Dozens of current and former District 102 students, parents and teachers urged the La Grange School District 102 Board of Education on Thursday to preserve the district’s Science Center, saying the facility offers hands-on, year‑to‑year STEM experiences that smaller school-based labs cannot replicate.

Supporters used the meeting’s public comment period to describe long-term benefits from field trips to the center, the planetarium and year‑round, multi‑day lab experiences that they said fostered curiosity and careers in science for many alumni.

The appeals matter to the community because the district is planning expanded STEM labs in each school under the Renew D102 plan but has also discussed repurposing space at the Science Center. Speakers said losing the consolidated facility would reduce access to repeated, immersive science experiences that they said provide equitable curriculum opportunities across grades and schools.

“Please consider in the Renew D102 plan to maintain the Science Center as it is and build additional STEM curriculum within each school,” said Anna Peterson, a Forest Road parent and District 102 alumna. “There is a magic that happens when students can take a field trip to the Science Center and experience a honed curriculum from expert teachers that I feel that we are going to lose if we lose the concentrated science center.”

Several former students said the center's planetarium, animal collections and extended lab time shaped their interest in STEM careers. Mackenzie Leslie, an early‑childhood educator and former District 102 student, described repeated, curriculum‑aligned visits — from dissecting a lamb’s eye to planetarium sessions — and said the center’s size and staff permit multiple grade levels to use it simultaneously.

Bonnie Webster, whose son attended Forest Road, said parents moved into the district for access to resources like the Science Center and urged the board to keep it. “How can you sit here and take away such unique and novel resource from our children?” she asked.

Several speakers suggested transparent, narrowly scoped options the district could pursue instead of closing or converting the center — for example, targeted fundraising, volunteer staffing, or clearer explanations of whether the issue is space, funding or staffing. Alexandria Zuck, a La Grange Park resident who serves on the park district board, urged administrators to be specific about whether constraints are budget, volunteer capacity, facility space or staffing so the community could help.

District staff acknowledged community concern and said the Renew D102 plan includes STEM expansion to every school while also noting the value of the Science Center; district leaders said they will continue implementation planning and consider public input in coming months. No formal board action on the Science Center occurred at the June 12 meeting.

The public comment period that produced these appeals was followed by routine agenda business. Board members thanked speakers; the meeting continued to other scheduled reports and votes.

Ending: Parents, alumni and staff who addressed the board asked administrators to provide detailed, transparent information about why the Science Center might be repurposed and invited the district to spell out the specific constraints so community members could propose targeted solutions. The board did not vote on the center’s status at the meeting and indicated the matter remains under consideration.