School Districts and School

Riverview Gardens School District has a 21.43% suspension rate as of 2015 and a total of 750 suspensions. Numbers may be different for the 2016 school year. The St. Louis School District, which encompasses Clayton School District, has a suspension rate of 29.12% with 3,470 total suspensions (Crouch, 2015). The Riverview Gardens School District provides education for students living in the surrounding areas of Riverview, Neighbors, Bellefontaine, Castle Point, Moline Acres, as well as other areas of Unincorporated St. Louis County. Clayton School District offers a small teacher-staff -- member ratio at the elementary school level up to the high school level with 11:1, 12:1, and 11:1 students per teacher or staff member.

Clayton High School and Riverview Garden High School do not have a program for student suspensions, especially in school student suspensions. Neither do they have out of school student suspension programs that may offer chances for students to catch up with missed school days. There is however, an option available to students living in Missouri to take courses online should they be suspended from school for a prolonged period. The program is called The Missouri Virtual Instruction Program (MoVIP). This program provides online courses to any Missouri student from grades K-12.

3. The problem MoVIP aims to solve is providing accessibility to quality education via an alternative method such as online education. Those that cannot attend regular school, may be able to attend MoVIP even if they do not have the money for the tuition since schools may be reimbursed for paying the student's tuition. The goals of the program are to enable learning outside of school at the comfort of the student's home and provide options for those facing long-term school suspension.

4. Founded in 2007, the first year of MoVIP brought in 2,000 students. The students were provided interaction with certified teacher via telephone, instant messenger, and email. This new option came from the growing need for disabled or homebound students to be provided an option to get an education without having to attend school. The state Missouri decided to implement the program and continues it today providing an option for education for disabled students, home schooled students, and long-term suspended students.

5. Because MoVIP is a state implemented program, students from any school including schools like Clayton and Riverview Garden can enroll. Essentially, students can choose up to six courses each semester with successful completion of courses having the possibility of being transferred to any school in Missouri. Riverview Gardens and Clayton school districts fall under the district that must pay for interested students' tuition should they participate in MoVIP. "Ten school districts across the state are required to pay MoVIP tuition for interested students because those districts had a status of provisional or unaccredited. Those districts include St. Louis, Ferguson-Florissant, Normandy, Riverview Gardens and University City" (Stuckey, 2015).

6. Both Clayton and Riverview Gardens pays tuition for students enrolled in MoVIP. If for example, a student is suspended from the school for a year or they wish to pursue home schooling, they may qualify for the school to pay for the program's tuition to keep them caught up academically. MoVIP is a state-funded school with a bill potentially in the works to promote further inclusion of the program as a main option for schools in Missouri. "that's why lawmakers included a virtual school option in a bill aimed at improving a largely unpopular statute that allows children in unaccredited school districts to transfer higher-performing ones" (Stuckey, 2015).

7. Schools districts like Clayton and Riverview Gardens are failing districts in that there are a large number of children suspended, grades are not at levels that signify high performance and better learning, and children that are suspended may end up falling behind and dropping out of school. Therefore, the state saw the growing need for alternative education and sought to provide free tuition through school initiatives for MoVIP. Students who were suspended in these school districts can qualify to receive MoVIP courses for free.

8. The difficulties encountered with MoVIP come from the kind of initiative it takes to learn in a distance learning setting. Some students are equipped to learn online whereas others may not be. It takes a stable internet connection and a computer with the minimum specifications required in the program to perform the course-related tasks for completion. Some students may not have the tools for successful completion of online course work.