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Board votes to close Lewis and Clark site housing Vancouver Flex Academy after months of public pleas
Summary
After extended public comment from students, parents and advocates, the Vancouver Public Schools board voted to close school entity 3932 (the Lewis and Clark site that houses Vancouver Flex Academy). Directors cited a severe budget shortfall and the need to restore district fiscal solvency.
The Vancouver Public Schools board voted to close school entity 3932 — the Lewis and Clark site currently home to Vancouver Flex Academy — after an emotionally charged public-comment period in which students, parents and community members urged the board to keep the program open.
Students and parents told the board that Flex Academy provides a small, choice-based environment that helps neurodivergent students stay safe and succeed academically. “Flex is suicide prevention,” Randy Nod, a member of the Clark County Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board, said during public comment. Multiple students described Flex as the only school that kept them safe and restored stability in their lives; one speaker said the loss of Flex would be life-threatening for some students.
The board heard more than an hour of public testimony from dozens of speakers. Parents and students cited academic measures they said supported the program, described what they called an opaque decision-making process (they said a closure was effectively decided in December), and pressed the board for alternatives such as relocating the program or identifying other cost-saving options. Speakers also raised procedural concerns about public-notice practices and asked the board to consider phased options rather than an immediate closure.
Board members acknowledged the depth of community advocacy and said the decision was difficult. The interim superintendent reviewed a multi-month process that included committee reviews, a public hearing and prior board briefings. Directors said the district faces an acute fiscal crisis and limited options to close the gap without taking actions that reduce or consolidate programs. “We are in a different situation now,” one director said, describing changes to funding availability and cash-flow constraints that the board said left few alternatives.
The motion before the board recommended closing the specified school entity. The board voted to approve the closure. Director Decker voted to approve; Director Sproul voted to approve; Director Zavala voted to approve; and the presiding director also voted to approve. After the vote the board recessed into executive session.
Why it matters: Flex Academy is a small magnet choice program many families said is uniquely effective for students with neurodivergent needs. Closing the site will require the district to identify new placements or program adjustments for enrolled students and to address parents’ requests for transition planning and continuity of services. Board members said the district will need to balance student needs with legally constrained budget and contract obligations as it implements the closure.
Votes at a glance (board actions recorded in this meeting): - Motion to close school entity 3932 (Lewis and Clark / Vancouver Flex Academy): motion moved and seconded; vote — Decker: yes; Sproul: yes; Zavala: yes; Barrows (presiding): yes; outcome: approved.
Next steps: Board members and staff said transition planning and follow-up will occur through district staff, and the board recessed into executive session immediately after the vote. The district has signaled it will return with follow-up items in July and continue budgeting and placement work in the coming months.
