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Name this tune and wina free classified ad. Details

in this week’s classified section.

Check out our coverage of the Oakville High football team’s game against Parkway North on Page 9A.

Bill Milligan photo

Fundraisers benefit Gapsch Family FundTwo fundraisers were conducted last weekend at Sperreng Middle School

to raise money for the family of sixth-grader Maci Gapsch, who was killed in a house fire Aug. 27. The fire also claimed the lives of her father and great-grandmother. On Friday and Saturday, a barbecue to benefit the Gapsch Fam-ily Fund was sponsored by the International Association of Firefighters Local 2665, the Mehlville Fire Protection District and the St. Louis County Police Department. On Saturday, Sperreng students and staff conducted a fundraiser in honor of Maci, and her sister Mia, who survived the fire. In exchange for a donation to the fund, donors were given a pack of M&Ms. Above, Mehlville firefighters Carl Haiser, left, and Brian Torno, attend the grill Friday afternoon.

Our town ..................... Page 2AOpinions ..................... Page 4ACounty news ............... Page 6ACalendar...................... Page 7AGreen Park news ........ Page 8ASports .......................... Page 9ASenior living ............... Page 11ACounty news ............... Page 12AClassifieds ................... Page 14ACrossword puzzle ....... Page 15A

Inside the CallThe Lindbergh Schools Foun-

dation has designated $1,000 for the Dr. O. Victor Lenz Scholarship in honor of his ap-pointment to the State Board of Education. To read this and other web-exclusive stories, visit www.callnewspapers.com. The Call’s website is updated with new content on a daily basis.

Web exclusive

Judge to determine damagescounty will pay trash haulersBy GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

Five years after three trash haulers spurned by St. Louis County’s establishment of trash districts originally sued for damages, the only question now is how much the county will pay them in damages.

That decision holding the county at fault was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court last year, so the current court proceedings focus only on the amount of damages to be awarded to the three trash haulers.

Three trash companies, American Eagle, Meridian and Waste Management, sued in May 2008 after being outbid for contracts to exclusively serve eight new trash districts created by the county in unincorporated areas. Unauthorized haulers are prohibited from offering service to district residents.

The haulers’ case was heard in county, state and federal courts before Circuit Judge Barbara Wallace ruled in September 2010 that the county breached an implied

(See DAMAGES, Page 6A)

Monitoring of Oakville power plantdiscussed by County Council panelBy GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

The state Department of Natural Resources, Ameren Missouri, the Sierra Club and 6th District County Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, all agree that Ameren must moni-tor the groundwater around its Oakville coal-fired power plant — when and how it will happen, however, is still in question.

No one disputes that the plant is, by far,

the largest polluter in St. Louis County, county Department of Health Director Dr. Delores Gunn told the County Council at a Committee of the Whole meeting last week.

That pollution can come through toxic chemicals released into the air and, poten-tially, the groundwater. One of the key pol-lutants released into the air from a coal-fired

(See MONITORING, Page 4A)

Zoning issue tests Oakville residents’ faith in governmentBy GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

With the effort to change the zoning of a senior apartment com-plex in Oakville failing to gain traction with the County Council, residents say they have lost faith in the county government that represents their unincorporated area.

After the Aug. 5 decision by the county Planning Commission to reject rezoning the site at 6050 Telegraph Road, the issue is back

on the agenda of the County Council, with 6th District County Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, trying to get enough votes to override a threatened veto by County Executive Charlie Dooley.

So far, Stenger does not have a single other vote from his fellow council members to overturn the zoning.

Opposition to the project has crossed party lines among the area’s state legislators. Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-Oakville, and Sen. Scott

(See FAITH, Page 12A)

Arbors at Clydesdale Park to be considered by Green Park boardBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A proposed subdivision off Kohrs Road is scheduled to be considered next week by the Green Park Board of Aldermen.

The Board of Aldermen is scheduled to vote on the Arbors at Clydesdale Park, a

subdivision with 41 attached homes, when it meets at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, at City Hall, 11100 Mueller Road.

Developer J.H. Berra is proposing the subdivision at 10995 Kohrs Lane, which is owned by Ward 2 Alderman Tim Thuston.

Thuston has recused himself at past meet-

ings when the proposal has been discussed by aldermen.

