May Board Meeting Recap
Reminder: Independent parent group — not affiliated with or endorsed by FASD.
Harrington Is Good News. Now Comes the Governance Test.
TL;DR
FASD has been offered the opportunity to move into the former Harrington Elementary building at 2401 E. 37th Avenue for the 2026–27 school year.
This appears to be very good news for students, teachers, staff, and the long-term stability of the school.
The Board unanimously voted to accept the DPS offer, non-appropriate funds for the current St. Ignatius lease, and authorize the administration to take the steps needed to complete the move.
But much of what families expected in May — SAC bylaws, the School Director year-end report, and other governance work — was pushed to June.
The move is a major win. It should also raise the bar for transparency, compliance, and basic governance discipline.
Parent Recap (What Happened)
The biggest news from the May 27 Board meeting is that FASD has been offered the opportunity to move into the former Harrington Elementary building at 2401 E. 37th Avenue for the 2026–27 school year.
The Board and administration described Harrington as a major upgrade from the current St. Ignatius facility. Based on the presentation, the building offers more classrooms, a dedicated gym, a full kitchen, library and conference spaces, a nurse clinic, separate adult restrooms, two playgrounds, access to nearby Schaefer Park, and air conditioning.
The school also emphasized the financial benefits of moving into a DPS facility. According to the budget discussion, the move should reduce the school’s facility burden by shifting certain building-related costs and maintenance responsibilities to DPS. The preliminary 2026–27 budget projects a positive position, compared with the current year budget amendment that requires use of approximately $97,578 of beginning fund balance.
The Board took several votes tied to the move:
Approved the amended 2025–26 budget
Voted to non-appropriate funds for the St. Ignatius lease for the 2026–27 school year
Approved the preliminary 2026–27 budget
Voted unanimously to accept the DPS offer to relocate FASD to the Harrington site
Authorized the School Director and her team to take the steps necessary to complete the move
There was also a brief SAC update. The SAC bylaws have been reviewed and are expected to come to the Board in June. The school’s official family survey was extended through June 3. The School Director’s year-end report was also pushed to June.
No one made a public comment. The meeting ended in under an hour.
The “Since You’re Here…” Section
Unofficial reflections — offered in good faith (and with a grain of salt)
I want to be explicit: the section above is my attempt to keep things factual and balanced. This section is my personal perspective.
The Harrington news is good news. That should be said clearly.
FASD has needed a better facility for a long time. The current building has constrained the school in obvious ways: limited classroom space, limited indoor activity space, limited support space, playground challenges, heat issues, and a recurring maintenance burden that has pulled time, attention, and money away from the core educational mission.
A move to Harrington could give students more room to learn, teachers a better place to teach, and the school a more stable financial foundation. It could also create room for FASD to grow into the kind of elementary school it has long aspired to be.
That is worth celebrating.
It is also worth being clear-eyed.
The Board itself described the next step as a “leap of paperwork.” Until the facility use agreement is finalized, the move-in timeline is confirmed, and the budget implications are clearly documented, this is not fully done. It appears to be a strong and exciting opportunity, but families should reasonably want to see the signed agreement and the implementation plan.
The other reason to be careful is that this move may bring additional scrutiny. Harrington has been part of a broader DPS facilities conversation, and other community groups reportedly put effort into RFPs for the site. If FASD is being entrusted with a major DPS facility, the school should expect people to ask whether it is operating with the governance maturity expected of a public charter school.
That means compliance matters more now, not less.
This is where the May 27 meeting felt like a study in contrast.
On one hand, the Board and administration appear to have helped land a major facilities win. That is no small thing. Real people put in real work, and the result could be transformative for the school.
On the other hand, several basic governance items were pushed out again. SAC bylaws were delayed to June. The School Director’s year-end report was delayed to June. Other foundational governance work (e.g. the policy audit-lite) disappeared into the background.
The meeting was scheduled for two hours. The meeting ended in under an hour.
That is hard to square. If there was enough time to announce the move, pass budget actions, terminate the current lease path, accept the Harrington offer, authorize the administration to proceed, and offer extensive thank-yous, it is not obvious why long-pending governance items had to wait another month.
That has been a recurring FASD pattern. The school can swing for the fences, but it still struggles to hit singles.
SAC bylaws are a single. A clear and Board approved CORA policy is a single. A functioning public comment process is a single. Clear budget presentation is a single. A transparent grievance process is a single. Anti-bullying policy clarity is a single. Board follow-through is a single.
Those things are not glamorous. But they are how public schools earn trust.
The communication posture also deserves attention. Families were told there was “welcome news,” that questions would not be answered before the Board meeting, and that town-hall-style meetings would follow after the Board acted. During the meeting, public comment came after the major votes. Families were also told that one-off questions would not be answered individually and that messaging would be coordinated for the full community.
Some of that may be practical. Real estate discussions can require confidentiality. DPS timing may have limited what the school could say. A shared FAQ can be more efficient than many one-off responses.
But confidentiality is not the same thing as partnership.
Families can understand that some details must be protected. What feels different is being managed through a rollout: good news first, questions later, votes first, town halls after. That may be efficient, but it does not feel like shared governance.
The school has a chance to improve that in June.
The hybrid follow-up meetings are a positive step. A written FAQ will help. But the bigger opportunity is to treat parent questions not as a communications burden, but as part of governing a public school community.
What to watch for in June
Final Harrington paperwork and timeline — What has been signed? What remains pending? When will FASD get access to the building? What are the DPS conditions?
A clear before-and-after facilities budget — What are current facility costs at St. Ignatius? What will facility costs be at Harrington? How will MLO 2020 facilities funding be used under the new structure? Where will savings go?
Policy audit-lite — Maybe this will reappear. Maybe.
SAC bylaws — The Board should adopt compliant SAC bylaws in June and clarify how SAC membership will meet statutory and charter expectations, including parent representation.
School Director year-end report — Families should still receive a clear academic, operational, staffing, enrollment, and culture update. The facilities news should not crowd out the state of the school.
Parent survey results — The official survey was extended to June 3. How will results be shared? How will they inform strategic planning?
Governance cleanup — CORA, grievance procedures, public comment, anti-bullying, budget transparency, and Board policy work should not disappear because the building issue is big.
The Harrington announcement could be a turning point for FASD. But a better building will not automatically create a better-governed school.
That part still has to be built.
~ Greg
PS: Parent input still matters
One lesson from the Harrington announcement is that big things can happen before families have much opportunity to weigh in. With FASD’s strategic plan refresh on the horizon, parents still have an important chance to share what they think the school’s priorities should be — academics, communication, governance, culture, facilities, fundraising, and more.
Please take the independent parent survey here: [Independent Parent Survey]
