Parents of students in a special education program are upset over plans to move the students from Maize High to Maize South next year.

Plans are in motion to move the Functional Applied Academics program and the students to Maize South in August after construction is completed at MSHS.

Based on enrollment, 15 to 18 students would be affected by the move to Maize South.

Laura Matthews, whose son Gavin is a freshman in the FAA program, said she found out about the plan to move through a letter she received around Thanksgiving. Matthews said her biggest concern is that students in the FAA program take much longer to adapt and could be spending the rest of their high school experience adjusting to the new environment.

“I feel like it’s a disservice to the kids,” she said. “I feel like they claim that it’s what’s in the best interest of all students here, but to me in the fine lines unprinted is ‘with the exception of those with disabilities.’ ”

Cafeteria worker Raquel Miller said the transition to high school was already hard for her daughter, freshman Lexi Miller, and the transition to a new school will be even harder.

“I worry about her moving over there [MSHS] and not knowing [any] body, not know the school, not having [any] friends not having the classes that she had here,” Miller said. “It’s going to be too rough again, because we just did that from middle school.”

Miller said Lexi’s initial transition was made easier by knowing her brother, Shawn Miller, and her mom were going to be there with her.  

Matthews and Miller’s husband are some of several parents who plan to address the school board at the meeting Monday. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Educational Support Center, 905 Academy.

Richard Bell, executive director of operations and special programs for USD 266, said there are many details that still need to be worked out.

“Which is why this program move was announced early, allowing nearly nine months to ensure a smooth transition,” Bell said in an email.

“We will utilize this time to work toward making this a positive change for the students who are moving, the friends they have at MHS, and the new friends to be made at MSHS,” Bell said.

Junior Logan Schultz is on the board of Friendship Club, a group of more than 100 MHS students who mentor and support FAA students. Schultz, who plans to speak at the board meeting Monday, said the kids in the FAA program are his friends and moving them is going to be difficult for everyone involved.

“For us not to see each other throughout the regular day,” he said. “It will affect us in a negative way, because we won’t have that impact in our everyday life anymore.”

Junior Karli Baker started a petition about the move Thursday. She gave a few of her friends on the cheer squad a blank copy of the petition for the rest of the student body to sign.

Baker said her goal is to let the FAA kids who attend Maize to graduate there. If that doesn’t work, she wants to find a way to keep in touch with the students.

“We’re going to try and keep Friendship Club alive,” Baker said. “Somehow … we can go over there and see them at least once or twice a week.”