Two public hearings — one by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and a second by the Board of Aldermen — have attracted dozens of residents who have voiced

(See ARBORS, Page 8A)

Volume 16, Number 37 1 Section, 20 Pages Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013 callnewspapers.com9977 Lin Ferry DriveSt. Louis, MO 63123

Enrollment surge greaterthan Lindbergh projectedBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

Lindbergh Schools’ preliminary enroll-ment for the 2013-2014 school year is greater than originally projected, accord-ing to Beth Johnston, the district’s direc-tor of communications.

On the first day of school, Aug. 15, the district had 147 more students compared to the first day of school in 2012, according to information provided to Superintendent Jim Simpson and the Board of Education by Brian McKenney, assistant superinten-dent for human resources.

“As the school year has progressed, we(See GREATER, Page 12A)

Page 12A - Call Publishing, Thursday, September 12, 2013

• FaithResidents no longer the bossof county, teacher tells council(Continued from Page 1A)

Sifton appeared before the County Coun-cil Sept. 3 to again oppose the complex.

He also spoke against the project at the July 15 Planning Commission public hear-ing, saying at the time that the building was too large for its small lot, comparing it to “15 pounds of potatoes in a 10-pound bag.”

“I think I speak for the majority of my constituents in saying that we are dis-appointed in what the zoning commis-sion decided, and we’d like to see that changed,” Sifton last week. “I think it’s pretty clear where the people of Oakville stand, and I just wanted to let you know that I stand with them.”

One of the recurring themes of Oakville citizens appearing before the County Council is that they believe their govern-ment, led by the County Council and County Executive Charlie Dooley, has let them down.

Oakville resident Al Faenger returned again to the issue of the notifi cation pro-cess to residents, saying that they had no way of knowing about the project because of how the county Department of Planning initially carried out that process.

“The required sign was placed in a loca-tion that no one could read. The postcards were mailed, but no one got them — and the required notifi cation was placed in a paper that we don’t get,” he said. “If plan-ning really wanted us to know, they would have placed it in the Oakville Call, which we all get. Somehow our not fi nding out about this project in March of 2012 is our fault, and we should just go away ... When is the lack of due process OK?”

Lindbergh Schools social studies teacher and Oakville resident Mary McCartney told the County Council Aug. 27 that she has long taught her seventh-grade students about the power they hold as citizens of a democratic government.

“In the United States, the people of a democracy are the boss,” she told the council. “Quite frankly, I don’t want to change that lesson plan. But from the behavior of St. Louis County, it looks like we have been removed. We’re not the boss of St. Louis County ... Please remember who the boss is in a democracy.”

Oakville resident Joyce Connelly told the council Aug. 27 that she talked to represen-tatives of neighboring businesses, who said they oppose the complex but do not want to get on the wrong side of the county govern-ment, which they depend on for licensing,

by publicly opposing the project.At the same meeting, Oakville resident

and attorney Mark Haefner said the council should look at what is in the best interests of the county, not employees of Ohio-based National Church Residences, or NCR, the project’s developer. He estimated that 99 percent of the 36,000 residents of Oakville are against the building.

“This is not (NCR’s) dollars that are be-ing lost (in a potential lawsuit),” he said. “This is 100 percent funded by taxpayers. You need to listen to us, not people in Ohio, not people in St. Peters, but the people whose lives this will affect.”

The $5.1 million, 45-unit, 41,778-square-foot senior apartment complex is being built on a 1.44-acre lot, bordering the Mon-astery of St. Clare and the Goddard School, a preschool for children ages 6 weeks to 6 years. Although the construction of the building itself will cost $5.1 million, the $6.7 million grant NCR received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also covers the $500,000 land purchase, the architect and other costs associated with construction.

After no one initially spoke in opposition to the development, the Planning Com-mission voted to recommend R-8 resi-dential rezoning for the site to the County Council, which approved it unanimously in May 2012.

In June, the County Council voted 5-1, with one abstention, to approve a resolu-tion introduced by Stenger that directed the Planning Commission to conduct another public hearing with the intent to revert the zoning of the 1.44-acre site to its original R-2 single-family residential classifi cation.

In August, the planning panel voted 6-1 to recommend the rezoning be rejected. Commissioner Bill Sneed, of Oakville, was the lone vote to change the project’s zoning. Sneed also was the only member of the commission who spoke during the vote, citing the lack of notifi cation to resi-dents as a reason to revert the zoning.

Commission Chairman Wayne Hilzinger and Commissioner Steve Lawler also live in Oakville.

