Sixth grade now part of H-BC's middle school model

Big changes await students entering sixth grade at Hills-Beaver Creek High School this fall.
School board members supported the administrators’ recommendation to move to an education structure where students will now follow an eight-period day with electives.
“It seems like a big thing,” said board member Tim Bosch at the May 9 meeting. “It’s just a few more teachers with more responsibility on them (students) to get to the right place.”
Previously the sixth grade was a self-contained classroom with a typical elementary classroom schedule.
When the district moved the sixth grade from the elementary school in Beaver Creek to the high school in Hills seven years ago, it remained as a self-contained classroom with one teacher responsible for all lesson subjects.
This fall the sixth-graders’ schedules will include an eight-period day where they’ll move to a different classroom each hour. They will participate in various electives.
The seventh- and eighth-grade students in the building already operate under the middle school model.
Moving the sixth-graders to a similar schedule made cohesive sense, according to discussion at the May 9 meeting.
“I think it’s better for them because they are the only class that doesn’t do it,” said board member Harley Fransman.
To assist with the upcoming transition, H-BC’s current fifth-grade students visited the high school recently. The current sixth-grade students provided tours and introduced the younger students to the features in the high school building.
High School Principal Andrew Kellenberger explained their new schedule, which will use bells to signify the move to a different classroom, something they didn’t experience at the elementary school.
“I think it (the middle school model) will be a good thing,” he said.
The sixth-grade classrooms will be located near each other in the high school building’s north side.
Kellenberger said the fifth-graders’ biggest fears involve getting lost within the building and finding the right classroom.
These are similar fears the sixth-grade students experienced entering the seventh grade and the current middle school model.
However, within a week, students became familiar and comfortable with the new schedule.
 
In other business, the board:
•supported adding two minutes to the 2022-23 school day to allow more fluent student transitioning during the day. The high school day will be from 8 a.m. to 3:07 p.m. and the elementary will be from 8:15 a.m. to 3:17 p.m.
•accepted the resignation of Graham Sudenga as Spanish teacher/special needs paraprofessional at the end of the 2021-22 school year and Nicole Morey as early childhood special education teacher/paraprofessional effective this summer.