District Office: Board of Education

USD 364 board ponders elementary space crunch

From the April 17, 2008, Marysville Advocate

by Sally Gray

The space crunch at Marysville Elementary School has administrators and Board of Education members facing a difficult decision.

Enrollment numbers have been increasing at the elementary school, and while school officials acknowledge that’s a good problem to have, they’re concerned about class size.

At April 14th's school board meeting, board members and administrators discussed a proposal to move the sixth grade to the junior high, and they said they wanted comments from the public.

This year’s fifth-grade enrollment is 46, and there are two classes. Superintendent Doug Powers said the maximum classroom size for sixth grade is 26 students. If the school gains six more sixth-graders next year, that would put the enrollment at the “tipping point” for the maximum class-size level, he said.

Next year’s third and fifth grades also are close to maximum classroom-size levels.

If school officials wait until the start of school in the fall and the numbers increase, it would be too late to make a move to the junior high, Powers said.

Moving the sixth grade to the junior high would be a temporary solution, he said.

The district has undergone a facilities study, and architects have recommended additions and remodeling at all USD 364 schools. The project is in the schematic design phase, and the school board is considering a bond issue, which would be subject to a vote by the public.

Two fourth-grade classrooms are housed in a mobile unit north of the school, and that is also a temporary solution to the space crunch. Powers said that to install the mobile unit, the school district had to obtain a zoning variance from the city, and the district promised the city that the unit would be there only 36 months.

Powers said a permanent move by the sixth grade to the junior high would result in a middle school concept, and the district is not equipped for that.

If the school board decides to move the sixth grade to the junior high, three classrooms would be used on the main floor near the junior high office. Sheri Harmer, the district’s testing coordinator, could act as a principal for the sixth grade.

The sixth grade would have its own area in the school and would not be on the same bell schedule as the junior high and senior high students.

Powers said the move would be “truly temporary.”

“That’s why we’re talking about a bond issue,” he said.

Board member Sandy Wilson said one positive outcome to a move would be that sixth-graders would be accustomed to the junior high building, and the transition to seventh grade would be easier.

Board member Sonya Stohs said part of her concern with the proposal is that the sixth-grade year at the elementary school is a time to build leadership, and students would miss out on that. Also, she said, the sixth-graders would not be able to participate in the activities the PTO puts on, the awards assemblies, Accelerated Reader awards, Music in Our Schools and theme week.

Stohs said the sixth-graders would be segregated at the junior high and she didn’t want them to feel isolated.

“That’s part of what we have to weigh,” Powers said.

He said a decision needed to be made at the May 12 school board meeting.

MHS Principal Jack Waugh said that if the enrollment numbers go up, waiting until August to make the move would be too late.

Powers said that if board members feel strongly enough that the sixth-graders should stay at the elementary school, “we’ll find a way.”

“We will make this work, whichever solution it is,” Powers said.

He said he would get more information for the board and would ask Cindy Scarbrough, junior high principal, to talk to her staff. There might be “new opportunities that we haven’t thought of,” he said.

Powers said school officials want to hear people’s comments, concerns and ideas.