NCR Vice President Matt Rule addressed the County Council on Aug. 27 and said that the developer chose the site because it wants its residents to live in a safe and caring neighborhood.

“We believe that God has called us to reach out to the disenfranchised. It’s a great neighborhood, with great neighbors,” he said. “We don’t want to see our seniors squeezed out to hard-hit neighborhoods or to far-fl ung suburbs.”

• GreaterDistrict Growth Committeeset to begin meeting soon(Continued from Page 1A)have continued enrollment,” he wrote. “By Aug. 28, there were 203 additional students.”

The Department of Elementary and Secon-dary Education’s offi cial enrollment date is Sept. 25, and McKenney wrote that he would have an offi cial count after that date.

Enrollment on the fi rst day of school this year compared to last year’s offi cial enroll-ment date is up by more than 140 students

to 6,100 students, according to McKenney.“Our growth is more than what we thought

it would be,” Johnston told the Call.This summer, the Board of Education

approved the formation of a Demographic Task Force, which will include residents, staff and parents to study growth, espe-cially at the elementary level, and propose a solution to address growing class sizes and the need for additional teachers.

The task force has been renamed the Dis-trict Growth Committee and could have its fi rst meeting later this month, Johnston said.

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Visit www.callnewspapers.com to read more about this expansion project at Jefferson Barracks.

The County Council recently got its first look at plans pro-posed by the winning bidder for the county’s $129 million Family Justice Center. The new courthouse was approved by voters in Prop S last year, at a cost of $100 million in general-obligation bonds. Read more at www.callnewspapers.com.

Web exclusiveOur town ..................... Page 2AMehlville news ........... Page 3AOpinions ..................... Page 4AMehlville news ........... Page 6ACalendar...................... Page 7ASenior living ............... Page 8ALindbergh news .......... Page 9ACalendar...................... Page 10AClassifieds ................... Page 11ACrossword puzzle ....... Page 12A

Inside the Call

Mehlville board rejects study of eliminating insurance programBy GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

In a discussion by the Mehlville Board of Education about how to address the mounting cost of health insurance claims and a $2.4 million shortfall in the district’s self-insured fund, President Mark Stoner suggested eliminating

the district-run health insurance program entirely.Instead of changing insurance providers and replenish-

ing the district’s claims fund, Stoner suggested at the Sept. 26 board meeting that the board end the district’s insur-ance program and give monthly stipends to employees, who would then buy their own insurance. The cost to the

employee would be about the same, Stoner added, but the district could save about $4 million a year by not provid-ing its own insurance.

“The district is not equipped to make long-term decisions in a complicated and unpredictable area of health care,

(See REJECTS, Page 6A)

Lindbergh Schools’ official enrollmentexceeds projections by 50 students

Crestwood aldermen select contractor,engineer for Spellman Avenue projectBy KARI WILLIAMSStaff Reporter

A Crestwood road work project that has been nearly three years in the making will soon begin due to approval of a contractor and an engineering consultant firm by the Board of Aldermen.

The board voted unanimously to approve a $1,362,220 construction contract with

the Gershenson Construction Co. for phase one of the Spellman Avenue reconstruction project.

Aldermen also voted 6-2 to select HR Green as the engineering consultant for phase one and phase two of the Spellman Avenue project at a cost not to exceed $42,500. Ward 1 Alderman Darryl Wallach

(See SPELLMAN, Page 5A)

By MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

Lindbergh Schools’ official enrollment for the 2013-2014 school year exceeded projections by 50 students, according to Brian McKenney, assistant superintendent of human resources.

District officials had projected enroll-ment would increase by 107 students com-pared to last year, but Lindbergh’s offi-

cial enrollment increased by 157 students compared to September 2012, according to information provided to Superintendent Jim Simpson and the Board of Education by McKenney.

McKenney was scheduled to present the information during a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night — after the Call went to press.

(See EXCEEDS, Page 9A)

By GLORIA LLOYDStaff Reporter

A Mehlville Board of Education subcommittee is studying board Secretary Rich Franz’s proposal that the board’s closed sessions should be recorded.

At the board’s Sept. 26 meeting, Franz reported that he and the other member of the electronic recording subcommittee, board member Larry Felton, conducted their first meeting last month and will have a report for the board on the issue at the board’s next meeting on Thursday, Oct. 24.

Franz hopes that the board will begin to record its

closed sessions, as is required by law in Illinois through the Ver-batim Record Law that went into effect in 2004.

