If and when the Snoqualmie Valley School District returns to two middle schools, their similarities will outweigh their differences, Assistant Superintendent Don McConkey told parents May 22.
The final word on how similar they will be — in activities, in classes, in curriculum — will depend on the budget for those years.
“That may have an impact on what this will look like,” he said.
McConkey and the three middle school principals preached patience when discussing the change, scheduled for 2013, when the Snoqualmie Middle School campus becomes a ninth-graders’ annex.
That would return the district to two middle schools for the first time since Twin Falls Middle School opened in 2008.
“I have been through the changes, and now we are going to go through another change,” Chief Kanim Middle School Principal Kirk Dunckel said. “I know you are all on pins and needles, but we have been there before and we are going to handle it.”
McConkey said that even with three middle schools’ worth of students attending two buildings, class sizes would not rise.
“The number of staff at each building will keep class size at where it is today,” he said.
Middle school class sizes now are just underneath 29 students per class, he added.
“We’ve got great teachers who care about kids and that’s not going to change when we are at two locations,” he added.
Lastly, McConkey said the staffing of the two middle schools won’t be determined until winter 2013.
“Lots of decisions will be determined by attendance boundaries,” he said. “That won’t happen until we know the outcome of the bond in February of 2013.”
What that bond will ask for is still a work in progress.
A school board work session May 24 tried to set a framework for the bond. Besides a third middle school, which McConkey said would open in fall 2015, board members offered other suggestions, like improving Mount Si High School.
“Mount Si High School is not a comprehensive school,” school board member Scott Hodgins said. “It’s not a bad school, but there are improvements to be made.”
Board member Geoff Doy said he had not spoken to anybody who thinks a bond asking for a third middle school would pass.
“Whatever the bond is,” Doy said, “is going to be a hard sell.”
Board member Carolyn Simpson agreed.
“We represent the public,” she said. “And the public now is not convinced.”
The district, Doy added, may well build classrooms that can’t afford to have a teacher.
“I have a significant issue with our ability to afford another building,” he said. “Next year, we’ll have 14 teachers less than this year.”
Instead, he said, when freshmen are across the street at the annex, there might be room for improvements at Mount Si High School.
While he said that there is “clearly” a benefit to a ninth-grade annex, Doy questioned the need of having freshmen away from the main high school campus.
Board president Dan Popp said questions about the ninth-grade annex had been decided and answered.
“To a great degree, I’m having a déjà vu,” Popp said. “We talked about this.”
And odds are, they will talk some more, with another work session scheduled for 8 a.m. June 16 at the district offices.
Snoqualmie Middle School parent Anna Sotelo praised the board’s discussion, calling it “brilliant.”
“Looks like someone finally diluted the Kool-Aid,” she said.
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