Parents, students urge board to keep Lakeville Online Academy amid proposed closure

Parents, students and other Lakeville residents used the board’s public comment period on Feb. 25 to urge the Lakeville Public School District School Board to keep the Lakeville Online Academy elementary program open.

Speakers said LOA provides a hybrid of public and homeschool benefits and urged the district to promote and invest in the program rather than close it amid budget pressures.

The comments came during the board’s 30-minute public comment block. Several parents described personal experiences with LOA and said their children are thriving academically and socially through the program’s blended online and in-person events.

Savannah Dee, a Lakeville Online Academy student, told the board: “I love my teachers and classmates. My amazing teachers, miss Saba and miss Kripke, are always there to help and teach me.” She said the LOA schedule and small-group support help her learn and that she fears having to change schools if the elementary program closes.

Parent speakers echoed that sentiment. Joseph (last name not specified), who said his family open-enrolled their son into the district for LOA, described the program as “a perfect compromise between public school and homeschool” and asked the district to promote the program more widely so enrollment can grow. Paul Matuga, another LOA parent, said the curriculum is “perfect and on track” for his daughter’s learning and urged the board to “stop the school from closing the program.”

Bill Fink, who said he is an auditor and parent of an LOA student, questioned district cost figures that administration has used to justify the program’s closure. Fink cited an internal per‑student figure of $11,275 for online students and compared it with in‑person cost numbers provided in communications, saying he could not reconcile the totals and offered to help analyze the accounting.

Student speakers described family circumstances that make LOA essential. Quintin (last name not specified) said the schedule allows his family to eat meals together because his father works nights. “My dad works on the railroad… If you close my school, I won't get to see him all week,” Quintin said.

Speakers asked the district to consider alternatives other than outright closure, including better promotion of LOA to incoming families and structural changes used by other districts—such as folding online classes under an existing building or sharing administrative overhead—to lower per-student costs.

The board heard these remarks before taking multiple procedural votes later in the meeting. No formal board action to close or keep LOA was recorded in the Feb. 25 transcript; commenters said they were speaking to a pending administrative decision and budget discussions that the board is considering.

The board did not respond during the public comment period, consistent with the district’s stated public comment rules. Several parents and students asked for follow-up from administration outside the meeting and for the board and administration to consider targeted outreach and enrollment strategies to increase LOA’s student count if the district is seeking cost savings.

The district’s administration and board members discussed other agenda items later in the meeting, including a detailed enrollment report and the district budget, both of which provide context for decisions that could affect LOA.

For now, LOA families remain awaiting a formal administrative recommendation or board action; speakers asked that any final decision be accompanied by clearer financial figures and a summary of outreach and enrollment options the district considered.