Government bodies in Missouri can but are not required to re-cord their closed sessions under the state’s Open Meetings and Records Act, also called the Sunshine Law.

When Franz introduced the subject to the board at its Aug. 24 retreat, he said recording would be in keeping

(See RECORDING, Page 3A)

Franz proposes recording of closed sessions Judge to rule soon in Sunset Hills’ suitseeking to stop construction of towerBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge said Friday he would rule soon on Sunset Hills’ lawsuit that seeks to halt the construc-tion of an emergency communications tower on South Lindbergh Boulevard.

Sunset Hills filed the lawsuit Sept. 4 against St. Louis County seeking a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and permanent injunction prohibiting the county from construct-ing the emergency communications tower behind the South County

(See SUIT, Page 4A)

Rich Franz

Volume 16, Number 41 1 Section, 16 Pages Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013 callnewspapers.com9977 Lin Ferry DriveSt. Louis, MO 63123

Megan LeFaivre-Zimmerman photo

Panthers roll to third straight victoryThe Mehlville Senior High School football team rolled to its third straight

win Friday night after coming from behind to defeat Parkway South 40-34 in overtime. Above, Mehlville quarterback Brendan Moore carries the ball. Moore rushed for 167 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and com-pleted five of 15 passes for 75 yards. For complete football coverage, visit www.callnewspapers.com.

District growth panel beginsits study of enrollment issue(Continued from Page 1A)

Total district enrollment for the current school year is 6,115 students.

Over the past fi ve years, district enroll-ment has increased by 419 students, ac-cording to McKenney.

Other information provided to the board by McKenney states:

• Elementary school enrollment increased by 138 students compared to September 2012. Over the past fi ve years, elementary school enrollment has increased by 289 students.

• Middle school enrollment increased by 28 students compared to September 2012. Over the past fi ve years, middle school enrollment has increased by 85 students.

• High school enrollment decreased by nine students compared to September 2012. Over the past fi ve years, high school enrollment has increased by 45 students.

Regarding the school district’s offi cial 2013-2014 enrollment exceeding projec-tions, McKenney wrote, “Our research tells us this is due, in large part, to turnover in existing housing stock. New housing developments scheduled to come online later this year and next will continue to exacerbate the issue.

“Growth is clearly our most pressing dis-trict challenge and will continue to be for years to come,” he wrote.

To address the district’s aggressive en-rollment growth, the Board of Education voted in June to establish a District Growth Committee.

The fi rst meeting of the District Growth Committee was scheduled Monday night — after the Call went to press.

The panel is expected to make its recom-mendations to Board of Education mem-bers sometime in late December or early January.

The committee will bring together com-munity members, staff and parents to explore the enrollment growth, especially at the elementary level, and propose a solution to address growing class sizes and the need for additional teachers.

Sappington Elementary School has more than 600 students, making it the largest of fi ve elementaries in the district, and Con-cord and Long are not far behind in enroll-ment numbers.

Lindbergh High is nearing capacity with a student enrollment of around 2,000.

The district’s residential enrollment grew by 569 students, to a total of 5,928, from the 2007-2008 school year to the 2012-2013 school year.

During a June 1 work session, board members discussed the district’s enroll-ment growth, focusing on opening a sixth elementary school on the roughly 10-acre site of the Dressel School building.

The district closed on the $1.94 million purchase of the property in July 2011.

Opening a new elementary school would require voter approval of a bond issue to fund construction and an increase in the district’s operational tax rate to hire more teachers. The time frame for building a new school, including an election, archi-tectural and engineering work, permitting and construction, is roughly 48 months.

• ExceedsCall Publishing, Thursday, October 10, 2013 - Page 9A

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Visit www.callnewspapers.com to read about these Lindbergh High International Baccalaureate students.

Our town ..................... Page 2ASunset Hills news ....... Page 3AOpinions ..................... Page 4AMSD news .................. Page 5ACalendar...................... Page 6ALindbergh news .......... Page 7AGreen Park news ........ Page 9AObituaries ................... Page 10AClassifieds ................... Page 11ACrossword puzzle ....... Page 12A

Inside the Call

Megan LeFaivre-Zimmerman photo

Oakville prevails over MehlvilleOakville Senior High School quarterback Andy Oliver,

above, led the Tigers to victory Friday night in the fourth quarter, rushing for 140 yards and two touchdowns to propel 4-3 Oakville to a 35-23 comeback win over the 3-4 Mehlville Panthers. For complete football coverage, visit www.callnewspapers.com.

