PORT ANGELES — One day down and 90 more to go before the School Board finalizes its plan to close Fairview Elementary School and reconfigure the district’s grade structure.
Before that happens, the board is hoping to have seven major transition issues addressed by district officials, School Board member Charlie McClain said.
“We would like to have absolutely every question answered before now and then, but it’s not going to happen,” McClain said.
That is why McClain and other School Board members listed their top concerns Monday night before voting unanimously to:
* Realign the district’s elementary grades to a kindergarten-through-sixth-grade structure from kindergarten through fifth grade.
* Convert Roosevelt Middle School, 106 Monroe Road, into an elementary school and combine all seventh- and eighth- graders at Stevens Middle School, 1139 W. 14th St.
* Close Fairview Elementary School, 166 Lake Farm Road, and move all of its students and staff, and the special education students at Franklin Elementary School, 2505 S. Washington St., to Roosevelt.
One of the seven top concerns listed by the School Board on Monday night was moving Franklin’s special education students.
The students already moved two years ago when the district decided to close Monroe Elementary School.
“We spent a good deal of time and money adapting the east wing of Franklin,” McClain said.
Some of the changes made to Franklin included installing wider doors that are wheelchair accessible, and bathrooms with showers, said Maria White, one of Franklin’s two special education teachers.
Modifications were also made to Franklin’s playground so the students could access the equipment better, White said.
McClain said in looking at the possibilities that are out there, the district’s Multi Age Classroom program is actually more flexible in moving to the new site.