By Alan Sorensen
by Alan Sorensen
The Havre Daily News
Tuesday, May 11
Highland Park and Devlin elementary schools will still be home to Havres multi-age classes, but Sunnyside and Lincoln-McKinley are expected to have one multi-grade class each next year.
Barring any unforeseen shifts in student populations, those classes are just part of the 1999-2000 district-wide classroom configuration proposed by Superintendent Kirk Miller.
Miller said the approach to curriculum in the multi-grade classes differs from that in the multi-age classes. In a multi-age class, for example, students cover first- and second-grade curriculum together over a two-year period. In the multi-grade classrooms, the first-graders study first-grade materials and second-graders study second-grade materials.
Highland Park will still have two primary multi-age classes (grades one and two) and one intermediate multi-age class (grades three and four). Devlin will have one intermediate multi-age class.
Miller said the district will hire two additional elementary school teachers with the federally-designated monies intended to reduce elementary classroom sizes.
Miller said the districts plan is designed to allow students to stay at the schools they currently attend. The major movement from school to school involves adults, he said, rather than children.
Havre High Schools faculty configuration will remain largely the same as it is now, but Havre Middle Schools will undergo some changes, he said.
The faculty teams will be balanced, with each grade level having 7-member teams. It will emphasize common planning time for team members. The plan also calls for the required core extension (RCE) classes to run for nine weeks instead of four and a half and for a Spanish language offering for sixth-graders to comply with accreditation standards.
The only two notable alterations in the administrative hierarchy are the extra responsibilities being assigned to Highland Park Principal Kelly Avants and Sunnyside Principal Linda Kaze. Avants will become the districts curriculum development coordinator and Kaze will assume the role of instructional information/assessment coordinator.
