UW Trustees Vote for One-Year Extension of Agreement for School District Lab School

Noting the University of Wyoming's ties with K-12 school districts across the state, the UW Board of Trustees has voted in support of the university administration's offer to Albany County School District 1 of a one-year extension of a memorandum of understanding for the district's UW Laboratory School to operate on the university campus.

This comes after the district took no action on a proposed extension of the agreement that expired in July 2023. UW's Board of Trustees voted in favor of the one-year extension during its public meeting today (Friday).

The K-8 Lab School, which has been part of the local school district since 1999, was allowed to operate on the UW campus during the past academic year despite the district's inaction on the agreement. For several reasons, the university is offering an extension of the memorandum of understanding for only the 2024-25 academic year. Those reasons include:

-- The Lab School, designated as a school of choice in the school district, no longer serves a significant role for teacher training in UW's College of Education. The Albany County School District, not UW, has controlled the Lab School's curriculum for years. Students in the College of Education's teacher preparation program are having practicum experiences at dozens of sites in school districts across Wyoming.

-- There are challenges regarding security with having a Lab School, which is operated by the school district, located on the university campus.

-- The fact that the Lab School operates in a facility not owned by the school district is incongruent with aspects of the state's public school funding model and construction process.

Additionally, the Albany County School District has excess capacity in its existing facilities to accommodate current Lab School students.

"As noted before, we have reached a stage at which continuing the current relationship beyond one year wouldn't be optimal for either the district or the university," UW President Ed Seidel says. "Our community is fortunate that there are other outstanding schools in the local school district available to serve UW and other families impacted by this decision."

The Lab School's history dates to 1887, when a UW Preparatory School was organized "for the benefit of students from counties not provided with complete high school courses." The Preparatory School became the Training High School in September 1913, and the name was changed to University High School the following year.

In later years, the school was variously known as the Training Preparatory School, the Secondary Training School and the University High School. The University High School ceased in 1973, but a K-9 school continued under the UW Lab School name.

Although Albany County School District 1 assumed management of the Lab School in 1999, the first agreement between the university and the district for the Lab School to be operated on the UW campus was reached in 2008. It was renewed in 2013 and again in 2016, when the Lab School became a K-8 school, with a capacity of up to 270 students. Another extension was signed in 2019 and expired in July 2023.

The UW College of Education and other units of the university historically have collaborated with the school district to provide practicum and observational experiences for pre-service teachers and other UW students at the Lab School. Those experiences will continue to be delivered through partnerships with both Albany County School District 1 and other districts across Wyoming.

"The move away from a long-term Lab School future on UW's campus does not diminish the university's desire to work together on a stronger, broader partnership with the district to promote the best interests of both parties and, most importantly, Wyoming students," Seidel says. "We welcome further discussions about the future and are committed to deepening the relationship between the school district and UW, through the College of Education as well as with other units of UW, with potential areas of collaboration ranging from languages to computing."

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