Amidst Protests, Potential Closure, Price Lab Carnival Goes On

It has been a month of ground-shaking announcements and tenacious protest at , but in some respects, life at the school goes on as normally as possible.

The school's Parent Teacher Partnership will host its annual spring carnival and raffle on Friday.

“We’re proceeding with the school year as normally as we possibly can," said Sarah Eastman, president of the Price Lab Schools Parent Teacher Partnership. "Even though we know our kids are not the primary mission of the lab school, they are still a huge and very important part of it. And we don’t want them to be overlooked in all of this.”

President Ben Allen announced plans to close the school last month, but protests, awareness campaigns and hope for intervention from the Iowa Legislature have kept the issue alive and the school's fate unsure.

"Stability has still got to be a part of their (students') everyday world if they’re going to be successful," Eastman said. "Carnival is something they look forward to every year."

For comprehensive coverage of the UNI budget cuts, including the planned closure of Price Lab, visit the Cedar Falls Patch topic page. Get notified of the latest on Price Lab and other UNI news by signing up to the Cedar Falls Patch newsletter.

The fundraising evening, "A Night at the Museum," will be March 23 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Nielsen Fieldhouse on the Price Lab campus.

Funds raised from the raffle go to the Price Lab Parent Teacher Partnership Scholarship Fund. Funds raised from the carnival will be used in support of the Parent Teacher Partnership’s mission: To foster a sense of community and to support projects designed to enrich school life.

The carnival will have a variety of games, food, a silent auction and raffle ticket prizes. The grand prize for the raffle is a Kindle Fire and there are more than 30 other prizes. Raffle tickets can be purchased from Price Lab students or at the carnival. Game tickets can be purchased immediately before and after school in the Price Laboratory lobby from March 21 to March 23 and at the carnival.