Stillwater school board members may let legal challenges of their decision to close three elementary schools play out before moving forward with their district realignment plans.
Board members were set to vote at their Thursday meeting on school boundary changes that would have updated the schools students will attend in the fall of 2017, after the planned closure of Withrow, Marine and Oak Park elementary schools.
Instead, the board will consider a request from opponents of the closures to halt all further actions until legal challenges are decided. At least two legal challenges are pending, and the first court hearing is scheduled for June.
Opponents of the closures say delaying boundary changes and other decisions could save residents and district leaders the discomfort of having to reconsider those choices after the legal challenges are settled.
“There is a real legal question here, and the district should take that seriously,” said Melissa Douglas, a Stillwater resident with children at Oak Park who is challenging the school closures in court. “It would be a prudent and thoughtful step and I hope the board seriously considers it.”
Carissa Keister, district spokeswoman, said board members want to give the request “serious consideration,” but they could still revisit boundary changes as soon as next month.
BOLD PLAN
Closing Withrow, Oak Park and Marine is part of Superintendent Denise Pontrelli’s Building Opportunities to Learn and Discover, or BOLD plan, that district leaders say will make more efficient and effective use of district facilities and resources.
Currently, students at the smaller schools do not receive equitable resources while bigger schools struggle with large class sizes, school officials say. Closing the three schools is estimated to save $1.3 million that will be reinvested in academics.
Opponents of the closures do not believe that savings estimate. They say closing their beloved schools will devastate their small communities and that parents will move their children to charter or private schools. Opponents organized several groups to try to stop the closures, which were approved by board members in a 5-2 vote March 3.
Members of one group, Voters Invested in Our Children’s Education, or 834 VOICE, have asked the state Court of Appeals to review the evidence board members considered before their vote and decide if it was enough to support their decision. The review is pending, and another 834 VOICE legal challenge may be in the works.
Douglas asked Washington County District Court to stop the school closures because district leaders allegedly promised residents during a 2015 capital levy campaign that they would update the schools’ facilities if the levy was approved. It was, and Douglas’ case says the district should follow through with those planned improvements or put the $97.5 million levy back before voters.
In a March 18 response to Douglas’ court petition, school district attorneys said it is within the district’s discretion “to abandon a project that was the subject of a bond referendum.”
A judge is expected to hear arguments in that case June 17. The legal challenge has not stopped the construction of a new elementary school or updates at other school buildings.
Meanwhile, other opponents of the school closures continue to push a petition to consolidate the Stillwater and Mahtomedi districts to save money. Leaders of both districts oppose the idea, and state officials say it is unlikely the proposal could be put to a vote of residents.