School board hears concerns with moving 6th grade
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The Mount Ayr board of education held a special meeting on Monday, March 25, after parents won the right to be heard through a petition seeking to leave the sixth grade in the elementary, and be given an opportunity for public comment.
As of Thursday, March 21, the petition to keep 6th Grade in the Elementary received 128 signatures.
Per Iowa Code section 279.8B, if 76 registered voters signed the petition (10% of the last school board election), they could challenge the board’s prior decision.
Administrative actions
At the October 9, 2023 regular meeting of the Mount Ayr board of education, no agenda item mentioned moving the sixth grade to the middle school /high school. However, as part of his superintendent report, Jason Shaffer stated to the board that he would like to start the conversation of moving 6th grade students to the middle school/high school building.
With new requirements going in to affect next school year, the district is required to have a seclusion room in the elementary building for students that are needing to step up away from the regular classroom and re-compose themselves.
The October 9 minutes of the school board meeting noted, “We currently do not have enough room to provide a sufficient and well planned/useful seclusion room in the elementary building. If we would move the 6th grade to the middle school/high school, this would give us the needed room in the elementary to implement this in the most effective way.”
He also brought up that many curriculums are designed for 6th thru 8th grade. Our current 6th grade teachers have been doing a lot of work with the middle school teachers to ensure that they are all working together and implementing the curriculums consistently. He understands that there are still a lot of pieces that we will need to get in place which is why he would like to start conversations now to ensure that it is a smooth transition.
Known challenges at that time included ensuring middle school and high school students stay separate, and possibly moving teachers from the elementary building to the middle school, along with endorsement needs for those transitions.
Mr. Vanderflught commented that his team was already starting to look at scheduling and trying to put a tentative schedule together so they would know what the schedule would possibly look like for those 6th graders.
Shaffer said he would like to bring a more formal discussion to next month’s meeting with the hopes of being able to move forward with these discussions to ensure we have plenty of time and can start making any needed adjustments to ensure there is a good transition for next school year.
Approval of 6th grade students moving to the middle school was then put on the November 13, 2023 agenda for consideration.
Board of directors vote
No parents or guardians were present at the November 13 meeting of the board of directors for the Mount Ayr Community School District, and no community correspondence was noted regarding the possible sixth grade move.
It was also the final meeting for Brandi Shay, and Samantha Jo Elliott attended in unofficial capacity, as the incoming Director at Large.
During the secondary principal board report, superintendent Jason Shaffer reported that they have developed a schedule and classroom plans that would work for the sixth graders moving to the MS.
Both of the current sixth grade teachers are open to moving up to the middle school/high school building.
Students would spend the majority of the day with the sixth grade teachers for core classes, but would also have access to numerous electives and the whole MS would have an intervention period to start the day.
Sixth grade would be in three sections due to the size of the class if the board approved the move to the middle school.
Supt. Shaffer requested the approval of the board to move sixth grade students to the middle school under new business.
Prior to vacating her position, director Shay made the motion to approve moving 6th grade students to the middle School, and Russell Schuitema seconded the recommendation.
Without any mention or regard for parent feedback, board members unanimously agreed, noting it “makes sense,” since the curriculum is created for 6, 7, and 8th grade students, and they already have teachers that can teach 6th grade.
While the school district announced the planned move in a letter sent to parents of current fifth and sixth grade students on December 20, it was not communicated district wide.
Since the plan would affect all future sixth graders and not just the families of the current fifth grade students, the petition aimed to give all concerned citizens in the school district a chance to hear the plan and weigh in.
Parent Petition
In early March, a petition circulated by a group of citizens led by Regan Main, urged Mount Ayr Community Schools (MACS) to reconsider moving the sixth grade out of the elementary school.
The petition commended the district for “an award-winning elementary school,” and asked the district to prioritize children’s academic success, physical and mental well-being, and focus on the fundamentals of reading, English, science and math over administrative convenience.
While there are no negative outcomes for keeping sixth graders in the elementary, the petition shared a good amount of well-documented evidence showing worse long-term outcomes for sixth graders who switch to a middle school setting.
Special board meeting
A published agenda announcing a special board of education meeting to be held on Monday, March 25 at 5:30 p.m., listed a public hearing on 6th grade classroom location (receive and hearing petition pursuant to Iowa Code 279.8B).
The agenda was posted at the high school, and sent to news media on Thursday prior to the meeting. No other public notice was provided for the public hearing.
A group of roughly 30 parents, community members, teachers, and school personnel then gathered in the library to plead their case to the school board of education.
Those wishing to speak were asked to add their name to a list, and told they would have 3 minutes to speak.