Committee starts workto address Lindbergh’sincreasing enrollmentBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A 25-member Lindbergh Schools committee charged with making a recommendation to the Board of Education about how the district’s aggressive enrollment growth should be addressed began its work last week.

The District Growth Committee is chaired by Chief Financial Officer Charles Triplett and co-chaired by Brian McKenney, assistant superintendent for human resources, and Karl Guyer, executive director of planning and development. The committee is comprised of district staff, parents and business representatives.

During the Oct. 7 meeting, McKenney outlined how the district’s residential enrollment increased by 569 students from 2007-2008 to 2012-2013.

(See ENROLLMENT, Page 7A)

Green Park officials moveto keep library in their cityBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A resolution authorizing city officials to work with the St. Louis County Library District in an effort to keep the Tesson Ferry Branch County Library in Green Park was adopted last week by the Board of Aldermen.

Aldermen voted 5-0 to approve the resolution that authorizes Mayor Bob Reinagel and City Administrator/City Clerk Zella Pope to work with library officials “to explore all options and ideas to facilitate retaining the Tesson Ferry Library Branch within the city of Green Park.”

Ward 1 Alderman Tony Pousosa was absent from Friday night’s(See LIBRARY, Page 9A)

Approved Sept. 12 MSD minutes comply with state law, official saysBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

Approved minutes of the Sept. 12 Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District Board of Trustees meeting that omit mention of a woman being removed by security comply with state law, according to a district official.

Without comment, trustees voted 5-0 last week to approve the minutes of the Sept. 12 meeting and a special Oct. 1 meeting.

Voting to approve the minutes were Chairman James Buford and members Bob Berry, Valerie Patton, Annette Mandel and

James Faul. Board Vice Chair Michael Yates was absent from the Oct. 10 meeting.

The approved minutes of the board’s Sept. 12 meeting state, “Mrs. Joan Jacobson addressed the board, distributed and read her statement to the Board of Trustees of her complaint about the storm sewer under her property and her neighbor’s property.”

However, the Call reported Sept. 19 that Jacobson was attempt-ing to finish reading her letter to the board when Buford had security remove her from the room.

(See COMPLY, Page 5A)

School, city officialsexplore feasibility ofreopening TrumanMiddle School poolBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

An engineering audit to help determine whether the Truman Middle School swim-ming pool could be reopened was approved last week by the Lindbergh Schools Board of Education.

Board members voted 6-0 to split the costs equally with the city of Sunset Hills to hire pool consultant Counsilman-Hunsaker & Associates Inc. to perform the audit. Board member Mark Rudoff was absent from the Oct. 8 meeting.

Over the past few months, Lindbergh and Sunset Hills officials have been discussing the possibility of creating an indoor swim-ming facility, utilizing the Truman pool, which was closed in April 2006.

The school district’s cost is not to exceed $3,000, according to Karl Guyer, execu-tive director of planning and development.

(See POOL, Page 8A)

City’s OK not neededfor tower, judge rulesBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge has ruled that St. Louis County does not require Sunset Hills’ approval to construct an emergency communications tower on South Lindbergh Boulevard.

In his Oct. 10 ruling, Circuit Court Judge Robert Cohen wrote, “... The court finds and declares that St. Louis County does not need zoning approval from the city of Sunset Hills to build its emergency com-munications tower at the South County Health Center and the county is not bound by the height restriction contained within Sunset Hills’ zoning ordinance.”

Sunset Hills filed the suit Sept. 4 against(See RULES, Page 3A)

Volume 16, Number 42 1 Section, 16 Pages Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013 callnewspapers.com9977 Lin Ferry DriveSt. Louis, MO 63123

The county Planning Commis-sion left a potential develop-ment of more than 20 acres off Schuessler Road in a 3-3 stalemate at its meeting last week, despite the Department of Planning’s recommendation of denial. Read this and other web-exclusive stories by visit-ing www.callnewspapers.com.

Web exclusive

Call Publishing, Thursday, October 17, 2013 - Page 7A

• EnrollmentElementary schools impactedby district’s enrollment growth(Continued from Page 1A)

“... Lindbergh has been growing aggres-sively for the past fi ve years. However, it’s not been felt and that is because as Lind-bergh has grown in residential students, we have also had students from the VICC (Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp.) trans-fer program ... exiting as we have not taken more enrollment there ...,” he said.

