Northside News Karla Beck, Principal Jon Wilson, Principal Intern

Greetings from Northside Elementary! As many of you have heard and know, there are exciting times happening in the St. James School District. Northside Elementary is growing in population which is a positive for the St. James community. The challenge for this growth is the building that the Kindergarten through fifth graders are housed in is overflowing. When the district moved grades four through six out of the Armstrong School, the student population was shifting to a three-section school. Northside Elementary (Kindergarten through fifth grade) currently has twenty classrooms and three Special Education teachers. In 2014-15, three of the K-5 levels will be in four-sections and will be adding a fourth Special Education teacher. The school district just placed ninety-eight Kindergarten Registration letters in the mail. By this September, Northside will need to find three more classrooms and those simply do not exist. As to the immediate space concerns, after discussing dozens of options, the school board and administration determined to move Kindergarten to Armstrong. This decision was made as it seemed to align the districts pre-school to grade twelve students in the most logical manner. One thing was certain: if the district somehow managed to keep K-5 students at Northside for 2014-15, programmatic and educational experiences for all 440 students would be impacted negatively. That was not an acceptable option. There are many details to be considered with this transition. School management began work on those immediately after the board meeting. Curriculum and instruction, safety and security, technology, food service, transportation, administrative and secretarial coverage, resource and specials teachers, among a long list of other details, have been addressed. The wheels are already rolling to make this a supported transition. Our school is growing. That is a very good thing.