A plan to move fourth-graders in the Bath school system to another part of the district’s campus has parents and teachers concerned.
More than 250 parents, high school students and teachers attended a special meeting Wednesday by the school board to discuss the plan to realign fourth-graders with younger students.
District Superintendent Marion Tunney said the meeting was held to present the plan – and the reasons for it – to the public, and answer questions. No final decisions were made by the school board.
“There has been a lot of misinformation out there,” Tunney said. “And that has led to some tension. I must say we, the administrators, drastically underestimated your response to it. And we realized we needed to put more information out there.”
Administrators provided a lengthy explanation of the proposed move, saying it was in response to the school board’s directive to reconfigure the current 4th-8th grade program. The plan would also be posted on the school’s Web site, Tunney said.
Currently, the district has four separate levels, with Pre-K through third grade in the primary school.
Fourth and fifth graders are located in the Dana Lyons Elementary School; grades 6-8 located in Haverling Middle School wing; and grades 9-12 in Haverling High School.
Factors in the plan to move fourth-graders to the primary school include a 2 percent drop in school enrollment since 2001, and the death of Dana Lyon Principal Sue Graham last year, Tunney said.
Graham’s position has not been filled. Middle School Principal Michael Siebert has been overseeing the Dana Lyon school this year.
School officials said they considered four options before deciding moving the fourth-grade best served the students. Key concerns for administrators were health and safety, and instruction, officials said.
District officials denied there would be problems with cafeteria service or drop-offs at the primary school entrance, which is part of new construction planned this year, Tunney said.
But parents argued any change would lead to “mayhem,” with congestion in the cafeteria, long waits on the school bus before they are dropped off, and less space.
Others said the move will last only a couple of years, since one unusually large primary class now occupies seven classrooms.
Teachers were concerned about the effect the move would have on special programs such as speech therapy, and argued the new schedule would cut into contracted planning times.
The new plan would allow primary students to receive the required 120 minutes of gym time, but fall short of state regulations that gym classes be scheduled five days a week, one teacher charged.
