Emails Show UNI Discussed Price Lab Closure With Iowa Senate Democrats Before Announcement

administrators were discussing plans to close with Senate Democrats before the official announcement was made on Feb. 22, according to records obtained by Patch in response to a records request.

"Given that the Senate Democrats wanted a paper on the new vision for an R&D school to take the place of the Lab School as a R&D school, I quickly came up with the material in the attachment," UNI President Ben Allen wrote in an email dated Feb. 19.

The "R&D school" refers to Price Lab's role as the research and development school for Iowa. The existence of a research and development school is enshrined in Iowa law.

Because it is written into law, some have debated who has the authority to close the school. The has decided not to issue an opinion on the matter, which was requested, because parents have .

Allen: State education official "liked" the plan

Replacing the research and development portion of Price Lab has been central to conversations surrounding the plans to close the school.

"This is similar to what I told (Iowa Secretary of Education) Jason Glass last week and he liked it..." Allen wrote. "This is also what I talked about with the five or six Democratic Senators last week in my impromptu seminar on the subject."

UNI spokeswoman Stacey Christensen said the conversations were focused on the research and development program.

"The president feels there is a different way we can do the research and development outside Price Lab in a virtual way, so the meetings explored that," she said.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, confirmed Tuesday the administration had talked with senators about their plans.

"We meet and have met with the president to talk about a whole host of issues," he said. "They had began last fall to signal that they believed Price Lab was still a budget challenge to them."

Danielson: Senators didn't endorse plans

He said the communication, however, did not necessarily imply approval by the senators.

"Keep in mind they didn’t share any financial data at the time. They also didn’t ask if we were supportive or not," he said. "It was not collaborative. We didn’t say, 'oh, ok, we agree with that.'"

He said he believes the legislature has a role to play in the research and development school, because it affects education throughout the state.

"I asked the president at the time to give us a clear plan so that we could judge it for ourselves," he said. "I made it very clear that vision needed to be articulated not just to the community but to the state. Because here in Des Moines is where funding decisions are being made... There are overarching, very important policy decisions relating to the future of education."

He said from Feb. 22 until today, he has been given the same information as the public regarding UNI's plans.

The email, obtained by Patch through an open records request, was sent to Provost Gloria Gibson and Patrician Geadelmann, special assistant to the president for board and governmental relations, and Brenda Buzynski, executive assistant to the president. The attachment Allen refers to was not included.

The email also suggests:

• UNI's plan needed to be more "cutting edge" and "exciting."
• The framing of the message about closing the school was still being formulated in the days just before the announcement.
• Allen felt obligated to get back to the senators prior to the announcement.
• Allen was leery of public opinion about the plan.

Here are Allen's words:

"In short, we need this rewritten, made a bit more cutting edge, exciting and I need to get back to the Senators before we make an announcement," Allen wrote. "Jeneane, we need to decide how to do this—I assume I would have to drive down to Des Moines again to have a discussion. I really don’t want this stuff floating around the internet too broadly."

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, and "like" Cedar Falls Patch on Facebook to stay updated and join the conversation.