Annabelle Blaha, left, and Asa Webb work on a diorama at Talent Elementary School's Outdoor Discovery Program last Thursday. 

While most of the students in the Talent Elementary School Outdoor Discovery Program had laptops at their desks on Thursday, that afternoon’s activity focused on making a diorama of their favorite animal rather than the latest technology.

Students in the magnet program who are learning about the ecosystem were asked to research an animal and write an essay about the species before turning their efforts into an art project, according to instructor Jessica Ward.

“I think their work is amazing! I am so proud of them,” Ward said.

The pride Ward has in her students’ work stands in contrast to her concern about the Phoenix-Talent School District’s decision to relocate the Outdoor Discovery Program, founded in 2008, from its two-room schoolhouse and across the street to the elementary school proper.

The school district and the Ashland Family YMCA are currently reviewing a memorandum of understanding to bring an all-day preschool to the schoolhouse, located on West Main Street in Talent, starting next school year. The preschool would have 20 slots.

The MOU will likely be signed soon, once school district Superintendent Brent Barry has thoroughly reviewed it, according to Joe Zavala, a communications specialist at the district.

Barry and Heidi Hill, the YMCA’s chief executive officer, spoke of the need to fill an early learning service gap in the region. 

Barry noted that only 31% of children have early learning opportunities before kindergarten.

“That’s tough. Our families feel that there’s not enough opportunities, so we’re trying to maximize that,” Barry said.

Hill said Talent has been “notoriously underserved” in terms of child care and “it is our mission to step into” the gap.

Pull Quote

“Sometimes these decisions are tough and (we have) to make a decision as a district as a whole, so we’re moving forward.”

— Phoenix-Talent School District Superintendent Brent Barry

But both parties in the pending agreement have been under intense criticism by the Outdoor Discovery Program’s parents, who told the Rogue Valley Times and members of the Phoenix-Talent School Board that they were given no warning of the decision. While some parents say the relocation should at least be delayed, others are saying the decision spells the end for the 16-year program.

Ward was one of the community members who spoke out at Thursday’s school board meeting.

“While I will not debate the need for increased preschool opportunities in this community, replacing a longstanding district program to make way for an outside organization feels like a careless mismanagement of resources,” she said. 

Nick Acord, an education specialist at Logos Public Charter School in Medford, gave their two cents, noting his niece was one of the first students enrolled in the program.

“Decisions can’t be made this quickly,” Acord told the school board. “This is not how things work in a healthy, functioning district from people who care about their constituents. Give us time and hear us out.”

Sheryl Zimmerer, executive director of Logos, said in an email late Monday that Acord was speaking on his own and the charter school does not have a position on the Phoenix-Talent School District’s decision.

Following public comment, Barry addressed the speakers, saying he admired them for the sometimes difficult task of addressing the school board.

“You could see it here, the emotion, and I know that’s not easy,” he said. 

In an interview prior to the meeting, Barry said he met with the program’s parents and staff to inform them of the decision, which left many of them with questions and criticism. He said the uproar taught him and others in the district about ways the district could improve communication.

Barry, however, was firm about the district’s decision to enter into an agreement with the YMCA. 

“Sometimes these decisions are tough and (we have) to make a decision as a district as a whole,” he said, “so we’re moving forward.”

In defending the YMCA’s future presence in Talent, Hill noted that her organization has no control over the district’s facility planning.

But she addressed the parents’ concerns, saying the YMCA does not want to look at the situation as “us vs. them.”

“This is, How do we meet the needs of the community together? How do we collaborate and compromise, when necessary?'” Hill said. “It’s not ‘We picked this place and it’s our way or no way.'”

She called the schoolhouse “a lovely location.”

Pull Quote

“Parents and students have literally been building this building, and the school district’s plan is to reach out to the YMCA to put in a preschool that most parents in Talent can’t afford.”

— parent Courteney Bucolo

But another parent, Courtney Bucolo, said in an interview that she and others believe many of the program’s amenities — including a pergola, a climbing structure, a large pollinator garden — won’t be included in the relocation.

“Parents and students have literally been building this building, and the school district’s plan is to reach out to the YMCA to put in a preschool that most parents in Talent can’t afford,” Bucolo said.

The Outdoor Discovery Program will be reestablished, for now, in two classrooms in the southeast corner of the elementary school, close to the playground and garden space, according to Barry.

Bucolo said that “with proper planning,” relocating the program could work, though she believes it would be difficult because of the program’s “unique needs.”

“I believe it would be possible to do so given time and actual collaboration with the parents and teachers who are running the program,” Bucolo said.

Barry added that plans are in the works for the program to be permanently housed on Colver Road, where Talent City Council recently annexed 43 acres of school district property.

But neither the annexation nor the program’s relocation pleases Bucolo.

“Moving us now and moving us again in a couple years also doesn’t seem like really good planning,” Bucolo said.

An online petition links to a letter, signed by parents and supporters, urging Barry to reconsider the decision. “We have no desire to move to TES and we will not move to TES,” the petition reads.