A judge has ruled that the Anchorage (Alaska) School District can move forward with the closure of an elementary school that offers specialized curriculum.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that Judge Una Gandbhir has lifted a preliminary injunction that had halted school closure steps at at Campbell STEM Elementary, one of three elementary schools the district will permanently close at the end of the school year later this month.
Anchorage School Board members voted in February to close Campbell STEM, part of a package of cuts meant to close a $90 million budget deficit.
Shortly after the district made its closure decision, families of Campbell STEM students formed a nonprofit — the Campbell STEM Preservation and Education Foundation — to sue the district and block the school's closure.
Mike Nield, a parent of a Campbell STEM student and a plaintiff in the case, said the nonprofit was still pursuing transparency and accountability from the district, and would continue to fight the school's closure in court.
Facing a $90 million budget deficit for next school year, the school board initially voted against closing a pair of elementary schools, but reintroduced school closure proposals as a cost-savings measure. Campbell STEM had not previously been slated for closure but was added to the list with fewer than two weeks before the board's final vote on the budget and school closures. Fire Lake and Lake Otis elementary schools also close at the end of the school year.
Plaintiffs have argued the district's process for deciding which schools to close lacked transparency and failed to incorporate input from the community.
Campbell STEM is currently the state's only STEM-accredited elementary school. The district plans to transfer Campbell's STEM certification to Klatt Elementary, where a small handful of Campbell STEM students will move.