The UH Human Development Laboratory School, which opened in 1955, will close its doors July 31.
‘The final decision to shut down the lab school was based on mission and money,’ Robert McPherson, assistant dean of the College of Education said. ‘We have had a continuous struggle to underwrite the program every year, with cost sometimes getting as much as $100,000 a year that comes out of the College of Education budget.’
The purpose of a laboratory school on campus is to provide training opportunities to students of various majors and to provide educational research opportunities to faculty.
McPherson said the lab school was not serving either of its purposes.
‘We’ve had some hit and miss training opportunities for students there, but the faculty associated with the Human Development and Growth Program have said that they can find equivalent, sometimes more desirable placements for their students off campus,’ he said. ‘To date we’ve had no faculty member take on any research project in the lab school.’
For parents of the 40-plus kids enrolled, half of which are children of UH students and faculty, the closing of the school came as a shock and with little time to find an educational replacement.
‘The parents noticed some changes and after that a formal request was asked of the school trying to figure out why these changes were occurring,’ Kico Tovar, a UH School of Architecture alumnus, whose 3-year-old attends the school, said. ‘We wanted to know if there were problems in the school, what their new direction is and why weren’t we notified ‘hellip; why it was kept a secret.’
Parents said the College of Education sent out a letter in April that stated the department’s desires the lab school to be a model with a strong curriculum. It also stated that there were no plans to close the lab school.
‘They let us know in the beginning of May that it was closing July 31,’ said Liz Chiao, whose child is enrolled at the school. ‘Most daycares often have the application process close in December to February. The school gave us two months to basically warehouse our children. The school said that there were plenty of other daycare options, but as parents, we should have the option to choose which school fits out children instead of just sending them wherever.’
Tovar said the lab school should provide parents an extension to give them enough time to find another option.
‘I think realistically the only thing we can look for is an extension of the program so that parents have more time to find placements for their children. It would be really great if the school could stay open, but I really don’t think that will happen,’ Tovar said.
With the closing of the lab school, Houston Community College’s Central Child Development Lab School will be the only school of its kind left in Houston.
