Update: Project Change Closure Pulled From Agenda

Update, 11:20 a.m. Tuesday: The agenda for the Curriculum and Instruction Committee no longer has discussion or action about Project Change's closure. The agenda was revised Tuesday morning.

Original: When the Waukesha School Board in January first heard that Project Change, a charter school serving area teens facing alcohol and drug addictions, was being eyed by school administration for closure, it didn’t sit well with some board members.

“We have a need for it. We are going to continue to have a need for it,” said School Board Member Barb Brzenk during the January board meeting. “It is a reality in our community and in communities everywhere across the country.”

The board put the closure of the charter school on hold for now, but it still needs to make a decision about the school’s future. Superintendent Todd Gray cited several reasons to close the school, such as low enrollment – this fall there were three non-school district students and one Waukesha School District student – and costs to upgrade the school to keep its charter school status.

The school district would like to convert the Project Change model into the high school buildings, which had some parents and community members concerned about integrating the students with addictions back into a school where they will face certain peer pressures.

The Waukesha School Board’s Curriculum & Instruction Committee will take up the issue when it meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 222 Maple Ave.