Concerns about fifth grade move diminishing

Sisters Middle School Principal Lora Nordquist and other members of the Fifth Grade Transition Team last week reassured parents who are worried about moving fifth graders into the middle school this fall.

Nordquist said those at the October 18 meeting at her school were “very positive.” She said, “I had one husband and wife say they had come feeling very negative and the meeting had changed their feelings, so that was really nice to hear.”

Some controversy has attended the school board’s decision to make the move since it was announced last fall. Nordquist said she and her staff are aware that many parents fear the idea of moving younger students in with seventh and eighth graders. The concerns appear to be more social than educational.

The principal addressed those concerns directly by saying that, “We envision a setting that is very much two schools within a school, a (grades) 5-6 wing and a 7-8 wing, and the lives of our fifth graders will be very similar to the lives of our current sixth graders, which is pretty separate from what the seventh and eighth graders do.”

A Frequently Asked Questions sheet she handed out emphasized this point: “We know that our fifth graders will spend the majority of their day with a core teacher. Like the sixth graders, the fifth graders will focus on academics in the morning and have time in the afternoon for art, music and PE, for example…

“The fifth and sixth grade classrooms will all be located in the east wing of Sisters Middle School. The only rooms on that side of the building used by all grades will be the art room and the computer lab.”

Some parents have asked whether fifth graders will get involved in dances and other activities that might encourage “dating.” Nordquist’s handout said:

“Currently our sixth graders do NOT attend dances with the seventh and eighth graders. They have their own special activities, including a bowling party, a skating party, and a tubing party. We envision a similar type of activity schedule for our fifth graders.”

In general, the sheet added, “We think there will be a tremendous amount of separation between the fifth graders and seventh and eighth graders, but very little between them and the sixth graders.”

Nordquist noted that the next major preparatory activity for the transition team will be to have two or three members at a time visit other middle schools around the state that contain grades 5 through 8. She said at least 10 such schools operate in Oregon, several of them roughly similar to the expanded Sisters Middle School in size and demographics. The visitors will prepare checklists of things to look for and people to talk to.

The transition team of 14 members includes five parents of prospective fifth graders, two elementary school teachers, Nordquist and six middle school teachers.

The change will also require some remodeling of the middle school building on Highway 242 to create additional classroom space. But all of the work will be interior, with no change planned in the exterior configuration. Nordquist said all of this work will be done this summer

Moving the fifth grade to the middle school is being prompted primarily by a desire to relieve overcrowding at the district’s elementary school. But Nordquist’s handout notes that with the addition of fifth graders the middle school will have between 450 and 475 students next year, “which will make us very close to being ‘full.’”