The exterior of Norton Elementary School Wednesday. An email to parents sent last week announced a “restructuring” of placements for Pre-K to fifth grade students at Three Rivers Community Schools, with Norton Elementary slated to lose fourth and fifth grade classes, which will move to Park Elementary, go down to one class for kindergarten to third grade, and gaining Great Start Readiness Program and Young 5s students.
By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
THREE RIVERS — Fourth and fifth grade classes at Norton Elementary are slated to be eliminated and moved to a different school as part of a “restructure” of Three Rivers Community Schools’ elementary placements that were announced last week.
In an email to parents Friday, April 11 reviewed by the Commercial-News, Superintendent Nikki Nash and Board of Education President Erin Nowak stated that due to a decline in student enrollment, the district would “restructure” placements of students for Pre-K to fifth grade, with the announced moves mainly affecting Norton Elementary.
According to the email, Young 5s students and Great Start Readiness Program students would be transferred to Norton Elementary from their current school buildings, while Norton would only have one classroom each of kindergarten to third grade, and phasing out their fourth and fifth grade classes entirely.
The fourth and fifth grade classes at Norton would be moved to Park Elementary, nearly 10 miles away. Families with students currently enrolled in third and fourth grade at Norton would “receive further information in the near future,” according to the letter.
The Commercial-News reached out to Nash via email asking for more details about the restructuring and what it would mean for students, teachers and families, as well as what could happen in the future for the school, but did not get responses to those questions before press time Wednesday afternoon.
Executive Assistant Lorie Camino said in an email Tuesday that Nash is working on a statement to be read about the situation at Monday, April 21’s TRCS Board of Education meeting. She added that the “full restructure plan is still in the works, but as soon as a definitive plan is in place, it will be announced,” which could potentially mean more district buildings could be affected by the restructuring.
The next Board of Education meeting begins at 6 p.m. that evening at the district administration office at 851 Sixth Ave.
The email to parents called the decision a “difficult” one, and also cited the “need for fiscal responsibility” as another factor leading to the move. According to the letter, the district will “continue to closely monitor the situation” moving forward.
“We want to assure you that we will continue to closely monitor this situation and are prepared to make necessary adjustments to ensure that every child receives the high-quality education they deserve no matter which building they are attending, while ensuring financial stability for the District,” the letter states.
Any questions or concerns, the letter states, are asked to be directed to the district’s administration office at (269) 279-1100.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
Yeah so now…we will have over populated class rooms, for 4th and 5th grades this angers me ! So 2 4th grade classes about 40 students are gonna be shoved into an already over populated school?