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Conserve School
Looking across campus into the Sylvania Wilderness and Recreation Area
Location
Map
Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin

United States
Information
TypeSemester school
Established2002
Head of schoolStefan Anderson
Enrollment~45
Campus1,200 acres (5 km2) [1]
9 buildings
Websitewww.ConserveSchool.org

Conserve School is a semester school for high school juniors that focuses on environmental education.[2]

From the 2002 to 2009 Conserve School operated as a four-year college preparatory school. Due to financial concerns, the school switched to its current semester school model in 2010. The decision to transition the school was legally challenged by a group of concerned parents, alumni, and community members, as well as by the Culver Educational Foundation.[3]

The wastewater on campus goes through a "Living Treatment Plant", affectionately called the "Green Machine", which purifies the water and sends it back into the ground to be drawn up again by the well.

Campus

Conserve School has a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) campus. The campus includes eight lakes (although not all are completely enclosed by school property). The campus is adjacent to the Sylvania Wilderness and Sylvania Recreation Area[4] and its additional 18,327 acres (74.17 km2) of forests, lakes, and streams.

There are 22 miles (35 km) trails on Conserve School's grounds, which students use for hiking, biking, snowshoeing, and skiing.

The James R. Lowenstine Academic Building, or the LAB, is the primary building for traditional classes. The Lowenwood Recreation Center (LRC) is the school's athletic complex. The LRC holds a gymnasium, climbing wall, two racquetball courts, and a weight room. Overlooking Big Donahue Lake, the LRC provides access to the waterfront in warm weather and cross-country trails during winter.[citation needed]

Transition

On January 30, 2009, the board of trustees and headmaster of the school announced that the school would be transitioning to a semester format[5] during the 2009–2010 school year, and would be a full semester-based school in the 2010–2011 school year. The school in 2009–2010 would have 30 to 45 students, and will be re-focused on the environment. There are no interscholastic sports, and only eight out of about twenty teachers remained at the school.[6]

The transition was met by opposition from many parents and alumni, and resulted in a variety of legal challenges.[7]

On November 14, 2005, a lawsuit was filed against Conserve School by the Culver Educational Foundation, parent of Culver Military Academy and Culver Girls Academy in northern Indiana. The suit alleged a breach of fiduciary duties on the part of Conserve School's trustees, claiming the construction and continued operation of Conserve School was financially unsustainable. Culver stood to inherit nearly all of the trust assets should the operation of Conserve School be declared financially impractical. On May 25, 2007, at the request of Culver, the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, with all parties to bear their own costs and attorney's fees. [8]

In response to the Trustee's Decision to transition to the proposed semester program, the Parents and Alumni filed a lawsuit and injunctions to preserve the four year program [9] The case was filed in Vilas County Circuit Court on February 20, 2009.[10][11] The day before the hearing, Culver Academies filed a new lawsuit against Conserve School. [12][13]

On Friday March 6 2009 the honorable Judge Neal A. Nielsen III denied the motion for temporary injunction relief sought by the Conserve School Parents. [14] On April 14, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that he asked the Vilas County Circuit Court for permission to intervene in the lawsuit. [15]

References

  1. ^ Conserve School - Boarding School Profile
  2. ^ http://www.conserveschool.org/contentPage.aspx?pageId=59096&sectionId=446
  3. ^ http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=10748
  4. ^ Sylvania Wilderness Area
  5. ^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/jan/30/business/chi-ap-wi-conserveschool
  6. ^ http://bringbackconserve.com/index.php
  7. ^ BringBackConserve.com
  8. ^ http://www.thepilotnews.com/content/view/4031/
  9. ^ http://bringbackconserve.com
  10. ^ http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do?caseNo=2009CV000054&countyNo=63&recordCount=13&offset=0
  11. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (March 7, 2009). "Parents Sue Trustees Over Prep School's Shutdown". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  12. ^ http://www.thepilotnews.com/content/view/100983/27/
  13. ^ https://bringbackconserve.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103:culver-files-suit-against-conserve-school&catid=36:contributor-articles&Itemid=83
  14. ^ https://bringbackconserve.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=104:motion-for-emergency-temporary-injunction-denied&catid=39:conserve-community-updates-&Itemid=83
  15. ^ http://www.doj.state.wi.us/news/2009/nr041409_02.asp

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