Parents learn new home they bought specifically for school district is out of boundary

By Russell Kinsaul

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    WENTZVILLE, Missouri (KMOV) — For a lot of families with young children, when they move to a new place a top priority is find a new home in a good school district.

When Nick Pash, his wife and three children moved from Georgia to the St. Louis area, they wanted to find a house in a good school district. And within a good school district, they wanted their children to attend highly rated schools.

“We were looking and being very picky at good rated schools,” said Pash.

“It’s a high priority for a lot of people with school aged kids,” said Laura Wehnes, Pash’s real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty.

Wehnes said she found several homes for the Pash family to choose from but the one they chose was in the Wentzville School District. The Multiple Listing Services (MLS) fact sheet on the home showed it was in the boundary for Duello Elementary School, a highly rated grade school. Pash said he wanted to be sure his daughter would be able to attend Duello Elementary School so he double-checked a couple of other sources and even called the school and an employee confirmed that his home was in the school’s boundary, so he finalized the purchase of their new home.

A month later when he enrolled his daughter at Duello Elementary School, he said no one mentioned any problems. But the next day someone from the school called and said that Pash’s new home was actually in the boundary for Stone Creek Elementary School. The drive from Pash’s new home to Duello Elementary is only 3 minutes. He will drive past the school on his 8 minute drive to take his daughter to Stone Creek Elementary School. He wants the district to fix its mistake.

“All they have to do is take a higher road and say we’re going to make exception. We made a mistake and your child can attend a school that’s closer to our house,” he said.

Pash contacted the Wentzville School District administrative offices and eventually was able to speak with superintendent, Dr. Curtis Cain. He said Cain apologized for a school employee erroneously confirming the house was in the Duello boundary. But Pash said the superintendent refused to let his daughter attend the school that’s closer to their home.

News 4 reached out to the Wentzville School District to ask why it couldn’t make an exception in this case. No one was made available for an interview and the district did not release a statement addressing our question. But a spokesman did point out the district’s boundary locator tool and said any parent’s questions about boundaries can be directed to the Department of Administrative Services.

“And I said, how is it possible? I called you guys a month before that and you confirmed my address goes to your school.”

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