While educators and administrators have been planning for five years on major changes coming to the White Hall School District, some issues may not be resolved until after classes begin Aug. 20 for the 2012-2013 school year, Superintendent Dr. Larry Smith told White Hall Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week.
All proposed changes “are subject to tweaking,” Smith explained to chamber members who gathered Tuesday at City Hall for the monthly luncheon session. He said the district’s website will be utilized to keep parents and students aware “of changes to the changes.”
One unanswered issue involves additional traffic at White Hall High School, he explained, noting that students worked out parking changes quickly in the fall. However, with the student body expanding from some 700 to more than 900 in August, that means parents will be dropping off and picking up several hundred freshmen students each school day, he added.
School officials may elect to use the north parking lot at WHHS, which has been closed to school day parking, to accommodate the additional vehicles each morning and afternoon. That decision will be made Aug. 20 or later, Smith said.
Sixth grade students will move from the four elementary schools in White Hall and Redfield to the two middle schools — now junior high schools; the middle schools’ student bodies will include sixth through eighth grades starting in August; and WHHS will house four grades instead of three.
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A two-story classroom wing was constructed at the high school, in addition to the remodeling and expansion of the cafeteria, to accommodate the expanded student body.
Smith acknowledged the parents of ninth graders moving to the high school have voiced some concerns, adding the ninth graders will be assigned to the “Freshman Academy” and offered more electives than in the past.
The ninth grade athletic programs will follow the existing structures and basketball games, for example, will be played at the middle schools to avoid scheduling problems at the high school.
The transition “sounds really, really simple — moving one group of kids to another campus,” Smith said, but is much more involved. Bus schedules must be changed and an extra squad of cheerleaders will represent the ninth grade.
The district will take two days — one later in the spring and one in August before classes begin — to introduce the new grade structures, teachers and classrooms to the students and parents, Smith added.
He said written notices will be sent to parents and guardians detailing the changes and orientation sessions.
During the summer months maintenance personnel will be busy replacing carpet in one-third of each elementary school with tile. One-third of the carpet was replaced last year and the balance is on schedule for the following year.
The district directors have approved repaving of parking lots at the elementary schools this summer.