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School district to consider 'neighborhood' configuration
The Quincy School District is looking for ways to improve student learning.
After the district wasn’t selected to receive a federal school improvement grant to assist its low-performing junior high school, it is increasing its efforts and starting to think about making some drastic changes.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting at George Elementary School, superintendent Burton Dickerson and the board discussed the possibility of rearranging the schools’ configuration and adopting what are known as ‘neighborhood schools.’
Basically, the district would put different grade levels in different schools to decrease the amount of transitions a student has to make in an effort to aid learning.
Currently, Mountain View Elementary School has kindergarten and first grade; Pioneer Elementary has second and third grades; and Monument Elementary has fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
Under a neighborhoold school arrangement, the district could choose to make Mountain View and Pioneer both K-3 or K-4 schools. That’s just one possible scenario that could be talked about.
“One angle says that too many transitions interfere with student learning,” Dickerson said. “Kids get accustomed to one school and they have to leave it. That process can be hard, and can be an inhibiting factor in student learning.”
Dickerson also noted a perceived negative of having multiple schools offer the same grade levels.
“Those who are opposed to it say that it could be easy to have a ‘poor kids’ school’ and a ‘rich kids’ school,’ ” he said. “There could be a big disparity there.”
At the meeting, the board members told Dickerson they are interested in forming a committee, to be consisted of teachers, principals, board members and parents, to study the issue further.
“A lot of parents and students get attached to a school,” said board member Tricia Lubach. “I went to a K-6 school myself, and I got to know the principals, the teachers and the expectations really well. There was a sense of school community that we’re really missing now. I know a lot of teachers are in favor of this. We just need to do more research.”
