#Education
Target:
Poudre School District Superintendent and Board of Education
Region:
United States of America

1. Since Fall of 2004, LSCL has worked in good faith with PSD to identify a relocation site.

2. Since the 2005-06 school year and pursuant to PSD's request, LSCL presented its plans to increase enrollment to 210, adopt a K-8 grade configuration and its criteria for its new site to at least five separate PSD committees, Assistant Superintendents and PSD staff.

3. In January 2006, the Board of Education (BOE) approved the following: Initiative 7: "Keep the Lab School for Creative Learning at the Washington site until Fall 2007 or Fall 2008. Invest minimal resources to maintain the school in its existing condition and instead utilize resources [$1.5 M] allocated for the Washington school to renovate a site to accommodate the Lab program at another existing school."

4. Pursuant to this initiative, LSCL met with PSD's Assistant Superintendent and other personnel to discuss LSCL's site criteria and scheduled a review of potential relocation sites in August 2006.

5. In August 2006, PSD put Initiative 7 on hold, pending the results of Initiative 8, a district wide facilities review.

6. In Fall 2007, PSD completed Initiative 8 without criteria for K-8 schools or a recommendation for a LSCL site.

7. In March 2008, PSD unilaterally decided to place LSCL in the Bauder facility without stakeholder input from either site. The facility does not meet LSCL site criteria for autonomy and has insufficient classrooms while alternative sites with excess capacity exist.

8. Bauder's enrollment increased since March 2008 because of the economic downturn and parents' desire to be within Rocky Mountain High School's boundaries. This decreases the number of LSCL classrooms by two and impedes their ability to define an autonomous space.

9. Simultaneously, PSD failed to provide on-line school of choice registration for LSCL's 6th–8th grades when it provided registration for all other district schools.

10. On Nov 21st, 2008, PSD informed Bauder and LSCL stakeholders that the Bauder stakeholders must decide by mid January 2009, if LSCL could be a K-8 school at their site. PSD has not shared their intentions following Bauder’s decision.

11. This undefined/unprecedented process puts one site’s destiny in another site’s hands. It violates PSD's Site Based Management Policies. It disregards LSCL stakeholders’ carefully deliberated decisions and the budgeting impact a K-5 configuration has on LSCL's financial viability.

12. This most recent addition to the relocation process makes it impossible for parents to know if there will be a LSCL K-8 in time for the secondary grades’ (6-12) school of choice enrollment deadline of Jan 31, 2009.

13. For four years, PSD has persistently placed obstacles to the LSCL relocation and reconfiguration decisions by repeatedly re-defining the decision process and deadline.

14. PSD places LSCL students, particularly 5th and 6th graders, in uncertainty regarding their placement for the next school year. Furthermore, PSD demonstrates a disregard for its staff and parent stakeholders’ relocation planning and concerns, places its administrator and parents in a compromised, potentially conflicted position and causes all stakeholders unnecessary, prolonged stress.

We, the undersigned, call on the Poudre School District (PSD) Superintendent and Board of Education to immediately provide on-line school of choice registration for LSCL's grades K through 6th for the 2009-10 school year with an absolute and firm commitment that the Lab School will offer grades K-8 starting in the 2010-11 school year.

Furthermore, we call on the Poudre School District Superintendent and Board of Education to rescind the decision to relocate LSCL to Bauder; to review, with LSCL, the PSD Facilities Master Plan to identify potential relocation sites; to hold discussions with LSCL and the potential sites’ stakeholders; and to name an appropriate facility for the 2009 or 2010 LSCL K-8 relocation by April of 2009.

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The Provide On-line School of Choice Registration for LSCL grades K_8 Immediately petition to Poudre School District Superintendent and Board of Education was written by Lucin Gilliland and is in the category Education at GoPetition.