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Boardman realigns middle schools for next year
BOARDMAN
An idea that the school district first began considering nearly 20 years ago is set to become reality.
The board of education on Monday unanimously approved a plan to realign the middle schools by grade level.
Starting next school year, all fifth- and sixth-grade students will attend Center Middle School. Seventh- and eighth-grade students will move to Glenwood Middle School.
At the heart of the decision is a desire to resolve what district officials say are long-standing “inequities” between the two schools.
“Having a consistent education will take away the argument of, ‘Well, this school is the haves and this school is the have-nots.’ It’s going to be fair for all of our kids, because the technology distribution will be equal. Your education won’t be dictated by your ZIP code, or what street you live on. Everyone will receive the same education,” said Superintendent Frank Lazzeri.
School-district administrators presented a report to the board explaining why they believe it’s the right time for the move and detailing how realignment will impact academics, athletics and arts.
One reason it’s the right time to implement realignment, Lazzeri said, is that it is a permanent solution to an issue that periodically arises: large differences in class sizes between Center and Glenwood due to the fact that building assignments are based on where students live.
Currently, Glenwood has 180 more students than Center.
After realignment, neighborhood patterns won’t determine the size of student populations.
Academically, realignment benefits students by allowing better technology integration in classrooms and allowing teachers to form ‘teams’ that make more sense, Lazzeri said. All fifth- and sixth-grade science teachers can work together, for example.
“Now you have all the teachers in seventh- and eighth-grade that can collaborate, that can work off of each others’ strengths,” he said.
Realignment will allow for more efficient pooling of resources, allowing expansion of emotional and behavioral services, administrators said.
The plan also will enhance the middle-school arts program, they said. Fifth- and sixth-grade students will maintain the same music schedule; seventh- and eighth-grade students now will have music class five days a week.
Nicholas Hewko, assistant athletic director, reported that realignment will expand athletic opportunities to more students who otherwise might be cut from a team or benched. The change also will provide athletes with better access to sports facilities, he said.
Of concern to many parents, district operations director Timothy Saxton said, is changes to transportation.
Realignment will not impact elementary and high school busing, he reported.
As for middle school students, the district tentatively plans to practice what is called the “shuttle method.”
Each morning, 36 buses carrying fifth-eighth-grade students will stop at Glenwood. Some fifth- and sixth-graders will then change buses so that only 18 buses go to Center. In the afternoon, that process will be reversed.
Saxton said the goal is to add no more than 10 minutes to the middle-school bus routes. Students will spend the same amount of time on the bus that they do now, he said, because some of the middle-school and high-school stops will be consolidated to save time.
Some specifics of the realignment plan have yet to be worked out, but district officials said they are confident the most-important parts of it are ready for implementation.