Mar 20, 2015 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Carmichaels Area School Board voted Thursday to create a prekindergarten program and to change the district’s grade alignment from a junior-senior high to a middle-senior high alignment.

The board has been discussing both creating the prekindergarten program and changing the grade alignment since the beginning of the school renovation project.

The renovation project will open additional space in the junior-senior high to allow the district to move sixth-grade classes from the elementary school, administrators said earlier. This will also make room in the elementary school for the prekindergarten program.

The district now has kindergarten through sixth grade in the elementary school and grades seven through 12 in the junior-senior high school.

The new alignment will place prekindergarten through fifth grade in the elementary school, grades six through eight in the middle school and grades nine through 12 in the high school.

Superintendent John Menhart said bringing the sixth-grade students to a middle school will provide some academic benefits and may help the sixth-grade group “move forward a little quicker.”

In the middle school, for instance, sixth-grade students will be taught by teachers who are highly qualified in specific subject areas, he said. “There is more of a focus in each subject area,” Menhart said.

Sixth-grade students were also taught by highly qualified teachers at the elementary school, however, elementary teachers are qualified in all subjects, not one specific area.

The district plans to implement the grade realignment next school year. Menhart said meetings will be held with parents before then to explain the changes.

The district also expects to implement the prekindergarten program next school year, which will be new to the district.

The program will help prepare children to have a good start in school, Menhart said. Now, he said, the district can usually see a “real discrepancy” in kindergarten preparedness between children who have had some sort of prekindergarten program, in day care, for example, and those who haven’t, he said.

In other business, Menhart gave an update on the renovation project and reported high school students Monday will move to the completed classrooms in the second and third floors of the junior high building.

The area of the junior high where students will attend classes was to be inspected Friday by K-2 Engineering for a temporary occupancy permit.

Maintenance superintendent David Franks said his staff has been working with K-2 and the school should be ready for the inspection. He also reported his staff will move furniture, books and other items into the 12 classrooms in the junior high this weekend.

“Our total focus has been to get ready for this move,” he said. Franks said teachers and staff have been very cooperative in preparing for the move.

Moving students to the renovated section of the junior high will allow contractors to begin work in unoccupied sections of the high school.

Board President Tom Ricco asked for an update on the district’s efforts to incorporate art instruction in classes in the elementary grades.

Elementary principal Dave Bates reported he has checked regularly and teachers are following the board’s directive and incorporating art in their instruction almost every day.

Several months ago, members of the Carmichaels Women’s Civic Club asked the board to reinstate art classes in the elementary.

Previously, one teacher taught art in the elementary and students had art once a week. However, that teacher was needed in the classroom and the district then began integrating art into regular classroom activities, Menhart said.

Menhart reported graduation will be held May 29 and the last day of school for students will be June 1.