The Columbia Public Schools Board of Education voted on some big changes Monday night, mostly aimed at alleviating overcrowding at the middle school level.
The board voted to make new middle school boundaries to help to ease overcrowding at Gentry Middle School by extending the Jefferson Middle School boundaries into areas previously included in Gentry.
The board voted to allow current sixth and seventh graders that will be moved to Jefferson to apply to stay at Gentry.
Columbia Public School Board vice president Jonathan Sessions says allowing sixth and seventh graders to stay at Gentry if they choose is a way to not make children move more than necessary.
“It allowed not to have to move as many kids it also put us in the position, I felt after really looking at the numbers, where we didn’t have to move any students that were already attending Gentry,” Sessions said. “By saying, if you’re not there yet, you will be attending Jeff.”
The boundary changes come after unexpected growth the board did not foresee in the Gentry area when they made new middle school boundaries several years ago.
“It’s made Gentry a much more crowded school than we anticipated,” Session said.
Jackie Van Delden is a parent of a will-be-sixth grader at Gentry Middle School. Even though she is unaffected by the boundary change, she believes the board is not doing enough to relieve overcrowding.
“I feel for any kid that’s going to be in third grade up through seventh grade because they are going to be in a very overcrowded school until the new middle school is built,” Van Delden said.
She said she worries about the large class sizes and students’ inability to participate in sports and activities.
“I’m disappointed in CPS for the fact they’ve known for a few years that Gentry is getting overcrowded, and it’s come to this points and they are really doing nothing,” she said.
September 2016’s enrollment numbers put Gentry at 868 students and Jefferson’s enrollment at 597 students.
Sessions said the Columbia Public School district is comprised of six middle school, five of which are located on Worley Street or north. Gentry is the only middle school in southern Columbia.
The board also took further steps to help alleviate overcrowding at the middle school level by moving up plans for a new middle school to be completed in 2020, rather than its original completion in 2022.
The land for the new middle school has not been purchased yet, and Sessions said that they will be looking to “geographically balance” the middle schools in Columbia.
Sessions said the board will follow a similar plan using a surveyor to identify a plot of land that will be ideal for a middle school.
Sessions said there will be a presentation of the top five locations at the board’s March work session.
“Out of a difficult decision, that I know not everyone will be happy with, we were able to focus on students and what is best for students,” he said
Additionally, the board voted to name the new elementary school that will open in 2018 after the school it is replacing. Cedar Ridge Elementary will continue to be an elementary school, just in a new building. Once students are moved out of the current Cedar Ridge Elementary, the district hopes to repurpose the building, Sessions said.