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Board agrees to close stand-alone Big Picture program, let juniors finish and explore a Big Picture core at Windsor High

Windsor Unified School District Board of Trustees · December 19, 2025

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Summary

Facing low enrollment and unsustainable student-to-teacher ratios, trustees voted to close the current Big Picture Learning stand‑alone program while allowing existing juniors to finish. Administration will explore preserving program elements as a core within Windsor High School for older students and report back.

District leaders told the board that Big Picture Learning's current structure is no longer fiscally sustainable because low enrollment produced untenable advisory ratios. Principal Heather and Superintendent Decker said the program no longer met the staffing model required to run the advisory and internship-focused approach, especially after a shift to an independent-study schedule that reduced student contact days.

"We're proposing to close Big Picture Learning as it is currently constructed," Superintendent Decker said, adding that the district intends to allow current juniors to complete their program experience. Staff and board discussed possible ways to preserve Big Picture-style features by creating an 11–12 Big Picture core at Windsor High School that would offer interest-based learning, internships and smaller advisory groups while students would remain part of Windsor High's broader course offerings for math and science.

Trustees voted in favor of the staff recommendation: current juniors will be allowed to finish the model; the district will not enroll new students in the current standalone program for next school year; administrators will work with principals to develop a possible core structure and return with recommendations for staffing, scheduling and recruitment.

Supporters of Big Picture urged the board to find a way to maintain the program's identity; district staff emphasized the gap between program costs and available enrollment and suggested a core embedded in Windsor High as a compromise that could preserve advisory and internship components.