During that time, VICC enrollment declined 274 students because of Lind-bergh’s decision to phase out its participa-tion in the program. As a result, the net enrollment growth over the past fi ve years has been 295 students, McKenney said.

Lindbergh’s offi cial enrollment for the current school year is 6,115 students, which exceeded the district’s projections by 50 students, according to McKenney.

For the next fi ve years, the district is prepared to address the enrollment growth at Lindbergh High School and the dis-trict’s two middle schools — Sperreng and Truman.

“... Middle schools, at least for the next fi ve years, are in very good shape,” McKenney said. “The high school, we’ve got some things we can do. We’ve got some room at the high school. The high school for the next fi ve years is in pretty good shape.”

But the growth is creating a problem at the district’s elementary schools, he said.

Four elementary schools — Sappington, Concord, Long and Crestwood — are designed for 500 students each. But three have exceeded their capacity — Sappington with 621 students, Concord with 577 stu-dents and Long with 551 students.

Crestwood is nearing capacity with 482 students, while Kennerly, designed for 450 students, exceeds capacity with 462 students.

From 2013 to 2018, McKenney projects residential enrollment will increase by 464 students.

“The remaining 65 of our students in the VICC program, they will graduate in that time,” McKenney said. “This number 464 does not include new developments and there are new developments — two that are signifi cant. One over at Grant’s Farm is going to have about 125 houses. We estimate that we’ll get an average of one

student from each home ... So this 464 doesn’t have this additional 120 students added to it.”

Based on the district’s current class sizes of 20 students, an additional 464 students equals 23 additional classrooms and 23 additional teachers, which translates to one additional building, he said.

One option to address enrollment growth would be to do nothing, McKenney said.

“... There’s always an option to maintain the status quo and just try and get through a problem ...,” he said, adding if nothing is done, class sizes will increase to 30 stu-dents per class. “Music, art rooms, librar-ies, staff work spaces, hallways, they all will be converted to classroom core space without any new classrooms.

“That creates a situation that Lindbergh has seen before, and it’s where art, music, those kinds of classes, they no longer have their own spaces and they called it ‘art on a cart’ back in the day. And it is a very real possibility if nothing is done ...”

Triplett and McKenney later recom-mended against increasing class sizes, with McKenney, a former elementary school principal, saying, “... When I was a kid, elementary school was 35 kids in a class-room, and the teacher taught one lesson right down the middle. Twenty percent of the kids that were above that level were bored and 20 percent of the kids that were below that level were lost, OK?

“We don’t do that any more. Every kid can learn. We reach every kid. You get 35 kids in a classroom, that whole method goes away ...”

Triplett provided some “homework” for committee members to study about pos-sible solutions to the enrollment increase.

Those options include:• Reorganizing grade-level confi gura-

tions. For example, adding fi fth grade to the middle schools.

• Adding additions to current schools.• Adding an elementary school.• Adding mobile classrooms, also called

trailers.• Renting classroom space.• Reconfi guring current classrooms —

for example, “art on a cart.”The committee’s next meeting will be

at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 4, at the district Early Childhood Education center, 4814 S. Lindbergh Blvd.

Education center to host birthday partySt. Louis Community College’s South County Education and University

Center, in conjunction with the South County Chamber of Commerce, will host a birthday party 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, to celebrate the cen-ter’s 31 years as an educational leader in south county and 10 years at the current location, 4115 Meramec Bottom Road. Events throughout the day include a used book sale to benefi t the Ruth Moellenhoff Book Scholarship Fund from 8 a.m. to noon, a community blood drive from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and birthday cake at 11 a.m. The free celebration is open to the public.

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Read more at www.callnewspapers.com about this recipient of the Kiwanis Club’s Hixson Award.

Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, has launched an investigation into Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration over charges of workplace abuse. A special committee will inves-tigate allegations of a “hostile workplace environment” in the Nixon administration. Read more at www.callnewspapers.com.

Web exclusiveOur town ..................... Page 3AOpinions ..................... Page 4ACalendar...................... Page 5ACounty news ............... Page 6ASenior living ............... Page 10AObituaries ................... Page 12ASchool news ............... Page 13ALindbergh news .......... Page 14AClassifieds ................... Page 15ACrossword puzzle ....... Page 16A

Inside the Call

New elementary should be builton Dressel site, committee says

Panel recommends rezoning for library site; road improvements mandated

Superintendents propose plan to aid troubled school districts

Mehlville merit-pay committee running into some roadblocks

A Lindbergh Schools committee recommends that a new elementary school be built on the Dressel School property to address the district’s enrollment growth.

