TEMPE, Ariz. — After only one year in operation, the Tempe Innovation Center will close at the end of the school year due to financial issues, Tempe Union High School District officials said.
The Innovation Center is a companion program to the district's regular high schools. It was founded as a program that offered real-world applications and problem-solving skills for students in the district.
But due to declining enrollment and a budget shortfall in the district, the Innovation Center will close, saving the district $1 million, according to a district spokesperson.
The district recently spent $1 million to renovate the campus that houses the Innovation Center, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony being held in November 2023.
Three months after the opening came the announcement that the program will shut down, leaving parents of the students who attend it asking why.
"A lot of parents know not all kids learn the same," parent Monee Neville said.
Neville's daughter Eden is a sophomore in the district who tried the Innovation Center as a way to become more interested in school.
"She woke up every morning, she was up first thing doing her homework," Neville said. "Just a ton of positive things that I've seen in my daughter since attending the school."
"It's really a shame that this program has been taken away, it seems before it really had a chance to get started," she said.
The Tempe Union High School District would not let anyone appear on camera to talk about the program's closure.
A spokesperson said the newly-renovated building was designed as a flexible space and other programs would be housed there. The 84 students enrolled there would go back to their regular high schools full-time.