Mother and Daughter Fight to Save Price Lab: One Family's Story

Many families in the Cedar Falls area have been personally affected by the potential closing of , and one of them that isn’t about to give up hope is Carole Fishback and her daughter Michaela “Mickey” Fishback.

Mickey Fishback has been attending Price Lab since sixth grade, and now that the school may be closing, many memories are being brought back for her mother.

“When Mickey was about in first grade, she had the chance to go to a similar lab school that was part of UNI as well,” said Carole Fishback. “We signed up for it and really were impressed by it, so we went ahead and enrolled. This situation reminds me of what it was like to see that close all over again, and I think it’s harder now because my daughter is older and has had more time invested in it.”

For comprehensive coverage of the Price Lab closure and other budget cuts, including the UNI students' "study-in" on campus this week, 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. 

Fishback: "Odds Are Stacked Against Us" 

Now that UNI plans to close Price Lab on June 1, Carole Fishback is worried because she is a Waterloo parent who got into the program through open enrollment and being on a waiting list. She had considered moving to find jobs in other areas, but always resisted because of her daughter’s connection to Price Lab.

“I think to get knocked off that and realize that we’re going to have to go back to open enrollment when so many other people who go to Price Lab will be doing the same thing makes me feel like the odds are stacked against us, even though we’re trying to be optimists about the whole thing,” said Carole Fishback. “I guess I’m just appalled at how fast it happened and the lack of warning everyone had.”

Students Trying to Remain Optimistic

Mickey Fishback, who has loved her experience at Price Lab thus far, says she and her classmates are also trying to stay optimistic about the matter.

“You can ask anyone where they’re going (to school) next year and they’ll say ‘Oh, I’m going to NU,’ and obviously you can’t just step back and think that something is going to happen — you have to do something about it — but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a positive mindset about it,” said Mickey Fishback. “I think that staying positive has been the whole theme for our class. I still have this feeling deep inside that I don’t think (the closing of Price Lab) can happen.”

Carole and Mickey Fishback, as well as more than 80 other citizens and students, drove to Des Moines last Monday in an effort to save Price Lab. While they were in Des Moines, they were able to speak with State Rep. Bob Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, and State Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, as well as get their word out to as many other members of the House and Senate as possible.

Parents Hope State Capitol Trip Will Help Save Price Lab

Carole Fishback has been frustrated with the letters being sent out recently and hoped their efforts at the State Capitol would help make a difference.

“In the letters that we’re getting, it just seems to me that they’re indicative of conversations that have been had with other school officials, but just not with our school and our parents and our students and the UNI students who are currently enrolled in teaching programs,” said Carole Fishback. “I don’t know why we would be the last ones to know. There’s little or no information on what happens to everybody, the programs, or anything… only that it’s closing, and that’s hard to deal with.”

Mickey Fishback adds that “there are a lot of teachers (at Price Lab) that are just as in the dark as we are.”

Carole and Mickey Fishback are appreciative of so many elements of Price Lab that they don’t want to see disappear. After years of hand-packed lunches before attending Price Lab, they were thankful for the school’s effort to support local farms and discontinue using processed sugars, which was largely based by First lady Michelle Obama’s nutrition program. Mickey Fishback was even able to meet Michelle Obama in 2011 and thank her for the changes made.

Even though Mickey Fishback’s birthday is within a few days, she cancelled her plans in order to continue fighting for her school, saying, “Any opportunity we’re given to do something, we take it.”