Lord, keep your hands around your children.”

At school, Naomi said, one teacher sat in front of class and cried as kids acted out. Others left and didn’t return. During lunch, the cafeteria was chaotic with food fights, Naomi said. Her mother offered to make her a lunch to bring and eat elsewhere.

“Mom, they’ll just steal it,” she told her.

Naomi kept asking to go back to Francis Howell.

“Mama, they didn’t change,” she would say. “I miss Saeger Middle.”

A friend there was asking about her, too.

A girl who became close to Naomi last year has grandparents who live a few blocks away from Naomi in Northwoods. Her mother came to knock on their door after the school year started to ask if Naomi would come back.

Near the end of September, Lorrine Goodloe got another call from Normandy Middle. She said they told her Naomi might have had a seizure. After rushing from work to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital, Lorrine Goodloe said she arrived to find her daughter with red marks on her neck.

Naomi said another girl tried to choke her with a scarf when she wouldn’t give her some Skittles. It felt like one of the candies got stuck in her throat when the scarf was around her neck, and while at the nurses’ office, she passed out, Naomi said.

“We can’t live like this,” Naomi’s mother told her.

Normandy officials dispute details about the choking incident, including that it happened in a classroom. They say an investigation determined Naomi came out of the bathroom and started having what was thought to be a seizure.��Daphne Dorsey, a spokeswoman for the Normandy Schools Collaborative, said paramedics were quickly called to the middle school and the student was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Dorsey said according to an incident report, other students who were in the bathroom with Naomi said that she was involved with the “pass-out game,” where someone is choked so that they lose oxygen to the point that it can sometimes produce a high.��

Lorrine Goodloe said that she believes Naomi.

“The doctor said she did not have a seizure,” Lorrine Goodloe said. “She was scared to go to school. My daughter is not that kind of person.”

After weeks of asking to go back to Saeger, Lorrine Goodloe made phone calls and determined Naomi might still be able to get back to Francis Howell. Attorneys hired by the Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri, a school-choice organization financed by investment banker Rex Sinquefield, would go to court for Naomi’s right to return, as they have for others. The judge granted the orders based on his ruling in August that the state board had violated rules when they changed Normandy’s accreditation.

Lorrine Goodloe filled out the paperwork, and a few days later, got a call that Naomi could return to Francis Howell.

Francis Howell declined a reporter’s request for interviews at Naomi’s school.

Francis Howell is the only school district where separate court orders are required for each student wishing to return as a transfer. Other districts, such as Pattonville and Ritenour, have allowed students to return upon request after the judge’s decision in August.

The requests to return to Francis Howell are still coming in, attorney Richard Gray said on Friday.

“Generally what happens is their kid’s friends transfer and they hear about it,” said Gray, an attorney representing those who want to transfer back.

Last year, Naomi took a bus to St. Charles County with others from Normandy. This year, with a much smaller number of transfer students, Naomi rides in a cab each school day with another boy from the neighborhood. Under the law, Normandy is responsible for the cost of both Naomi’s $11,034 annual tuition to Francis Howell and the transportation to get her there.

Arrangements have been made for Naomi to have after-school tutoring at Saeger twice a week to help her catch up on what she missed so far this school year. And she’s safe, Lorrine Goodloe said.

She wants to Naomi to be able to continue there after this year. “That’s her element,” she said.

Lorrine Goodloe owns her home and has a position in special education at Jennings Junior High, but she is considering renting out her home and finding a place in the Francis Howell School District.

She feels anger about the State Board’s decision to give the new Normandy Schools Collaborative an accreditation classification, which sent Naomi back to what she calls a broken school with unmet promises.

“They were saying it’s going to be different now,” Lorrine Goodloe said. “Then we get there and nothing’s changed.”