By Karen Hall

Staff Writer

School board members voted unanimously to approve a plan to reconfigure the elementary schools in Lewisburg at their March meeting Monday.

"It's what we talked about at the work session," said Director of Schools Jackie Abernathy. "I'd like you to approve it."

In the reconfiguration, starting with the 2013-2014 school year, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade will be at Oak Grove; second and third grade will be at Marshall Elementary School; and fourth, fifth and sixth grades will be at Westhills.

Board member Susan Hunter apologized for not attending the work session, and asked if it would be necessary to build on to any schools to accomodate the reconfiguration.

"No," board member Barbara Kennedy told her. "There is room for all next year."

Abernathy would like to add a playroom at MES, but there will be enough classrooms, at least for the time being.

Though the student population in Lewisburg has not been growing at the same rate as the one in Chapel Hill, it can be anticipated more classrooms will be needed at each school in the near future.

"By the time you get it ready, you'll need it," said budget committee chairman Donnie Moses.

"There's something to be said for being pro-active," agreed board member Kristin Gold.

Kennedy remarked after the work session that the last time reconfiguration was proposed, she fought it. Now, however, she said, with the new state and national standards, everything has changed, and she supports it wholeheartedly.

Abernathy said she felt the same.

"I would have said, 'Lord no,' but now I'm convinced it is the best for our kids," the director said.

Kennedy said she had urged parents with questions or complaints about reconfiguration to attend the work session, but none showed up.

According to Abernathy, putting fewer grades at each school has many advantages. Teachers will have increased opportunities for grade-level collaboration and planning, and can work together to improve instruction. Instructional facilitators can specialize in a few grade levels and thus do a better job. The way elementary schools are now, an instructional facilitator can be coaching a kindergartener learning the alphabet one day, and helping a sixth grader with pre-algebra the next.

With fewer grade levels to worry about, adminstrators can become true academic leaders.

And finally, students will form bonds and friendships at an early age, arriving at Lewisburg Middle School as one group. Currently, the seventh grade starts at LMS as three separate factions, depending on which elementary school students came from, and teachers find it hard to mold them into a cohesive unit.

"Reconfiguration is not about classroom space," Kennedy summarized. "It's about creating mini academies. It's better academically and socially; it's more fair."

"It's the best use of the space we have," added Gold.

Finally, it has a financial advantage. If all second-grade classes, for instance, are under one roof, dividing the total number of second-grade students by the government-mandated class size will result in fewer teachers needed than if the second graders were in three different buildings.

As for the disruption to students and their families, board members did not think this was a big deal.

"I've had kids in three different schools at the same time," said Gold. "It just happens sometimes."

"I went to six different schools here as a kid," Moses said. "It was just a blip on the radar."

Kennedy summed it up by saying parents should be more concerned about what their children would be learning than where they have to take them to school.