The school district has established and followed a different approach in organizing school grades for a long time, capping elementary schools at fourth grade and starting middle schools with seventh grade.
This leaves the fifth and sixth grades dedicated to a separate school building under the title of an “intermediate center”.
However, the district’s Board of Education has reopened discussions on reconfiguring the grade system, primarily moving the fifth grade into the elementary school and the sixth grade into the middle school.
“From a personal standpoint, it would make life a lot easier if we were all uniform,” Josh Guymon, Interim Superintendent said.
Eventually, the Board has unanimously decided to move forward with reconfiguring the grade system within the schools.
The primary concern with the current grade system was the ability to distribute certain programs between the intermediate centers and certain elementary schools with the fifth grade.
The school board has attempted to implement a band and orchestra program for fifth and sixth graders. Due to issues with curriculum consistency and the ability to allocate resources to those elementary schools, the board decided to draw back the programs for the fifth graders.
“It was a challenge to bust the kids in,” Guymon said. “They were missing a lot of their content from the other three schools. The decision was made a couple of years ago that if those kiddos in sixth grade wanted to take band or orchestra, they would have to transfer.”
Reconfiguring the grades to have all elementary schools have the fifth grade would alleviate concerns on program opportunities and make it easier to level the curriculums.
“Having all of our buildings be the same really makes life a lot easier on a lot of fronts,” Guymon said.
A concrete plan for reconfiguration has not materialized yet. Instead, the Board has established a committee that plans and organizes the reconfiguration.
“It was completely obvious to me that the community supported the grade reconfiguration,” Randy Ralston, Board of Education President, said. “The problem came when we decided how to get there. That is when we started hitting all the bumps in the road.”
A timeline has also been established for when the district will begin reconfiguration. The earliest that the reconfiguration can proceed is the Fall of 2028.
“More than likely we are probably going to have to add a little bit onto KH,” Guymon said. “My best guess would be fall of 2028 would be the earliest that I see this happening.”
The grade reconfiguration creates a streamlined system that levels the opportunities the students can take advantage of. More planning will be required to figure out the logistics and appropriately reconfigure the buildings and the staff.
“The need and desire is there, and we have proven it is better for students,” Ralston said. “It is just how do we get there.”
