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Neighborhood schools meeting tonight at center

from staff reports
Jan. 19, 2012

The Quincy School District will hold a community information night on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Quincy Community Center, 115 F St. SW, to give community members an update on the latest progress in converting Mountain View Elementary and Pioneer Elementary schools into kindergarten through third-grade neighborhood schools for the 2012-13 school year. The meeting will be from 6 to 7 p.m.

The neighborhood schools concept was approved by the Quincy School Board last year after it received a report from a committee of school district administrators, staff and community members recommending neighborhood schools as a way to improve student achievement.

Pioneer Elementary School Principal Nik Bergman, one of the committee heads, said the committee came to its conclusion after careful consideration and examination of what worked well in school districts similar to Quincy.

“We looked at 19 other school districts that were similar to Quincy and they all had neighborhood schools,” he said.

The committee recommended implementing neighborhood schools in two phases, with the first phase being conversion of Pioneer and Mountain View to K-3 schools. The second phase will eventually call for K-5 schools after the district has constructed new school facilities.

A new committee was formed last fall to plan for the K-3 conversion.

The committee’s task is to come up with a plan for how to divide the staff members between the schools and the students. The committee will also propose any changes needed for facilities and transportation.

The information night will give the committee an opportunity to discuss the plans with community members.

Information nights are also scheduled for Feb. 23 and March 15. Bergman said the committee wants to keep the public a part of the planning.

“We want feedback from the public,” Bergman said. “We want them involved in this process.”