Lila (Elementary Student)

Archetype Label

The One Whose School Is Closing

Demographic Summary

9, 4th grader at Dyer Elementary — one of the schools proposed for closure in the FY27 reconfiguration. Has attended Dyer since kindergarten. Knows her teachers, knows the building, knows which bathroom is the good one. Has a younger sibling in 1st grade at the same school. Her world is about to change in a way she didn’t choose and doesn’t fully understand.

Goals and Motivations

• Wants to stay at her school with her friends and her teachers
• Wants to know where she’ll go next year and whether her friends will go there too
• Needs reassurance that the new school will be okay — but also needs adults to be honest with her about what’s changing
• Wants to feel like her feelings about this matter to someone

Frustrations and Pain Points

• Heard from a classmate that “our school is closing” before any adult explained what was happening
• Doesn’t understand why her school is the one closing — “what’s wrong with Dyer?”
• Worried about losing her teacher, who she’s had for two years in a looping classroom
• Anxious about the new school: Will it be bigger? Will she know anyone? Will there be a place for her?
• Senses her parents’ stress about the situation but doesn’t have the vocabulary or context to process it
• The adults keep saying “this is about what’s best for all students” but it doesn’t feel like it’s best for her

Behavioral Patterns

• Talks about the closure with friends at recess — they trade rumors and fears
• Asks her parents the same questions repeatedly (“but WHY is Dyer closing?”) because the answers don’t satisfy her
• Drew a picture of her school for a class project and cried — her teacher didn’t know how to handle it
• Notices when her parents have been to a school board meeting because they’re tense afterward
• Doesn’t engage with news or policy — her entire understanding comes from adults in her life and other kids

Context of Use

Lila will never read a budget document or an analysis product. She is not a “user” in any traditional sense. She is the persona that the analysis exists about, not for. Her presence in the persona set is a reminder that every line item in the budget resolves to a child’s daily experience. When the analysis discusses the Dyer closure, reconfiguration savings, or per-pupil expenditure reallocation, Lila is what those abstractions look like at ground level. The analysis serves her indirectly — by giving her parents, her teachers, and her community the information they need to make decisions with her experience in mind.

Lifecycle