Present: All members, School Board Liaison P. McGrath, TFS Principal Les Carter, RFS Principal Frank Hoell and MES Assistant Principal Gerry St. Amand

S. Heinrich called the meeting to order at 7 PM. He introduced the elementary school principals and gave an overview of the school board charge. F. Hoell told the committee he had not received a letter from the committee and was concerned that he might not have all the information requested.. G. St. Amand told the committee that MES had not received a letter from the committee either. L. Carter told the committee he had received his letter.

L. Carter told the committee about current space utilization at Thorntons Ferry School (TFS). The current population is 808. He has 35 regular classrooms. The other rooms are used for Art, Music, Computer Lab and SPED. He does have two large classrooms that are divided for multiple use. There is no conference room. He indicated that several storage areas are now being used for SPED which has made storage a major issue for TFS. Each grade has a twenty minute lunch. The cafeteria could seat up to 320 students. He indicated that approximately 50% of the student body buy lunch except on pizza day. He indicated 160-179 students can be comfortably served during a twenty minute lunch period and lunch periods longer than twenty periods are problematic for elementary school children. Assemblies are still held in APR, but could move to the larger Gym. When asked about the impact of SPED on school space, he indicated that the additional equipment and aides some SPEC students require also take up space. TFS does house the district language based reading program. When asked about different grade groupings, he indicated that the number of students in the school has more impact on the education than the actual grade grouping. He suggested a lower elementary (K-2) and upper elementary (3-5). He felt an additional issue was the number of transitions/school changes during the 12/13 years of public school. When asked about middle school groupings, he indicated that the current 6-7-8 grouping should be maintained. He said that 6^th graders are closer to 7^th graders than 5^th graders. He also indicated that TFS is currently as crowded as it has ever been. When asked by T. Koenig if the space committee missed when estimating how much space was needed, L. Carter answered that the additions were adequate for the then immediate problem but since the school continued to grow, the additions did not address what the school needs now. Programs he was able to put into regular classrooms have now been forced back into closets. He noted that the need for a computer lab has also impacted his space use. He does have six classes per subject area (P.E., Art, Music) that do not receive instruction in the designated subject room.

F. Hoell told the committee about Reeds Ferry School. (RFS) The current population is 665 which does not include the two classrooms that are used by the Preschool program. In addition he has one classroom being used as a Math Lab for the 3^rd and 4^th grades. He has three classes per subject area that meet in areas other than the designated rooms. RFS also has five twenty minute lunch periods - one per grade. He has a Title 1 program which shares classroom space with LRS. (L. Carter indicated that he has Title 1. It was suggested that the committee might want to include a glossary of terms and definitions in its final report...Title 1 is a federally subsidized program which offers reading and math programing for students who are below standard, but are not coded as LD.) He indicated that, at the height of crowding, RFS had 780 students. He felt that 700 students was the breaking point for the current building; he said the current population was comfortable. However, he stated that 700 students in any elementary is not ideal. When asked about the pre-school program, he indicated the space they are using is "tight". They have P.E. in the APR and a play area in the non-butterfly garden courtyard. To summarize, besides regular classrooms, there are 4 rooms used by SPED, 1 used by LRS/Title 1 and 2 rooms used for pre-school, and rooms for Art, Music, Computer and Math Labs. When asked his opinions on grade alignment, F. Hoell indicated that he thought grouping grades 5 and 6 together is possible or putting all 5^th grade classes in one school separate from either elementary or middle school was possible.

Before G. St. Amand gave his presentation, S. Heinrich read a letter from K. Custer to the Committee. She requested that the committee give strong consideration to adding kindergarten to the district. G. St. Amand told the committee that Mastricola Elementary School (MES) has 30 classrooms and a population of 584 students and 34 pre-school students. He also houses the district PASS program. (Program for Academic and Social Success) The program has approximately 10 students who have behavior problems and attend regular classes 50% of the day. MES also has one lunch per grade. There are 16 tables in the APR. He indicated that storage is an issue at MES. When asked about grade alignments, he noted that the 5^th grade could be moved to the middle school if the middle school was broken into two separate schools (5-6 and 7-8). He felt 5-6-7-8 was not a good idea. He felt the size of the school was a more important issue than the grade mix.

M. Morrison asked how big is too big? L. Carter answered the optimum size for an elementary is 400 - 500 students. An adequately staffed middle school with 700 - 800 students is a comfortable situation. For high schools he recommended 1,100 - 1,200 students maximum. He suggested that all 5^th grades could be put at MES and this might make the transition to middle school easier.

A discussion on kindergarten ensued. There were questions about the need for Readiness if there was public kindergarten, why public kindergarten is educationally beneficial, would the kindergarten program be for half or whole day, what other instructional areas the kindergarten students would use and transportation. The elementary principals indicated that whole day kindergarten is probably educationally preferable, but administratively, it doesn�t matter. They noted that most private kindergartens in the area are half day, though many public kindergartens in the area are moving to full day programs. It was estimated that nine classrooms would be needed for half day kindergarten.

S. Heinrich thanked the principals for their information and candor.

M. Morrison suggested that the committee needs to determine how many classrooms are needed to house the elementary population for the next five years. He also wanted to be sure that any building proposal meet needs for five years after the construction completion. He also felt the committee should review the requirements and state standards for kindergarten.

P. McGrath wondered about the academic difference in students that have had half day kindergarten versus those who have attended full day kindergarten.

D. Miller stated that 400 - 500 additional elementary students indicates the need for another elementary school. He wondered about redistricting and realigning grades within the current school spaces.

On a motion from T. Koenig, seconded by D. Miller, the committee voted to adjourn at 10 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Last Updated: July 16, 2000 by Wayne Morrison