Grant Will Fund Sidewalk Improvements to Hardin, Blackhurst Schools

St. Charles wins $250,000 in federal Safe Routes to School funding.

About 1/2 a mile of sidewalks will be added to streets near Blackhurst Elementary and Hardin Middle School in St. Charles in 2014, the city announced Tuesday. St. Charles won a $250,000 federal Safe Routes to School grant, which will be used to improve sidewalks near the schools. This project is one of only three in the St. Louis area to receive funding from Safe Routes to School, city staff said.  Brad Temme, city project director, said the staff completed an assessment of the city's sidewalks and found that the area near Blackhurst and Hardin had among the worst sidewalks in the city.   Currently only Elm Street, which runs in front of the schools, has a sidewalk. This project will add sidewalks to West Adams and Boschert Drive, which …

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St. Charles School District Plans to Prioritize Transfer Requests

With so many children affected by the boundary changes to elementary schools, the Board of Education is considering changes to its transfer policy.

Hundreds of students in the St. Charles School District will find out this spring which new elementary school they will be assigned to in the fall. The district plans to reopen Blackhurst Elementary School at the start of the 2011-12 school year, which means the attendance boundaries at most of the elementary schools will change.  But before the Board of Education approves the new boundary lines, members will discuss how to accommodate transfer requests from parents who want their children to attend a different school. The district already allows parents and guardians to request transfers, but with new boundary lines for each school, administrators expect to see many more requests than they have in the past. The Board of Education is …

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Group Will Meet to Discuss Changes in School Boundaries

More than 200 students will have to switch elementary schools next year.

Parents, teachers and St. Charles School District administrators will start redrawing boundary lines for the district's elementary schools on Thursday. The 20 members of the boundary committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the district's Administrative Center, 400 North 6th Street. The district expects to have the bus routing software which will allow the committee to see how many students would be affected by moving around the boundary lines. The boundaries must be redrawn because the district plans to reopen Blackhurst Elementary School starting next fall to accommodate growing elementary school enrollment.   Hundreds of elementary school students will be affected by the boundary line changes. The committee has to move 60 students …

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Faith Matters

Sunday Night Worship Service Offers Alternative for Faithful

The Sunday night time-slot isn't trendy, but it offers a real option for worship in our busy, non-stop culture.

The lights are dimmed inside the former school gymnasium. Easy chairs and two-seater sofas are arranged in conversational curves facing the front of the carpeted room where musicians gather on a lit stage.  Round tables and chairs fill in the spaces between the sofas and row of seats by the back wall. People are casually dressed, seated as pairs and singles. They carry in drinks or choose something from the options at the door. Did I mention there is a plate of cookies at the drink table as well? It's 6 p.m. Sunday night. Are you ready for some worship? This is Refuge in the P.M. - worship for a Sunday evening where there's plenty of coffee and the conversation centers on God and Jesus. Refuge Church offers the service as an alternative to…

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Principal of One School Prepares to Reopen Another

Harris Elementary School Principal Melvin Bishop takes on challenge of reopening Blackhurst Elementary.

During the past few weeks Melvin Bishop has researched playground equipment, talked library books with librarians and attended many, many meetings about reopening Blackhurst Elementary School. St. Charles School District leaders tapped Bishop to be the new principal of Blackhurst Elementary when it opens next fall -- in the meantime he's still principal at Harris Elementary School. The challenge of opening a "new school" is one that excites Bishop, who has been principal at Harris Elementary for the past seven years. "It's been interesting," he said. "From the beginning the idea of opening school, I've been talking about wanting to do it." The Board of Education decided in October to reopen Blackhurst to cope with growing elementary …

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Tuition for St. Charles Preschool Program to Drop

St. Charles School District reduces costs by $500 for the new preschool classes which will be offered at each elementary school next year.

Parents will pay $500 less in tuition for the St. Charles School District's preschool program next year after the Board of Education approved a price reduction Dec. 9. District leaders hope the price reduction means more parents will be able to afford tuition which will be $2,500 a year for a week of half-day classes. Nearly two-thirds of the parents who signed up for the first year of program dropped out by the fall, said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Danielle Tormala. The district is able to offer the tuition cut because it expects to generate about $80,000 from a new early childhood careers class that will be offered at Lewis and Clark Career Center. The Orchard Farm, Francis Howell, Fort Zumwalt and Wentzville School …

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