Riverview Gardens Transfers Now Have Busing Option to Mehlville Schools

Written by Patch intern Jared Grafman.

Riverview Gardens school board members hired the First Student bus company to transport its students that wish to attend classes at a Kirkwood or Mehlville schools this year, according to a KMOX report. The school board voted in favor of the decision at its meeting Tuesday night.

The contract will cost Riverview Gardens about $601,000, according to the KMOX report, and breaks down to around $245 per bus per day. 

Mehlville begins school Thursday, Aug. 15, and Kirkwood begins school on Tuesday, Aug. 20, this year.

“It was not a formal sealed bid because we didn’t have the time,” District Chief Financial Officer Ennis Moss said in the KMOX article. 

(Read the complete KMOX article here.)

The entire issue was brought forward in the recent state supreme court ruling of Breitenfeld v. Clayton. One of the court's findings was that unaccredited schools offer transportation for students wishing to attend an accredited school district. 

Around the St. Louis area, this applies to two districts — Normandy, which chose Francis Howell as its busing destination, and Riverview Gardens, which chose Mehlville and then Kirkwood as its alternative to bus students.

The Riverview Gardens district has the option to review the contract with First Student next March.