Volume 16, Number 46 1 Section, 20 Pages Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013 callnewspapers.com9977 Lin Ferry DriveSt. Louis, MO 63123

Approval recommendedfor subdivision on KohrsBy MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

The Green Park Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously last week to recommend approval of a pro-posed subdivision of 18 single-family, detached homes at 10995 Kohrs Lane.

Developer J.H. Berra proposes the sub-division, Clydesdale Manors, on nearly 6 acres owned by Ward 2 Alderman Tim Thuston. Planning and Zoning Com-mission Secretary Helen Summers and member Vicki Gamache were absent from the Nov. 5 meeting.

In September, the Board of Aldermen rejected the Arbors at Clydesdale Park,

(See KOHRS, Page 4A)


The county Planning Commission recommended ap-proval of rezoning for the new Tesson Ferry Branch Library and a neighboring development at Musick and Gravois roads — but even with that zoning, the proposed

library in Affton is not yet a done deal.The planning panel voted 6-1 last week to approve the

county Department of Planning’s recommended R-5 zoning rather than the R-6A rezoning that the library and developer McBride Berra requested for the adjoining sites. Commis-sion member Steve Lawler of Oakville voted against the

rezoning, saying he opposes the new library location.However, the Missouri Department of Transportation

and the county Department of Highways and Traffic have told library officials they cannot build an entrance onto Musick Road until multiple improvements are made to the

(See LIBRARY, Page 6A)


If superintendents from around the state get their way, Missouri will change the way it accredits school districts, intervene sooner when scores fall and stop any further transfers among school districts.

Those are some of the recommendations in a two-page pro-posal from the Missouri Association of School Administrators, or MASA, outlining how to overhaul the state’s educational system.

The report was written by 25 superintendents from throughout the state, including Mehlville School District Superintendent Eric Knost, who highlighted some aspects of the plan during a Board of Education meeting last week.

“We clearly think — we’re just in lockstep on this across the state — that transferring students does not address the problem,” Knost said, pointing to the common thread of poverty among un-accredited school districts.

(See AID, Page 13A)


The committee looking at implementing merit pay in the Mehlville School District must present a report by March with a plan, but it is running into some roadblocks.

The committee is slated to meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, in the Bernard Middle

School Library, 1054 Forder Road, where Assistant Superintendent Lisa Counts and Human Resources Director Mark Catalana will present potential prototypes of merit-pay structures.

However, Superintendent Eric Knost re-ported to the Mehlville Board of Edu-cation this fall that the district’s attorney,

Charles Elbert of Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum, LLP, believes mer-it-pay bonuses for public employees appear to be unconstitutional in Missouri.

“The concept of what we’re talking about, of taking what is done in one year and com-pensating differently in the following year

(See ROADBLOCKS, Page 7A)

By MIKE ANTHONYExecutive Editor

A Lindbergh Schools committee study-ing how the district’s aggressive enroll-ment growth should be addressed agreed last week to recommend building a new elementary school on the site of Dressel School.

By consensus, the District Growth Com-mittee agreed to recommend a new ele-mentary school be built on the nearly 10-acre Dressel School site, 10255 Musick Road. The district closed on the $1.94 mil-lion purchase of the property in July 2011.

The committee is chaired by Chief Finan-cial Officer Charles Triplett and co-chaired by Brian McKenney, assistant superinten-

dent for human resources, and Karl Guyer, executive director of planning and develop-ment. The roughly 25-member committee is comprised of district staff, parents and business representatives.

To address the district’s increasing en-rollment, the Board of Education voted in June to establish the District Growth Com-mittee, which conducted its first meeting in October.

The recommendation to construct a new elementary school on the Dressel site came at the end of the committee’s Nov. 4 meet-ing, following a roughly 30-minute period for small-group discussion.

Committee members broke into five groups(See NEW, Page 14A)

• NewRecommendation set to be presentedto school board at its January meeting(Continued from Page 1A)to discuss seven options to address the enrollment growth.

