YAKIMA — Itzie Duarte is glad her children are enrolled in the West Valley School District. But she is far from happy with the school board’s decision to move fifth-graders to the middle school this fall.
“A fifth-grader isn’t mentally capable of being in a school where there is no recess,” said Duarte, who will have one child entering kindergarten and another entering third grade. “If we need the space, turn the middle school into an elementary school.”
But district officials say next year’s grade reconfiguration — which includes sending ninth-graders to the old high school — is needed to help with overcrowding.
Much of the growth is in the elementary schools. In the past three years, about 300 additional students — including about 60 this year — have entered the district.
The middle school, officials added, is built to accommodate students traveling throughout the building and is not designed for instructing young children.
“There will be anxiety from parents, there always is,” said Jim Fannin, assistant principal at West Valley Middle School. “We’re working really hard to make this a good experience for everyone.”
According to data compiled by the Education Commission of the States — a Denver-based group that researches education trends — fifth-graders across the nation are most commonly enrolled in elementary schools, and overpopulation is one of the leading reasons for sending them to middle schools.
Still, with proper planning, there’s no reason why the transition can’t be successful, said Chief of Staff Kathy Christie.
“Anytime you go through that kind of change, parents get very nervous,” she said. “They will ask a lot of questions, and they should ask a lot of questions. Hopefully, the administration is very patient and understanding.”
In 1973, Christie taught in Littleton, Colo., which had one of the first middle schools in the nation to include fifth-graders. Although the trend has gained little momentum in the past three decades, Christie said schools with this setup make adjustments. One such change — which is being adopted in West Valley — is grouping the students in a designated area of the building.
“One of the things that scare parents is that kids will go from self-contained classrooms to chaos, having to move every hour on the hour,” Christie said. “My experience with it is that it worked fine — provided you have good teachers and good leaders. If you don’t have that, it’s not a given that it will work.”
Throughout the region and the state, about two-thirds of fifth-graders attend an elementary school, according to research compiled by Selah School District Superintendent Steve Chestnut. His district and the Naches Valley School District are among the exceptions.
Fifth-graders in Naches have attended the middle school since it was built in the mid-1990s. They previously attended an intermediate school with fourth-graders.
Selah transferred fifth-graders to the intermediate school when it opened in the late 1990s. Now, because of three deteriorating school buildings, the district is preparing to go before voters with a bond proposal next year.
It’s unclear whether that proposal would include a new school or work on existing structures. The district is seeking public input at a series of meetings.
A part of the plan moving forward could include reconfiguring the grade structure yet again, Chestnut said.
“We haven’t planned on anything definite. … There are several options we could use,” Chestnut said. “The reality is, just about any grade-level organization can work.”
In his research, Chestnut found students typically suffer achievement loss during transition years and gain it back the following year. He also found that seventh- and eighth-graders have higher achievement in K-8 schools as compared with schools for sixth- through eighth-graders.
There is little national data on grade configurations, although Christie said more and more districts are forming K-8 schools. What’s more important than the model, though, is cooperation between parents, staff and administrators.
“You keep it a very nurturing environment,” she said about middle schools that include fifth-graders. “At that age, they are getting ready for a little bit of a change, and it’s a good way to break them into that slowly.”
Uncomfortable with the modifications looming in the West Valley School District, parent Duarte said fifth-graders will miss out on elementary school events such as field trips to Skateland.
This and other concerns are common among parents sending their children to middle school for the first time, said Fannin of West Valley Middle School.
Although fifth-graders will no longer have recess, he said classrooms have numerous opportunities for active participation, and social time is built into the lunch period.
In addition, he and Sasha Kinloch, the West Valley school board president, said students will have access to numerous after-school and elective offerings — such as chess club, math club and intramural sports.
“They get that privilege a year earlier,” said Kinloch, who has four children enrolled in the district. “My own kids are thrilled at the opportunity to go to middle school. There are more opportunities, more freedom.”
Beginning last winter, the board had numerous meetings with parents and staff about the grade reconfiguration. Input was taken, a decision was made, and the change will proceed as scheduled, Kinloch said.
“We gave ourselves a deadline out of respect for the students and the staff,” she said, adding that the issue isn’t up for reconsideration. “It’s a plan that’s in place.”
However, Kinloch said she and fellow board members are open to suggestions for how to create the best learning environments within the school buildings. Students will also have opportunities to tour their schools in early June and again in August through a half-day orientation.
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