Ellis USD 388
On Monday, February 9, at the monthly meeting of the USD 388 Board of Education, a decision was made regarding the moving of junior high students from the Washington Grade School attendance center to Ellis High School for the fall semester of the 2015- 2016 school year. Following a lengthy discussion concerning the pros and cons of the move. The Board approved the decision on a 7-0 vote. Many questions and concerns were shared by Board, administrators and patrons in attendance. Below is a list of several of the discussion points and possible resolutions to the concerns that were raised.
• Moving the junior high is an immediate concern due to space at WGS, but this configuration of the EHS attendance center is hoped to be temporary. It continues to be the hope of the Board and administration that a community decision can be made concerning a bond election that has an opportunity to pass which would include a separate wing for junior high students. In the short term, segregating the junior high into the north hallway locker space and keeping high school students in the west wing can work. This is not the preferred solution, hence the desire to continue researching the possibility of a junior high wing.
• A point of concern has always been whether the junior high would maintain their own identity. The administration has expressed to the Board a number of times the intent to maintain all junior high activities as they currently are. The move is in no way intended to dissolve who the Ellis Junior High Railroaders are. Currently, administration plans are to have junior high pep rallies, dances, and all other activities as they are now. There is also discussion going on concerning how we may paint the north hallway a little differently and solicit Mr. White and his classes to perhaps paint a mural or two in that hallway signifying the junior high identity.
• A question was raised concerning grades 4-6 students being able to attend junior high pep rallies if a move was made. There is no reason that these students couldn’t attend if that is what teachers and administrators decided. We currently only have 2-3 junior high pep rallies during the school year, so arrangements can be made to either bus students up for those few events or they can walk up as they do on a number of events if the weather is permitting.
• During discussions over the past month, several questions about cost have been raised. The initial cost for any renovations to EHS are minimal. Cost estimates for building one wall and some other minor construction renovations have been estimated to be in the range of $5,000. Additional costs that will occur annually will revolve around the Activity Director’s position and additional requirements for scheduling junior high events. The resulting annual cost will ultimately be less with the move than the annual cost of transporting students back and forth over the past 7 years.
• At this time, Washington Grade School has the third largest number of students in attendance in the past 30 years. The largest enrollment has occurred over the past two years making the past three years the largest enrollment at WGS since the early 1980s.
• By moving junior high students to EHS, student numbers in each of the two attendance centers is actually equalized compared to the current configuration. Currently the student count at WGS includes 275 students not counting students that come over from St. Mary’s throughout the day for Special Education services. At EHS this year, the current enrollment is 138. By looking at current numbers and projecting the move into next year, EHS enrollment would be 208 students and WGS enrollment would be approximately 205 students.
• With the current configuration of the junior high, there is a large amount of travel time on the part of students and staff members that is wasted and could be better used with the students at EHS. Currently, some junior high students spend over 30 minutes each week riding a bust to and from the high school. Some 7th and 8th grade students are on the bus for 25 minutes each day. When you look at those who travel the most, those students lose nearly a week’s worth of instructional time on the low end and as much as 2 1⁄2 weeks on the high end during a school year. In addition to students traveling, teachers are also travelling to teach classes for the junior high at the grade school attendance center. If we want to improve education and ultimately test scores on state assessments and national tests such as the ACT, students need to be in a classroom, not riding a bus.
• Over the past 7 years, junior high classes have been meeting at EHS for 3 or 4 periods per day. These students may ride a bus as many as 5 times per day. This reorganization of where junior high classes are held is not new as it began in the 2008-2009 school year.
• Without the two junior high classes at WGS, several options for growth in enrollment are opened up. Over the past 20 years, the requirements of classroom space have changed dramatically at the grade school. Kindergarten moved to full- day attendance rather than half-day, pre-school has been added, Special Education classes have increased in size, and Title I Reading programs have been added just to name a few.
• Some concern was voiced over the lunch periods and whether they would be very early or very late to accommodate both junior and senior high students. The schedule that had been worked out for lunch began at 11:40 am for junior high and at 12:17 pm for senior high. Both groups would have the same length of lunch period that they do now and there would be 15 minutes in between serving times to allow lunch room staff to reorganize for the second group coming through.
• Another benefit of the move is the chance to increase options for junior students with their course choices. A strong belief of staff and administration is that not every student is 4-year College bound. Some student should and will pursue professions after high school that are in vocational fields. Having the junior high students in EHS presents options that can be looked at for such courses as woodworking and computer applications that can’t be offered currently due to time constraints.
• There has also been some comments and questions raised about why now and why not wait until Board elections are held in April. The problem with waiting is that once the Board elections are over, the newly elected Board members do not take their seats until the July 13th Board meeting. With pre-enrollment, construction and moving furniture, a decision needed to be made either at the February or March Board meeting to have everything in place by August.
Overall, there is a lot of support for moving the junior high. Teachers have been involved in the discussion and have been given the opportunity to voice their concerns. The primary concerns of teachers revolved more around the logistics of classroom arrangement and making sure that space for various things had been considered. No one has commented about this being bad for students. Everyone is of the opinion that the transportation piece is consuming a lot of educational time for the students.
Not only have staff members been consulted in consideration of moving the junior high, but the students themselves have been questioned. The students themselves, in most cases, commented that they don’t like having to ride the bus back and forth so much.
Moving the junior high without a separate wing is not a perfect solution. Doing nothing at all and allowing more classes of students to lose so much educational time is a worse solution. Without any construction for a junior high wing, we will be missing a full science lab. Our three teachers will have to switch rooms if lab space is needed. Special Education will be in one large classroom where two room would be the ideal solution. Health classes will be held in the old weight room at the south end of the building, which is smaller and will be a little cramped for space. The configuration shared the past couple of months for classroom space can work, but it isn’t the perfect solution. The staff and administration are going to do everything that they can to make this a positive experience for students. Finding what is best for students is the goal of USD 388 and this move has the capability of providing opportunities for future graduates of Ellis High School that have been limited.