What is the planning process about?
The Board of Education (BOE) and the administration are conducting long-range planning for our five schools, central services center and vacant school site. The fundamental questions are: how well do we accommodate student program needs now? How will we accommodate them in the future? After a series of public meetings, a stakeholder task force provided a recommendation, which the BOE has endorsed, to build a new school, renovate the existing schools and change the instructional model to K-4, 5-6 and 7-8 from the current K-5, 6-8. Click here to read the report.

What is the current state of our student facilities?
Our programming has outgrown our space. We have 26 portable classrooms district-wide, and many students receive services in inappropriate spaces such as hallways and converted closets.

What affects programming space?
Two things: number of students and program needs. The first is easy to understand...more students require more space. Another pressure on space stems from the way programming has evolved since the buildings were designed with an increase in the need for small-group instruction and special services like bilingual classes.

What is the community's role in the planning process?
The community is our partner and we are committed to public participation, open and frequent communication and rigorously evaluating options together. There have been a number of public meetings during this process and a stakeholder task force worked with FGM Architects to study the following solutions in detail: continuing to use portables as needed, adding a new elementary school (either K-5 or K-6), and building a fifth/sixth-grade center.

What options were explored?
Numerous options were generated at the public meeting held in October, 2003. (Click here to read the initial brainstorming list). The task force focused on those which had the most support: adding a new elementary school (either K-5 or K-6), and building a fifth-sixth grade center. In addition, the task force studied continuing using portables as needed.