KIRKWOOD • When students from Riverview Gardens stepped off the bus Tuesday morning for their first day at Kirkwood High School, they heard loud, high-pitched whistles from seniors dressed in camouflage.
The group was continuing a tradition for freshmen arriving for their first day at the high school. This year, those new students included 10 in the ninth grade from Riverview Gardens, who were not only starting high school, but in a new district.
It is one of many traditions Kirkwood high schoolers say they are excited to show their new classmates. And those from the unaccredited districts of Riverview Gardens and Normandy — a total of about 40 students transferring to Kirkwood High and 184 districtwide — say they felt that energy the minute the arrived.
“I just feel a whole different atmosphere,†said Kameron Dunn, a sophomore from Riverview Gardens.
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The students are part of an unprecedented migration of students this year in the ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´ region, prompted by a Missouri Supreme Court decision in June. The ruling upheld a law that allows children in unaccredited school systems — such as Riverview Gardens and Normandy — to transfer to another district.
In all, 1,451 students have opted to leave Riverview Gardens, and 1,189 asked to leave Normandy schools. The Riverview Gardens district opted to send buses to Mehlville and Kirkwood districts for transferring students. Both those districts set limits on the number of children they would enroll.
Two Kirkwood schools, Nipher Middle and North Glendale Elementary, do not have transfer students because they did not have room, district spokeswoman Ginger Cayce said. There were no reported problems with transportation of the transfer students to Kirkwood schools on Tuesday.
Senior Frances Fechter had a camouflage bandana and “14†painted on her face to get in the spirit of this year’s “Boot Camp†theme to welcome the freshmen.
“We’re all excited to have them be here,†she said. “Some of them were struggling in their schools.â€
More than 95 percent of the students in Riverview Gardens and Normandy school districts are African-American, according to last year’s data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Kirkwood High School’s student population averages about 20 percent black. To compare, students from Riverview Gardens who were bused to Oakville High School last week in the Mehlville School District were enrolling in a school whose black student population averages 9 percent. Likewise, Normandy students who take the bus to Francis Howell in St. Charles County are coming into a district where about 7 percent of the students are black.
Kameron said he woke up at 5:20 a.m. to catch the bus at one of the elementary schools in Riverview Gardens. The bus ride was about 30 minutes, and not bad, he said.
He didn’t realize he was going to fit in immediately when he stepped off the bus into the group of boot campers. His wardrobe choice for the day, by complete coincidence, was a camouflage Army jacket.
“I had no idea,†he said smiling and watching the group of seniors. “It just happened that way.â€
