Just when Burrell School District officials thought they had a building plan at Huston Middle School to accommodate an additional grade level there next year, a dry run two weeks ago led them to reconsider.
A maintenance issue at Stewart Elementary School on Jan. 23 had its fifth graders spend the school day at Huston and fourth graders at Bon Air Elementary School. That’s where those two grades will be housed, respectively, next year after the closing of Stewart.
That day at Huston, according to Superintendent Shannon Wagner, offered a trial run of sorts for what the Huston Task Force — a group of roughly 20 parents and staff to recommend building reconfigurations and schedules — had agreed upon as a building layout plan for next year.
“We wanted to revisit that to make sure all voices are heard,” Wagner said.
Ultimately, the task force this week finalized a Huston building plan that has all fifth grade classes in the same hallway on the second floor. All sixth grade classes are grouped together on the second floor with separate fifth, sixth and seventh grade learning support rooms and a speech classroom. Four of the seventh grade classrooms also are on the second floor.
On the first floor are two remaining seventh grade classrooms — they will be close to a stairwell that leads to the rest of the seventh grade rooms — all eighth grade classes, and an eighth grade learning support room, a sensory room, an emotional support room and an intensive support room. Health teachers will also have their own classroom as will the building’s prevention specialist.
Huston Assistant Principal Krista Pisano said building administrators are considering opening an empty classroom as a “cozy cafe,” which currently exists at Stewart. That is a room outside the cafeteria where students can eat lunch if they are overwhelmed or overstimulated in the cafeteria.
“It is something we recognize as a need,” Pisano said.
The plan deviates from what the task force approved last month, where the fifth grade classrooms were split between the first and second floors and connected by a stairwell. During the test run, teachers found the two downstairs classrooms too loud because of hallway and cafeteria noise and had a lot of hallway traffic outside, said Huston Principal Travis Welch.
That led task force members to consider the option to put all fifth grade classrooms in the same hallway upstairs.
The Bon Air task force finalized their building layout in December. There haven’t been any changes to that plan.
Both task forces continue to meet this month to review scheduling for next year.
They are anticipated to present their formal recommendations to the school board during a meeting in March.
The building layout approved by the Huston task force is technically the third one proposed by administrators.
“We could come up with 100 different iterations of a (room layout),” Welch said. “I don’t think there is a perfect one that exists. … We’re looking at the spaces we have, and we’re trying to put kids and teachers in the best places.”
Wagner wasn’t fazed by the Huston plan process.
“It makes perfect sense,” she said of the newly approved plan.