FAYETTEVILLE — A series of meetings with teachers and parents will begin later this year as work begins to move freshmen to Fayetteville High School in 2015, according to a timetable laid out for the School Board on Thursday.
A similar timetable also was presented to the School Board to move seventh-graders from middle schools to the junior high schools at the time same time.
Two committees of teachers, district personnel and parents have worked on the plans since the first of the year. Construction at Fayetteville High School is scheduled to be completed by the time school starts in 2015.
Steve Jacoby, high school principal, said the committee worked from the premise 700 freshmen will move to the high school. They will be divided between two small learning communities for freshmen only which will be a mix of students from Ramay and Woodland junior high schools.
Athletic programs should remain essentially the same, the committee recommended, with two freshmen boys and two girls basketball teams and two freshmen football teams. Players for each team will be determined by the attendance zone they live in.
Freshmen also will have representation on the Student Council and will have the opportunity to participate in student organizations.
And, there should be two freshmen bands with opportunities for them to participate in the 10-12th grade band.
There was no recommendation on handling the lunch period.
“Most important is to lower the anxiety level of teachers, parents and students,” Jacoby told the board. “It’s really important for all the stakeholders to have an understanding of the transition plan.”
At A Glance
School Honored
The Fayetteville School Board recognized Owl Creek School on Thursday for being named a 2013 recipient of the Shannon Wright Middle School of the Year award from the Arkansas Association of Middle Level Education. The award recognizes achievement in implementing practices to prepare middle school students for the 21st century. The award is named in honor of the late Shannon Wright, a sixth-grade English teacher, who was among those killed in a shooting rampage at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro in March 1998.
Source: Staff Report
Over the next two years, nearly 40 meetings are planned with faculty parents, parent organizations, students and community members. The committee agreed it was important to get as much information to the community as possible, Jacoby said.
A similar plan for seventh-graders was outlined by Kay Jacoby, executive director of curriculum and instruction. The transition plan is to incorporate the middle level concept of education into seventh and eighth grade programs and to remove the words “junior high” from the Ramay and Woodland names.
Instead, the committee recommended the schools be renamed Ramay Upper Middle School and Woodland Upper Middle School. The current three middle schools should be renamed Holt Lower Middle School, McNair Lower Middle School and Owl Creek Lower Middle School.
Kay Jacoby said the seventh-grade committee suggested public meetings be held together for the ninth, seventh and fifth grade transitions.
Staffing is of particular concern, the board was told. Teachers will want to know as soon as they can where they will be teaching in the 2015-16 school year. Both plans recommended the human resources department handle the staffing at the schools.
Steve Jacoby said the high school may need as many as 45 more teachers to accommodate freshmen.
Kay Jacoby said the seventh grade plan suggests interviews with teachers be done in the coming school year with a staffing recommendation of the middle level schools going to the superintendent in April 2014 to give teachers as much time as possible to prepare for their new assignments. Some teachers already are working on additional certifications to be ready for any new assignment.
The three general areas certification are kindergarten through sixth grade; fourth through eighth grade; and seventh through 12th grade, according to Greg Mones, human resources director.
Kay Jacoby said the seventh grade committee expressed concern some teachers could be displaced in the shifting of grades.
“Our thinking is that there won’t be any displacement. This is not about reducing the number of teachers,” she said.