The options, which had been presented at the previous meeting, included:

• Increasing class sizes.• Reorganizing grade-level confi gurations. For example,

adding fi fth grade to the middle schools.• Adding additions to existing schools.• Adding an elementary school.• Adding mobile classrooms, also called trailers.• Renting classroom space.• Reconfi guring current classroom space — for example,

“art on a cart.”Before each group voiced its recommendation, Triplett

said, “... We’re looking for consensus and consensus just means that a majority of people kind of go with one of the choices and those who aren’t in that ballpark at least aren’t incredibly opposed to it ...That’s what we’re look-ing for tonight.”

Each of the fi ve groups recommended a new elementary school be built on the Dressel site, though one group said its recommendation was not unanimous.

Joe Marting, who recently retired as pastor of South-minster Presbyterian Church, reported on the outcome of his group’s discussion.

“... To be quite honest, we only came up with one solu-tion — one solution given the priorities that we were given,” he said. “What’s best for the kids? We asked ourselves: When was the last time that this school district built a new school, a whole new elementary school for the children of this community? I don’t remember when it was and I’ve been a part of this community for over 31 years.

“Our only solution, given the fact that we’re the No. 1 district in the state for four years, that Crestwood within our district ... was named the best city to raise a family,

we fi gure what’s best for our children is to do the best thing and that’s to tear down Dressel, build a new school — state of the art, top-fl ight school — and put it right out there and do what’s best for our kids,” Marting said.

“There’s no other solution in our group that we think we can do and meet the criteria set before us. And let me say this, as a disclaimer. I’m a retired person. I’m not paying for my own kids, but I think it’s the best thing for this community, and that’s the consensus of our group ...”

David Dooling, Long Elementary School PTO co-presi-dent, said of his group’s recommendation, “... Our No. 1 (option) was build a new school on the Dressel property.”

Questions raised by his group included the time line for such a proposal and the process by which a bond issue would be placed before voters, he said. Lindbergh pur-chased Dressel roughly two years ago, Dooling said, add-ing that if the site was not utilized for a new elementary school, the wrong message could be sent to the community.

“... It was bought by Lindbergh a couple of years ago,” he said. “So we were thinking to ourselves if we don’t uti-lize that space, what are the voters or what are the people in the district going to say? ...”

For the next step, Triplett said a small subcommittee of community members — not staff — of the District Growth Committee will be established to draft and present the panel’s recommendation to the Board of Education.

“... It is just a recommendation, but I know the board is eager to get one to see what direction you think you, the community, want to go with this, because that’s really where it’s going to be, is the community has to support it,” he said. “We won’t have 100-percent support. We know that ...”

As proposed, the subcommittee will make its presenta-tion to the Board of Education in January.

Regarding Dressel, Dooling later asked Triplett to elabo-rate about why the building was purchased.

“... (Lindbergh) knew it needed space and hoped the com-munity would support putting a new elementary school there,” Triplett said.

McKenney said, “Another answer to that, too, is it was a very rare circumstance that a piece of land that big became available and the Lindbergh School District had a steal of a price ...”

As for the future, McKenney noted, “... This will not be the last committee that meets to talk about the future of this plan ... There will be more committees to meet to talk about the interim, what to do in the interim, how the building will be designed, that kind of thing. So this is a very preliminary fi rst step.”

During the committee’s October meeting, McKenney outlined how the district’s residential enrollment increased by 569 students from 2007-2008 to 2012-2013.

During that time, Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp. enrollment declined 274 students because of Lindbergh’s decision to phase out its participation in the student-trans-fer program. As a result, the net enrollment growth over the past fi ve years has been 295 students.

Lindbergh’s offi cial enrollment for the current school year is 6,115 students, which exceeded the district’s pro-jections by 50 students, according to McKenney.

For the next fi ve years, the district is prepared to address the enrollment growth at Lindbergh High School and the district’s two middle schools — Sperreng and Truman.

But the growth is creating a problem at the district’s elementary schools.

Four elementary schools — Sappington, Concord, Long and Crestwood — are designed for 500 students each. But three have exceeded their capacity — Sappington with 621 students, Concord with 577 students and Long with 551 students.

Crestwood is nearing capacity with 482 students, while Kennerly, designed for 450 students, exceeds capacity with 462 students.

From 2013 to 2018, McKenney projects residential en-rollment will increase by 464 students, not including an estimated 120 additional students from new subdivisions being constructed.

Page 14A - Call Publishing, Thursday, November 14, 2013

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