Elementary Reconfiguration

Draft of a 3-Year Plan

3-Year Plan of Transition

2013/2014 Remain grades K-5 in all 3 Elementary buildings with a reduction of 5 classrooms at Walters. 2014/2015 Move Shamrock (Day Care/Pre-K) and the Great Start Readiness Program to Walters in classroom pod vacated in 2013. Maintain K-5 grade spans in all 3 Elementary buildings.

2015/2016
Implement a twotiered Elementary Model by unifying Kindergarten and 1st Grade into Walters; and split grades 2-5 equally into Gordon and Hughes.

Rationale for 3-Year Plan

2013 summer bond construction limits access to Walters for the reassignment of resources.

Provides adequate notice to parents/community and district staff/administrators for transition planning and operational changes. Enrollment projections show a loss of 100 elementary students by 2015/2016; possibly requiring a structural change 3 years from now.

Why a Two-Tiered Model?

Early Elementary School

Unifies Shamrock and grades K-1; where every child begins his/her education in Walters Elementary. Provides opportunity Focuses entire building for the District to be staff on early literacy intentional and and learning strategic in assigning milestones for all students to the other students before two buildings at 2nd nd progressing to 2 grade (keeping balance grade. and equity in mind).

Benefits
Moving to Option B in 2013/2014 could save the district $220,000 - $400,000 and is considered the best option, financially. Maintaining three K-5 Elementary buildings for the next two years is least disruptive to students, parents, school programs, and the organizations overall operations. Keeping the K-5 model for the next two years provides more flexibility and responsiveness to positive/negative fluctuations in enrollment. Moving Shamrock to Walters assists in leveraging our building capacities and begins to establish a continuum with Shamrock and GSRP in one building ready to serve all children from pre-K through 1st grade. There is an indication from the Governor and State Legislature that they are willing to invest in early childhood. An early elementary school could position us for increased school aid in the future. Targeting Walters Elementary as the Early Childhood Building:
Unifies every child in grades K-1; allowing for a strong focus on literacy and learning milestones during these critical early years before moving on to 2nd grade. Provides best use of Walters Facility so that every child in the district experiences this building for their first two years in our district. Concentrates on early elementary professional learning communities, continuous quality improvement with instruction, and differentiated instruction for both higher and lower learners. Allows for professional staff to observe all Kindergarten and 1st graders in relation to their peers; which could help assess learning styles and needs to better assign students as they progress to 2nd grade. Learning materials and resources can be consolidated into one building for early elementary and into two buildings for later elementary.

Challenges
Reducing teaching positions in our elementary grades and increasing class size. Maintaining the K-5 model will require reassigning 30+ students from Walters to Gordon and/or Hughes prior to the beginning of next school year (2013/2014). Migrating to a two-tiered model adds one more transition for students in 2015/2016. Parents will most likely have children in two buildings during the elementary years before transitioning to 6th grade. Siblings will then have a time during elementary years when they are split up among two buildings.

Next Steps

Board takes action at the May 20th Board Work Session on this recommendation.

Next year we reduce 5 teaching positions at Walters, while keeping the K-5 model.

If approved by the Board, we migrate to the two-tiered model: Pre-K/1 and 2-5 by 2015/2016.