News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
No decisions have yet been made and the district is reviewing a variety of alternatives, according to Superintendent Steve Swisher.
But some teachers at the elementary school are very worried that their facility will bear the brunt of district growth.
The space crunch at the high school has been caused by a nearly 46 percent increase in grades 7-12 since the beginning of the 1992/93 school year, according to Principal Dennis Dempsey.
During the same period, enrollment at the elementary school has grown only 1.1 percent, according to a memorandum sent out by Superintendent Swisher on February 7.
If enrollment were the only issue, the district could probably keep next year's seventh grade, which requires three classrooms, at the intermediate school, where three classrooms are not currently used.
But Dempsey and Swisher say there are other concerns, such as how the curriculum would be organized and how the school would be organized.
"I think we also need to meet the social and educational needs of the middle school-aged child...that is really important. They are at an age where they are starting to figure out who they are and what their identity is. It is important to have activities tied to that age group," said Dempsey.
But Elementary School Principal Tim Comfort said his staff fears that the crowding issue will be perceived as a K-8 problem, and that if both the seventh and eighth grades move to the intermediate school campus, every nook would be a classroom and there would be no music or resource facilities.
"I don't want this to become an `us versus them.' We have to think of the best solution for the kids...but are we going to end up overcrowded at either or both of the elementary sites? That has my staff very concerned," Comfort said.
Superintendent Swisher acknowledged the misgivings.
"If they are over crowded at K-5, maybe it is 1-5 at the elementary building and 6-8 over here (the administration campus) with the kindergartners," Swisher said.
Other ideas that have been floated is returning kindergarten classes to the Cloverdale School.
Swisher said that if grades 7 and 8 return to the intermediate school, "they will still need to have access to the high school building, access to the library, media center, and the level of sophistication of the (high school) computer labs."
He envisioned intermediate school students using the high school facilities once or twice a week.
As to staffing, Swisher said the move would probably not require any additional teachers.
"It just depends where we deploy them," he said.
Four middle/high teachers have already said they want to make the move, Swisher said, which accommodates 100 students at a 25-to-1 student- teacher ratio.
"They are teaching exclusively 7 and 8 grade, so it doesn't matter what building they teach in, aside from the tools, which is certainly an issue," Swisher said.
Another three have expressed some interest, and only one of those has one period when they are not teaching grades 7 or 8.
Consequently, Swisher said the curriculum for grades 7 and 8 could be covered with current staffing.
As to athletic fields, he pointed out that grades 7 and 8 now hold winter practice and games at the elementary facility, and have since the high school was built. He thought that in the fall when playing fields were needed, grades 7 and 8 would travel to facilities at the high school.
"It doesn't matter which way you ride the bus," he said.
To find the additional three classrooms, Swisher suggested the alternative school space could be used, as could the space occupied by SOAR, which uses its room primarily after school hours. The office created for the business manager could be converted back to a classroom.
"It's important to remember you are not loading each room all the time, and that gyms, the band room and other spaces will accommodate students," Swisher said.
The first thing to do is to model the curriculum, then determine what the classroom needs would be, he said.
Swisher said he thought the move of grades 7 and 8 to the intermediate school would cost under $5,000.
Of that, about $1,000 would be needed for a hot water heater and system not tied to the school's boiler.
As to the removal of walls and other modifications, he thought present custodial staff could handle the job, although he said that would involve a shift of priorities and a lawn might not get mowed during the wall work.
As to supplies and material and other equipment, Swisher said, "I would want to look at what we can redeploy before we make a list of new things to buy. I want us to carefully look at current resources before we start adding to the cost."
He said the elementary enrollment growth would determine how long the move would address classroom needs.
"If the elementary were growing at the same rate as the high school, is would be a very short life span, a year or two. But that hasn't been the pattern. It has been slow growth there, so this could last from three to five years," Swisher said.
Swisher said an interim report on the basic alternatives would be presented to the school board on February 24.
These include options of whether the intermediate school would house grades 5-8 or grades 6-8, or whether the district needed to look at a K-4, 5-7 and 8-12 structure.
"As we hit the March meeting, there will be some finalized options that we would be asking the board for final direction on.
"By April, we hope to incorporate the final options and get direction from the school board," Swisher said.
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