UPDATED: Judge Rules Against Transfers in Turner v. Clayton

A judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the School District of Clayton in a widely-watched case that deals with the transfer of students from unaccredited schools to accredited ones, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Quoting from the Post-Dispatch article:

"Under the ruling, students from unaccredited school districts would not have the right to transfer to better school districts for free."

Judge David Lee Vincent III presided over a three-day trial about the case in March, where witnesses said allowing the students to transfer would bankrupt St. Louis Public Schools and be an unfunded mandate for county schools. 

The case has been in the legislature and courts for the last five years without a resolution.

(Read the complete Turner v. Clayton ruling issued Tuesday in the PDF attached.)

Chief Communications Officer Chris Tennill of the  said the district is "thrilled" with the ruling.

"This is a statute that, in its current form, doesn't work the way it's intended to," said Tennill, describing how the ruling by Judge David Lee Vincent III aligns with the district's positions on student transfers.

He said it's unclear whether plaintiffs will appeal the case, so the district will take a wait-and-see approach for the immediate future. If it is appealed, he said, the district is prepared to continue facing the issue of transfers with the "same dedication and intensity" as it has for the last five years.

Elkin Kistner, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he has 40 days from Tuesday to file an appeal. He isn't sure when the filing will occur.

"That's the reason appeals exist," Kistner said.

As for the ruling, he said: "It's not good news."

Mehlville Superintendent Eric Knost said in March, about 70 people inquired about transferring to the Mehlville School District. 

Hypothetically, an increase of 70 students, if the district has control on which school to place those students, would not be seriously detrimental, Knost said. But if the students or families demand to attend a specific school, the superintendent saw a potential problem.

“We’ve worked hard on our overcrowding and lowering our class sizes over the years, and we’ve had good luck with that,” he said. “It’s going to be about how (the outcome) is done.”

Read more about the Turner v. Clayton decision and read reaction from an attorney for the plaintiffs in the complete Post-Dispatch report.

More about Turner v. Clayton on Patch:

This story was updated at 2:30 p.m. with comments from the School District of Clayton and the court transcript.