Ritenour School District Becomes the First Mosaic Ambassador School District
Ritenour School District Becomes the First Mosaic Ambassador School District
The St. Louis Mosaic Project is delighted to announce the Ritenour School District, the first Mosaic Ambassador School District. Located in Northwest St. Louis County, Ritenour is one of the oldest districts in the metropolitan area. The school district serves approximately 6,400 students. Of those 6400 students about 800 of them are English language learners, speaking 28 languages. The St. Louis Mosaic Project Ambassador School program encourages member schools to reinforce an internationally welcoming and inclusive culture through pledges unique to each school.
In 2016 the Ritenour school district started with a one classroom school for their foreign-born students learning English. This is due to the to the growing Hispanic enrollment into the district, growing from under 1 percent in the early 1990s to 17% in 2016. The school district started the International Welcome Center because staff at the schools began to see that ESL students were missing school, struggling to fit in and eventually dropping out. With this growth in ESL students, Ritenour has added more ESL specialized teachers and have been hosting more school “international nights,” where students have the opportunity to showcase food and culture from different countries. Due to the increase in English language learners in the schools, Ritenour has also begun to offer free adult ESL classes as well as parenting programs and resources that are open to the public.