Over the past two years the Kickapoo Valley Reserve (KVR) and the La Farge School District (LFSD) have worked together in support of the Kickapoo Valley Forest School (KVFS), which opened in September 2021. The District leases spaces at KVR for the innovative outdoor immersion school, which this coming year is set to achieve maximum planned enrollment of 64 students in grades 4K - 2.
As KVFS has grown, it has been determined that the school's daily use of the indoor and outdoor spaces at KVR’s visitor center site has significant impact on the operations of both organizations.
With the knowledge of the governing boards both of the LFSD and the KVFS, the Kickapoo Reserve Management Board has taken action to approve studying potential relocation of the KVFS to a new site within the KVR, adjacent to Corps Road, along with establishing a workgroup composed of stakeholders to develop a long-term lease agreement for the KVFS at KVR.
The Kickapoo Valley Reserve and the Kickapoo Valley Forest School are separate institutions with separate staff and governing bodies, while sharing the values of preservation and protection of natural habitats through education. Both organizations commit to continuing to cooperate toward achieving the long-term goals each has established.