[Vision2020] Atlas Decides to Quit

[J Ford]

Atlas School Drops Appeal, Will Leave Downtown; Attorney For Moscow School: 
‘It Isn’t To Anybody’s Benefit To Fight Over It At This Point’

As reported in today's edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

    Atlas School hasn’t given up its struggle to exist, but it has forfeited 
the fight to stay downtown.

    Classes met today while word quickly spread that the school dropped its 
appeal Tuesday.

    “It ends a contentious situation that nobody needs,” said Greg Dickison, 
attorney for Atlas School. “It isn’t to anybody’s benefit to fight over it 
at this point.”

    Dickison sent a letter detailing the school’s decision to vacate both 
its appeal and its location to Randy Fife, Moscow’s city attorney.

    Representatives from Atlas were supposed to meet with the City Council 
during their Tuesday night meeting but did not attend because “we 
essentially decided that we wouldn’t succeed,” Dickison said.

    “The city has given us a reasonable time to find a new location,” he 
said, adding that the school may be gone earlier if a new site is found. 
“We’ve been actively looking for a while, for an alternative space.”

    Dickison said the school has until March 19 to move from its location at 
516 S. Main St., where it operates out of a portion of the former Nuart 
Theatre. The school expects to apply for a conditional-use permit for a new 
location in February, Dickison wrote.

    “In many ways it’s turned out to be a blessing for Atlas,” he said. 
School leaders are hoping to find a location better suited for the school.

    Dickison said he still thinks Joel Plaskon’s initial decision was 
correct.

    Plaskon, the city’s community development director and zoning 
administrator, wrote that the school would be considered for a permitted use 
in May 2005. But during last year’s contentious zoning code debates, the 
Board of Adjustments and City Council ruled against allowing schools in the 
central business district. The Board of Adjustments decided that Atlas still 
fell under the zoning definition of a school, despite Atlas’s non-typical 
structure with a small enrollment,

    “Our whole appeal was based on the idea that we are not a school in the 
same sense that the city is worried about them being downtown,” said Toby 
Sumpter, the headmaster of Atlas School. “I think having 10 or 11 full-time 
students is a lot different than 300.”

    “We still think it’s rather silly that we have to leave but at the same 
time we are really just interested in learning and we don’t have the time 
for this kind of stuff,” Sumpter said. “It seemed like, based on the current 
trajectory of the City Council — and just again our resources and interest 
in pursuing peace — that this was the best course to pursue.”

    Sumpter notified the parents of the mix of 15 full-time and part-time 
students Tuesday. As for the students, “they sound and seem fairly normal 
today. I’m not entirely sure how much they know,” Sumpter said. “We’ll be 
here as normal until a new location is secured.”

    Sumpter said the school has received an offer for one location that is 
under consideration by the school’s board. “We know God is in charge. And 
he’ll provide for us. And we’ll keep going.”


J  :]

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