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Students, parents and staff urge board to keep Vancouver Flex Academy open
Summary
Dozens of students, parents and staff told the Vancouver School Board that Vancouver Flex Academy provides essential academic, social and mental-health supports, warning that closing or fragmenting the program will harm vulnerable students and asking the board for transparency and alternatives to closure.
Dozens of public commenters urged the Vancouver School Board to preserve Vancouver Flex Academy, characterizing it as a school and a critical support network for students with disabilities, neurodivergent learners and those with mental-health challenges.
Multiple students described direct, personal benefits from Flex. "Flex Academy is suicide prevention," one student told the board, describing repeated past attempts and saying the school had reduced self-harm (Deborah). "Getting rid of the support will kill people," said 14-year-old Ezra Nelson, who credited Flex with raising his grades, eliminating bullying and reducing suicidal ideation.
Parents and staff echoed those concerns. A parent said the majority of Flex students carry IEPs or 504 plans and warned that shifting those students into other programs would increase the district's costs and risk compliance failures. Several speakers said the alternatives the district listed (STAR, Vancouver Virtual Learning Academy and other options) provide substantially less in-person instruction and said those models would not meet Flex students' academic or social needs.
Staff and advocates asked the board for clearer impact analyses and for the district to consult OSPI and other authorities before redirecting funds that may be TBIP-eligible (Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program) or otherwise restricted. A longtime language development specialist said the district's LDS team of 35 supports roughly 3,000 multilingual learners and requested transparency about who will provide mandated supplemental services if specialists are reduced.
Public commenters also pressed the board on process and communication, saying families learned of proposed changes via email with little time to plan. Speakers repeatedly asked the board to visit Flex, meet with students and staff in context, and delay any final action that would force students to change schools mid-course.
The board heard the testimony before voting later in the meeting to adopt a broader reduced-educational program plan that included a recommendation to transition Flex's reporting structure and fold staff into a TLO model. Several public commenters said that recommendation, if implemented, would not preserve the intensive, wraparound services they said are central to Flex's success.
