Since 1887, the University of Wyoming campus has been home to the University of Wyoming Laboratory School, which has served kindergarten through twelfth grade under various names and configurations. Originally founded as a preparatory high school for the rural Wyoming territory, the Lab School has evolved over time, but one element has held true for well over a century: its role as a laboratory school. For decades, our teachers have worked, both independently and in collaboration with University of Wyoming faculty, to research, develop, and demonstrate new, experimental innovations in K-12 education. Their work has been presented and made available on a national scale, and an ongoing partnership with the Smithsonian Institution continues to facilitate a great deal of progress on this front.

Tragically, the Lab School's ability to perform this critical, in-demand service is under attack. The school has been operated jointly between the University of Wyoming and Laramie's school district, Albany County School District 1, since 1999. In recent years, heavy turnover of staff in both the university and the school district, as well as many other factors, has resulted in a situation where the UW and ACSD1 administrators and Boards of Trustees have been unable to reach an agreement preserving and protecting the Lab School's ability to be a world-class laboratory school. Instead, plans have been made to go against the will of the people of Laramie, remove our school from the UW campus, and "reimagine" it into just another ACSD1 school whose ability to innovate is burdened by the red tape of being completely managed by a public school district.

Because of this blatant disregard of our wants and needs, the Lab School community stands together in calling for an end to the failed partnership between these two entities and a full handover of our school to the University of Wyoming, whose name the UW Lab School wears with pride and honor. Specifically, we ask for the following:

From Albany County School District 1: amicable, good-faith, and timely cooperation with the Lab School community, University of Wyoming faculty, and state legislators to ensure a smooth transition

From the University of Wyoming: amicable, good-faith, and timely cooperation with the Lab School community and state legislators to address and resolve the issues interfering with the operation of a laboratory school on the UW campus

From the Wyoming State Legislature: amicable, good-faith, and timely intervention to facilitate the end of the UW/ACSD1 agreement and the reintegration of the Lab School into the UW College of Education

In a time where awareness of different learning styles and other unique needs of the country's diverse K-12 population is skyrocketing, laboratory schools are more relevant and sought out by parents than ever before. The University of Wyoming benefits greatly from having an established laboratory school whose staff has decades of experience, active partnerships with other institutions, and eager, enthusiastic participation in their projects from students, parents, and numerous members of the wider Laramie community. Abandoning this blessing will accomplish nothing, apart from setting back the development of new curriculums and teaching methods and breaking the collective heart of six generations of UW Lab School students, parents, teachers, and alumni. This cannot be allowed to happen!

Image copyright - Susan Rissi Tregoning, 2024