When the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in June that students from unaccredited districts could transfer to better-performing schools, Cornell and Shonte Young were among thousands of St. Louis County parents who entered a lottery to determine where their children would attend class.
The lottery asked parents to list three choices, but the Youngs left two lines blank and only listed one district – Kirkwood, where 13-year-old Cornell IV hoped to follow his father’s footsteps and join the Pioneer football team.
But Kirkwood already had filled its available seats, so the family was content with returning to the Riverview Gardens district, even though it lost its state accreditation six years ago.
“The only other option was to come back here,” Shonte Young said. “Other than Kirkwood, we never had any plans to go anywhere else.”