“It’s always interesting when people come to speak to us, a lot of times the board just sits and listens. That’s our job,” stated board president PJ West as she opened the meeting, “So we sit and listen. It is not our job to have commentary.”
Sarah Schafer was the first to provide comment, and was the sole person to state they were in favor of sixth grade moving to the middle/high school.
“I as a parent support the move, and have faith that as long as our staff and parents work together, we will succeed with this transition,” Schafer stated.
“This year I have a fifth grader who will be transitioning to the middle school building,” Schafer said, “I’m extremely excited for her class to be the first sixth grade class to experience life in middle school.”
“Yes, at the MS/HS building they will potentially be exposed to various issues such as vaping, drug searches, sexting, and cyber bullying,” stated Schafer, “It is crucial to educate your children about these matters.
“It is important to monitor their devices and keep an eye on their activities,” Schafer advised, “let’s strive to be good role models for them.”
Jen Malone was the second parent to provide her perspective.
“I do not believe in moving the 6th grade, up to the middle school next year,” Malone stated, “I think that extra year in the elementary school is beneficial to them, socially.”
“They can get comfortable with their bodies and their emotions in a safe environment,” Malone continued, “where they feel comfortable and have been thriving for the past 5-7 years.”
Malone believes the mental maturity is just not there at that age.
“We need to protect that child that’s still inside them, and not force them to grow up,” Malone said.
Regan Main noted she really wanted to come and learn more. She offered up questions including:
• What is the reason for the move?
• What do you hope to accomplish by moving the 6th graders up?
• What benefits do you see for the students, beyond additional electives?
• What are your metrics for success, and how will you measure that?
• What would happen if those metrics are not met?
Main noted she talked to Mr. Shaffer a couple times, and he said “why now, why didn’t this come up sooner?”
“I saw it in the newspaper in October, that it came up,” explained Main, “I wanted to research it again.”
Main had looked into this same topic six years ago when the board planned to move, and in the spring they called it off due to so much community push back.
“I started researching it, I started talking to other people, and it seemed like there are even more issues now with vaping and other stuff that we weren’t dealing with six years ago,” Main shared, “That took some time.”
“If we had just had a public meeting, or a presentation to all elementary parents after the October meeting, then we could have had these discussions sooner,” Main said.
Darin Dolecheck was the next to make his case to the school board.
When this came out, my wife and I found out, we started crafting an email to respond, and went on vacation,” said Dolecheck, “Then by the time we got back, it had already been voted on to go ahead and move,” Dolecheck noted, “So it was kind of very sudden on our end.”
He ended up sending an email to the administration anyway, as he is not interested in having his son exposed into the high school.
If we had a middle school building, it might be a different issue.
Moving into the high school, where I went to school myself, and know that try as you may, it’s hard to keep those two populations away from each other.
During his research, he discovered there was a big push to move sixth grade into middle school in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
He referenced Duke University and other colleges that researched the benefits of moving sixth grade into the middle school.
“All of the research, 75% of the schools surveyed, that had moved sixth graders into the middle school,” Dolecheck stated, referencing the Duke University Study, “it produced worse academic and behavioral results.”
“I never really heard a real concrete reason why we needed to do this, and why now,” said Dolecheck, “It happened so fast, it left us reeling.”
Dolecheck noted he shared three links with administration and the school board that he’s willing to share with others.
Rachel Bolles, who has a 5th grade son, stated she was also not in favor of sixth grade moving up.
“Being a physical therapist, we all need activity, we all need exercise,” stated Bolles, “We used to get three recesses, and now we’re taking that away even sooner.”
“There are a lot of issues going on with Jr High and High School,” noted Bolles, “with the social aspect, with the vaping, there is not going to be as many eyes on them.”
Bolles also pointed out there is not currently a bathroom in the middle school hallway, they would be sharing bathrooms with the high school.
Debbie Gilliland also had a lot of questions, including sharing restrooms, study hall, the amount of time kids will get to eat lunch.
“I also am against the move of the fifth graders to the middle school,” Gilliland stated, “Why are we doing this? What is the reason for it?
“If it’s a space issue, then why was the preschool brought to the elementary school in the first place,” questioned Gilliland.
Rachael Rumple shared that her biggest concern is the health and well being of students.
“Kids are not ready to go to the middle/high school,” said Rachael, “They don’t have the mental capacity to fully understand what is happening with their emotions, and they don’t have the emotional regulation skills yet.”
“We are doing our kids a disservice,” said Rumple, “I do hope that the school board does review this, and come up with a better solution.”
The school board closed the special meeting without taking any action.
