BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS  • Approximately one out of three teachers in Riverview Gardens schools will be new this fall, and more than 100 former teachers will not be coming back, a crowd of them learned at the district's headquarters Thursday night.

About 30 teachers from the region lined Lewis and Clark Boulevard holding up signs in a show of support for the Riverview Gardens teachers. Many Riverview Gardens teachers had waited all summer to learn whether they would be employed on Aug. 18, when school starts.

"These teachers lost their jobs unfairly," said Laura Conley, a communication arts teacher in the Ritenour School District.

On July 1, the state took over the troubled Riverview Gardens district. As a result, all employee contracts were void, and everyone from janitors to administrators had to reapply for their jobs.

The process of hiring close to 400 teachers has taken all month. About 2,000 people applied for the jobs, according to district officials. Of the new teaching staff, 35 percent are from outside the district. Sixty-five percent were internal candidates. Thirty teaching positions remain unfilled.

"It's very frustrating," said Catherine Lewis, a physical education teacher at Lewis and Clark Elementary School. Last year, she was a teacher of the year in the district. Thursday, she was still waiting to hear whether she would get her job back.

"I work very hard, and you try to do the right thing," Lewis said. "You end up being praised and rewarded for your efforts, and then you're terminated. It doesn't make sense."

The 6,500-student district in north St. Louis County lost its accreditation in 2007, the result of financial problems, low student achievement and corruption.

Every school in the district will have a different principal than last year, Superintendent Clive Coleman said. Three out of four of them are new hires. Changing the faces in the classroom and in the principals' offices will be important to change the district's direction, he said.

In his hands were standardized test results, which showed the vast majority of district students lack a proficient understanding of reading and math.

"We don't want to look back," Coleman said. "I do not want the staff to focus on the past."