Original Research by School Decision on Citadel School
Citadel School serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade in Potosi, Missouri, as part of the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled (MSSD) system. It is a special education school, meaning its entire mission is to provide specialized instruction and support for students with severe disabilities. The school is small, with a very modest enrollment spread across a handful of grade levels.
Because of the school's specialized purpose, the kind of standardized test data that typically appears for conventional schools is absent here. State assessment results are not available for this school, which is consistent with the nature of a program serving students with the most significant disabilities. Similarly, there is no reported graduation rate; while Citadel School spans grades K through 12, the traditional four-year graduation metric is not a standard measure for this population. A reader should not read the missing data as a weakness but rather as a reflection of the school's specialized role.
The school is located in Potosi, a small rural county seat in Washington County, about a moderate drive southwest of St. Louis. Potosi has a historic downtown centered on the Washington County Courthouse, with government offices, local retail, and a handful of major employers including a hospital, a shoe manufacturing plant, Walmart, and a state correctional center. The town's population has been essentially flat in recent years, and housing values are well below national averages, typical of a slow-growth rural community. The community provides basic services and some outdoor recreation opportunities nearby, such as Mark Twain National Forest and Washington State Park.
The most significant factor for any family considering Citadel School is that it will close at the conclusion of the 2025–2026 school year. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has announced a consolidation of multiple MSSD schools across the state, and Citadel is one of six schools identified for closure. This means that students currently enrolled at Citadel will need to transition to an alternative MSSD placement beginning with the 2026–2027 school year. Families who rely on this school should begin planning for that change and speaking with MSSD administrators about where their child will be served next.
Given its very small size and specialized nature, Citadel School does not offer the typical range of programs, activities, or course pathways found in a regular K–12 school. The school's focus is entirely on meeting the unique educational needs of students with severe disabilities. There are no data on class sizes, discipline, chronic absenteeism, or teacher staffing available for this report.
In summary, this is a niche, state-operated special education school with a small number of students, located in a stable rural county seat. Its defining feature for the immediate future is that it will close after the upcoming school year. Families of prospective students should direct inquiries to the MSSD central office to understand what alternative placements are available and to ensure continuity of services.
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