More than 100 community members gathered on Tuesday, Oct. 16 to discuss the configuration of the middle school program as part of the Board of Education's ongoing Middle School Visioning process.

Links: Small group discussions [PDF] | Meeting announcement/potential [PDF] options | Middle School Report & Visioning background documents

The visioning process is a follow-up to last year’s report from outside educational consultants who spent a year studying the district's middle school program at the request of the Board. The Board has been taking an in-depth look at the comprehensive list of recommendations in the report through a series of discussions on focus topics and community meetings.

One of the consultants’ recommendations was for the district to consider combining the middle school program into one physical location. The consultants suggested that the district examine whether a single school would better serve middle school today's in terms of program and opportunities, particularly in a time of limited resources.

Because the district does not have a single school facility that would house our current middle school population, it identified three options that could lead to a single middle school location for the meeting on Oct. 16. The discussion also included the option to maintain the current two, grades 6-8 middle schools and asked community members if there were other possibilities worth considering.

District leaders emphasized that the community meeting was designed to hold for a preliminary conversation about the topic. The meeting included brief remarks by Board members and an opportunity for the public to comment, followed by the approximately 125 participants convening in seven small groups to talk about the options in discussions facilitated by Board members.

"We are here to discuss what is best for our middle school, with a focus on configuration, and what is best for our district and our children," said Board of Education President Deborah Oriola. "The Board of Education has not discussed these options, and we have not made any decisions. We are here to begin this conversation with you. Your input is important."