A Superior Court judge has temporarily paused the closure of an Anchorage STEM-focused elementary school after advocates sued the school district and board.
The lawsuit, filed by the Campbell STEM Education and Preservation Foundation, claims the school district did not give enough notice when it recommended closing Campbell STEM Elementary School to address the Anchorage School District’s roughly $90 million budget deficit. The suit also claims the Anchorage School Board voted to close the school arbitrarily.
Judge Una Gandbhir wrote in a ruling Friday that the advocates were likely to succeed in arguing that the school board acted arbitrarily in closing Campbell STEM. Gandbhir ordered the district to hold a public hearing no later than May 15 to address the decision to close the school.
The district and school board were barred from “taking any further steps toward closure, consolidation, reassignment of students or staff, repurposing of the facility, or administrative transition of Campbell STEM Elementary,” Gandbhir wrote in the order.
The board voted to close Campbell STEM as part of a number of budget cuts on Feb 24. Other cuts included the closure of Lake Otis and Fire Lake elementary schools, as well as hundreds of staff layoffs.
Advocates for the school alleged school board members heard at a later meeting, on March 17, that there was funding earmarked for maintenance and repairs at Campbell STEM that was not previously disclosed to the board. At the time, school board members Dave Donley and Pat Higgins attempted to reconsider the vote to close Campbell STEM, the reconsideration vote failed 3-3.
The school district’s lawyers say district officials considered a number of factors in their decision to close the school, including enrollment, facility use, academic programs and transportation considerations.
Gandbhir said other factors should also have been considered.
“The record does not clearly reflect that defendants considered pertinent funding sources for Campbell STEM Elementary, and does not reflect that board members expressed concern about lack of consideration of this important factor,” Gandbhir wrote.
But, the judge said, the school advocates were not likely to succeed in their argument that the district did not provide enough notice.
“In sum, Campbell STEM has not shown that the harm from the school closure is irreparable,” Gandbhir wrote.
The Campbell STEM advocates celebrated Gandbhir’s ruling.
“This ruling represents a significant victory for the students, families, staff, and community members who have fought to preserve a nationally recognized educational program and to ensure that public decisions are made through a lawful, transparent, and accountable process,” representatives of the Campbell STEM Preservation & Education Foundation wrote in a statement.
A school district spokesperson said in a statement that the district was reviewing the order with its lawyers and considering how to proceed.
The next court hearing in the suit is scheduled for May 14.
