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Parents and teachers contest planned school moves; board and administration say some moves already approved
Summary
Community members, teachers and students raised concerns about proposed moves — including Mark Twain/Wedgwood and consolidating STEAM middle and high schools — over space, class size, student experience and scheduling; the board and administration said some location decisions were already approved while other details remain in development.
Several parents, teachers and students told the board they fear the district’s planned school consolidations and building reassignments will harm instruction, school culture and student opportunities.
Public speakers at the board meeting urged the trustees to reconsider or to provide more specifics about multiple reconfiguration plans the administration is advancing. Topics included a previous decision to move Mark Twain students (speakers said the board had taken action to move Mark Twain; a student speaker, Fancy Hancock, said she appreciated the decision), a proposed relocation of some Wedgwood programs, and a plan to combine STEAM middle school and STEAM High School in the same building. Teachers and parents asked how the district will separate age groups, preserve electives and extracurriculars, and maintain safety and appropriate services for younger students co‑located with older ones.
“Courses, lunchtime, sports, activities, homecoming, dances, organizations should not be represented as 6–12 grade population,” said one STEAM parent during public comment. A Wedgwood teacher told the board that Wedgwood’s current team structure and growth in math achievement make it unsuitable for compressing additional teams into the building and applauded the board’s decision to seek alternatives.
The administration and several trustees said some relocation decisions had already been made: the board president stated that, earlier, the board approved graduation locations and that the first communication the board received about Innovation High School graduation date came in a superintendent weekly update; trustees also confirmed actions on a previous meeting to relocate certain students. The board and administration repeatedly said they would follow up with stakeholders and promised additional communications, and the administration agreed to prepare a stakeholder-facing draft communications plan with timelines and bullet points for parents, students and employees.
Why it matters: Consolidation and reassignments can affect class sizes, extracurricular programming, scheduling, and students’ sense of belonging. Parents and teachers asked for specific assurances — for example, that 9–12 graders would continue to have distinct high‑school‑level events and that younger students would be physically separated from older students.
The board assigned staff to follow up, and trustees said they would attend community meetings (the administration scheduled campus meetings, including Innovation on short notice) and promised to circulate details in the district’s weekly update.
Ending: The board committed to additional outreach; stakeholders requested firm timelines and written assurances about class separation, schedules and program preservation.
