Rockwood Retreat: Will Tonight Go Better?

A group of 25 people prompted external interaction with board members during their internal, annual retreat just three weeks ago in Eureka. Tension continues to simmer, however.

Although the board's session planned for June 25 at the was not the typical type of school board meeting that includes a segment for "patron comments," Rockwood's directors broke from the agenda and took 15 to 20 minutes to talk one-on-one, or in small groups, with those who had come out early on a Saturday morning.

Reactions to the exchange varied, with some guests indicating they were not satisfied with the short time for discussions, nor the type of responses they received to their questions.

However, several said they appreciated the board members pausing their retreat to acknowledge that guests felt it was urgent to talk about recent concerns related to the district's finances, hiring practices and future reorganization.

Many Rockwood taxpayers and parents since that retreat said they planned to attend the next available Rockwood board of education meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. today at Crestview Middle School in Ellisville.

Eureka-Wildwood Patch has continued to provide readers a variety of articles regarding the Rockwood concerns over the past few weeks. Here are the stories on the site:

• June 22: 
• June 22: 

• June 23:
• June 24: 
  
  
• July 11: 
  
  
• July 11: 

• July 13: 

Check back for more stories as Patch continues to cover this issue, including tonight's board meeting. E-mail Eureka-Wildwood Patch Editor Julie Brown Patton to submit letters to the editor on the topic or join in the comments discussion on the site.

A special thank you to all Patch readers for posting their thorough and thoughtful comments and questions. This obviously is a very important matter to many.