Local parents are requesting that the Helena Public School District provide more information about its decision to close Hawthorne Elementary in an appeal filed this month with the county superintendent of schools.
Hannah Cail and Beagan Wilcox Volz, parents of former Hawthorne students, filed an appeal on July 9 to Lewis and Clark County Superintendent of Schools Katrina Chaney. They allege that school district officials failed to provide sufficient information to the public, violating district and state policy.
Specifically, the appeal filed by Helena attorney Michael Talia maintains that district officials did not present enough information about how closing Hawthorne would be “in the best interests” of all district students.
In addition, Cail and Wilcox Volz also allege that the district failed to follow its own process to justify closing the school.
“From start to finish, the process of closing Hawthorne has lacked transparency,” Wilcox Volz said in a statement to Montana Free Press. “We want to bring those processes and decisions to light so that no other Helena kids and their families have to go through something like this again.”
The board of trustees voted to close Hawthorne in June after the district superintendent, Rex Weltz, recommended the option earlier in the school year, citing declining student enrollment, budgetary constraints and facility maintenance costs.
“Keeping Hawthorne open would have concentrated deeper cuts into elementary schools throughout our community and resulted in further reductions, including shortening the school day for our youngest students and throwing thousands of working Helena families into a new afterschool childcare crisis,” Weltz said in a statement to MTFP.
While the appeal doesn’t specifically ask the district to reconsider the school’s closure, Cail and Wilcox Volz do request that the district provide information detailing exactly how the closure will benefit the students.
Furthermore, they requested that the district send letters to each Hawthorne student’s parents and guardians expressing “regret and remorse for failing to conduct a transparent and compliant closure process in accordance with the applicable law and policy,” according to the appeal.
If the appeal is denied, Cail and Wilcox Volz would have the option of appealing to the Montana Office of Public Instruction before filing a lawsuit in district court.
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