A new complaint alleges the Anchorage School District withheld key information before voting to close the school.
A nonprofit formed to preserve the school’s science, technology, engineering and math program has filed suit against the Anchorage School District and the Anchorage School Board, asking a judge to halt the impending closure of Campbell STEM as families continue to challenge both the decision itself and the process that produced it.
, filed April 8 in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage, seeks immediate injunctive relief to stop the district from carrying out the closure, which wasThe plaintiff, Campbell STEM Preservation & Education Foundation, argues the board’s decision was made through a rushed and opaque process that denied the public a meaningful chance to understand and respond before the vote. The filing alleges three central legal failures: violation of Alaska’s Open Meetings Act, denial of due process under the U.S. and Alaska constitutions, and arbitrary and capricious action under Alaska administrative law. It asks the court for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, costs and fees, and any other relief the court finds appropriate.For weeks, Campbell families and supporters have argued the district moved too quickly as it tried to address a massive budget crisis. In February, the Anchorage School Boardto close Campbell STEM, Fire Lake and Lake Otis elementary schools as part of a wider “rightsizing” plan tied to a projected $90 million structural deficit. District officials said the changes were necessary to align buildings, staffing and programs with falling enrollment and available revenue. But the foundation’s complaint argues Campbell was not just another neighborhood school caught in a painful round of cuts. It describes the school as a nationally-certified STEM program built over about eight years, one with a specialized model, established pathways and a distinctive identity that, supporters say, cannot be recreated on short notice somewhere else. The lawsuit also reflects a frustration that has echoed through public testimony for weeks: that the public was asked to react before it had enough information. In the complaint, the foundation alleges the district failed to disclose the methodology, criteria and underlying data used to justify closing Campbell STEM. It argues that without that information, families and stakeholders were deprived of a meaningful opportunity to evaluate the proposal or challenge its assumptions. The filing alleges the district relied on incomplete or undisclosed information and advanced the vote on a compressed timeline, leaving the decision legally defective and substantively unsound. “Their meeting occurred on a Thursday night. On a Friday, the notice went out that we were — the proposal to close down Campbell STEM,“ Donley said. ”The first opportunity, the only opportunity to testify was three days later.“Another board member, Pat Higgins, questioned whether the district’s newly-unveiled transition plan amounted to an after-the-fact attempt to repair a flawed decision. “It looks like it’s recovery for a bad ... decision,” Higgins said Monday. “This looks like recovery.” The district, however, has begun laying out its answer to the political and practical questions raised by Campbell’s closure, even as it has not publicly addressed the lawsuit in detail.On Monday, Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt acknowledged the anger and exhaustion surrounding the closure debate. “To be frank, this has been a really difficult time for the entire community.” He said, adding that some families felt “surprised and frustrated or even unheard” with the way that the district went about its consolidation process."Still, Bryantt made clear that the district is moving forward from the board’s February vote, not keeping it open. “The board has made its decision about Campbell STEM Elementary,” he said Monday. “We need to honor that decision.” The administration’s main message Monday was that while Campbell STEM as a school is closing, the district says the STEM program itself will continue. “STEM programming, despite many of the concerns that I’ve heard in the community, will not disappear in ASD,” Bryantt said. “We can and we will continue to expand STEM. Under that plan, Campbell STEM’s Cognia certification would transfer to Klatt Elementary next school year, and interested Campbell students would be surveyed for possible placement there. District officials said Klatt already has a half-time STEM teacher, four former Campbell teachers and an existing base of STEM-related programming, from hydroponics and salmon life cycle projects to robotics, family STEM nights and partnerships with Cook Inlet Tribal Council. They said a special lottery for interested Campbell families is planned within the next month, with broader STEM expansion envisioned over the next several years. That explanation has done little to satisfy some opponents, who say continuity on paper is not the same thing as preserving a program in practice. Higgins pressed that point Monday, asking whether any of the district’s Klatt plan had been considered before Campbell was recommended for closure. Bryantt responded that Klatt “has been engaged in STEM programming for many many years,” but said the certification transfer came in response to community alarm that ASD might lose its only accredited STEM program. “Those within and outside the Campbell community were alarmed that ASD might be losing its only STEM accredited program,” he said. “So it was in response to the community feedback that we need to protect and grow STEM programming.” The district has also signaled that the backlash over Campbell may alter how future closure decisions are made. Monday night, Bryantt recommended pausing any new closure proposals next year while the district develops a longer-range consolidation process built, he said, on “data, transparency, and authentic engagement.”That concession may prove politically significant, but it does not resolve the legal question now before the court: whether the process used to close Campbell STEM was lawful in the first place. The foundation’s press release casts the case as a fight over accountability, saying the district approved the closure through “a flawed and compressed process” lacking “adequate public notice, meaningful stakeholder engagement, and transparency.” It argues Campbell’s “unique curriculum, student pathways, partnerships, and academic outcomes” were not meaningfully analyzed before the vote. That language mirrors the complaint’s sharper legal framing. The suit contends the district denied families adequate notice, withheld key information and moved ahead on an incomplete record, producing a decision that was not just painful, but unlawful. For now, the district is presenting Klatt as the bridge to whatever comes next. Opponents are asking a judge to stop the district before that next chapter begins.Alaska House budget panel advances $3,800 PFD in draft budgetBills introduced to satisfy Rural Health Transformation requirements, but passage may not be the pointWasilla neighborhood floods after frozen culvert causes creek overflow
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