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Boardman school board gets community input on middle-school realignment proposal
BOARDMAN
Parents, teachers and community members got more insight at a school board workshop into a proposal to realign the school district’s middle-school students.
The school board likely will come to a decision in January regarding the proposal to regroup students by grade level. Fifth- and sixth-grade students would move to Center Middle School, and seventh- and eighth-graders would move to Glenwood Middle School. Currently, each building houses all four grade levels.
School district officials on Monday highlighted a few of the benefits they believe realignment would bring to the district such as pooled resources that will be used more efficiently; a stronger sense of community, since Center and Glenwood would no longer be in competition; expanded music and art instruction; the ability of seventh- and eighth-graders to expand beyond the Common Core curriculum by adding elective courses that would become available; elimination of differences in opportunities that students might get based on what middle school they attend; and a more-equitable distribution of students.
“It would unify the district academically, artistically and athletically to have the students in the same buildings, moving through the grades together,” said Randall Ebie, Center Middle School principal.
A concern expressed by some parents at the meeting, however, is that combining students by grade level could eliminate some opportunities, such as on student government or athletic teams.
Nick Hewko, assistant athletic director for the district, said he sees consolidation as a good thing for student athletes. While both middle schools currently have their own football team, for example, more focus is on the eighth-grade level. If the schools realign, the district would have separate seventh- and eighth-grade football teams, each with dedicated coaches and staff.
“They’re going to have to compete to get better,” he said, after a parent expressed concern about the more-limited selection of elite positions there would be on a combined team.
“Personally, I don’t see any negatives to it,” he said.
An aspect of the proposal that has yet to be worked out is transportation.
“Transportation kind of locks us in,” said Superintendent Frank Lazzeri. “It’s a pretty complicated puzzle to put all the pieces together.”
If school start and end times remain the same, realignment likely would add about 10 minutes to drop-off times at the end of the day, transportation supervisor Thomas Davis said, because all 36 buses would have to stop at both Center and Glenwood. The last drop-off time likely would be about 4:35 p.m.
District officials are weighing other transportation options, and said they will take into account suggestions offered by community members at the forum.
The next school board meeting will be at 5 p.m. Dec. 14 at Center Middle School.