Trustees Vote To Change Grade Levels
School Decisions
By an unanimous vote, Wolf Point’s trustees approved changing schools for certain grade levels during a meeting on Monday, April 14.
The approved plan moves the third grade from Southside to Northside starting next school year. Sixth-grade students, meanwhile, will attend school at the junior high instead of at Northside.
In addition, the district office will move from its current location across from Northside Elementary School to the current building that houses the Montana Highway Patrol.
Scott Montgomery, an eighthgrade teacher, voiced some concerns at the meeting. He said he wasn’t against the proposal, but he feels it’s being done too hasty, especially considering that the junior high school will have a new principal.
Other concerns that Montgomery expressed included cafeteria and restroom crowding and cases of substance abuse are a little more at the junior high than Northside.
Board chair Roxanne Gourneau said trustees have discussed possible challenges. Trustees feel the experienced teaching staff can help with the new principal situation. Gourneau said trustees will work to continue to make schools better.
Superintendent David Perkins has said earlier that the move would allow for a band classroom for Northside students. Band instruction will start in fifth grade instead of sixth grade. There’s also the possibility of adding an art room at Northside, an office for a therapist and alternative education classrooms. HPDP could use offices as exam rooms.
Perkins said positives of moving sixth-grade students to the junior high include curriculum is designed and flows together for sixth through eighth grades. Transportation will no longer be an issue for afterschool sports.
The superintendent said positives of moving third grade include leveling the student numbers on individual campuses. Most curriculum is grouped third through fifth grade. The move would allow for an alternative classroom at Southside.
