Maryville school accused of exclusion of student

Maryville R-II School District has been accused of excluding an elementary student with Down Syndrome from participating in a school event.

According to the student’s grandparents, James and Alma Clodfelter, who posted on social media, the child’s parents received a letter from the school district one week before the Thanksgiving program informing them she was not going to participate, go on the class field trip or participate in other extracurricular activities. Her sister, who does not have any disabilities and is in the same grade, was allowed to perform.

The Clodfelters stated their son and father of the excluded girl, Charlie Clodfelter, had been in contact with the school about the violation of the girl’s civil rights, after which, they claim school officials sent a note home the day before the event stating the girl could participate after all.

The social media post has had more than 800 shares and more than 270 comments at the time of this writing.

Charlie declined to comment for the article but did say he was “working with the school.”

Maryville Superintendent Dr. Becky Albrecht issued this official statement about the incident: “While the district cannot comment about individual student or personnel matters, it is our commitment that all students have access to participate in after school and evening events. When it came to the attention of the administration that there had been some deviation from this commitment, we immediately began an investigation into the concern and have been and continue to take steps to ensure nothing similar will occur again.”

Albrecht stated she could not comment any further at this time and could not confirm if the allegations were true.