In the south half of the St. Louis County School District, the AlBrook and Cotton schools won’t close this fall if the new school currently under construction isn’t completed.

If students in the district’s south are allowed to remain in their traditional schools until a new school is available, why are students in Orr being treated differently?

It’s just one of many questions surrounding the school district’s Jan. 31 decision to permanently close the Orr School in June. Members of the public should attend the hearing on the closure this Thursday, because it will be their only remaining opportunity to ask such questions and to provide testimony on the decision.

The decision to close the Orr School is troubling for several reasons, including that it is inconsistent with decisions made in other parts of the district. If students can continue to attend school in Cotton this fall if their new school isn’t ready, why aren’t students in Orr given the same privilege? Orr’s student enrollment is larger than Cotton’s, which means more students will be inconvenienced by the decision to transfer them to Cook this fall.

School officials have argued that Orr students will have more opportunities in Cook and that their decision is based on educational improvement. But the official notice the district published in area papers says nothing about educational benefits.

That’s not surprising, since the district doesn’t have much to show for their claims. To date, no one has seen what additional classes, if any, students can expect in Cook this fall. What we do know, is that school district officials had the opportunity to obtain additional funds to improve educational achievement in Orr (after the school was named an underperformer) but turned down the opportunity in favor of closing the school.

So was educational improvement really part of the calculation? Or does closing the Orr School this year simply let the school district avoid taking difficult steps to boost student achievement there?

Furthermore, if combining students into larger schools is the ticket to better learning, why didn’t the school district opt to combine the Cherry School with others in the district? Cherry’s enrollment is virtually the same as in Cook, and Orr’s high school enrollment is nearly the same as well. Apparently, once again, the same arguments don’t apply to students in the district’s south half. That’s troubling.

Equally troubling is the district’s claim that Orr’s closure is a financial necessity. It isn’t. Even by the questionable calculations of the district’s business manager, the Orr closure will save just $399,000. At the same time, the business manager predicts a million dollar surplus next year, since the district’s new facilities alignment (which includes four K-12 schools and an elementary in Tower) will, essentially, be complete.

That means the district can expect a budget surplus next year, whether or not the Orr School is closed. It’s tough to claim financial necessity when the budget is in the black.

While school officials point to a $1.6 million deficit in the current school year, we’ll likely find most of it is imaginary. The district’s business manager routinely overestimates deficits in her annual budgets. In the 2008-09 school year, she predicted a $2 million deficit, but when the auditors completed their work, the gap was less than $800,000. In the 2009-10 school year, the business manager’s budget pointed to an $800,000 deficit, which turned into a $300,000 surplus when the books were finally closed on the year. There’s no reason to believe this year’s “budgeted” deficit will turn out any differently.

Finally, the decision to close the Orr School was made contrary to state law. As the Timberjay and other media (including television and other area newspapers) previously reported, the St. Louis County School Board voted 4-3 on Jan. 31 to close the Orr School, even though state law requires a public hearing before that decision is made.

School officials later tried to rewrite history after their violation was pointed out. They suggested that they had merely voted to transfer the students elsewhere. But that’s a distinction without a difference. Appeals Court rulings in Minnesota have already determined that taking the students out of a school constitutes a closure, whether board members admit it or not. Even the superintendent acknowledged in a televised interview that the Jan. 31 decision meant the school would close.

But residents shouldn’t give up. The hearing could lead to a recommendation by a hearing officer that the school should remain open. And it’s possible that a least one board might to willing to reconsider once all the facts are in. It’s up to those who care about the Orr School to make sure those facts are on the record. That’s what Thursday’s hearing is all about.