Sixth-grade students would move to middle schools from elementary schools next fall under a proposal the Kent School Board will consider in late January.<\/p>\n
The Kent School District is redrawing its school boundaries<\/a> for the first time in a dozen years due to the opening of a new elementary school next fall on the West Hill.<\/p>\n A consultant hired by the district recommends that sixth graders be moved into middle schools for the 2021-2022 school year because of overcrowding in elementary schools.<\/p>\n Nine of 28 elementary schools are at or over their designed capacity while none of the middle schools (seventh and eighth grade) and only one of the four high schools (Kent-Meridian) are over their designed capacity, according to a School Boundary Review interim report by Florida-based MGT Consulting Group.<\/p>\n “Elementary schools are over capacity by more than 1,000 students and there are approximately 2,000 sixth grade students,” said Rob Tanner, of MGT Consulting, in a Dec. 2 report to the school board. “Moving sixth grade students to middle school will result in 1,750 excess seats at the elementary level.”<\/p>\n If sixth graders are moved to middle schools, the district will need to bring back Sequoia Middle School, which currently is home to Kent Phoenix Academy and Kent Mountain View Academy. Those two academies will combine into one next fall at a new site on the East Hill where Panther Lake Elementary formerly was located.<\/p>\n The district will hold a work session at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13 for a presentation and discussion regarding the boundary revisions. That will be followed by a public hearing on the proposal at 7 p.m. during the school board’s virtual meeting.<\/p>\n Starting Jan. 9, the public can submit written comments at kent.k12.wa.us\/PublicComment<\/a>. All comments for the public hearing must be submitted by 6:30 p.m. Jan. 13, prior to the start of the regular board meeting, and are limited to 450 words.<\/p>\n