Fort Collins – The Poudre School District is abandoning junior high schools in favor of the middle-school approach, a move 98 percent of Colorado’s 178 school districts have already made.
So with declining enrollment and worries about a dropout rate that flares among students before high school, the 23,000-enrollment district decided the time was right to make the change.
Starting with the 2009-10 school year, ninth-graders will be moved to high school and most sixth-graders will say goodbye to elementary school and hello to middle schools filled with seventh- and eighth-graders.
Middle-school conversion has been studied in Poudre for 14 months, with many school officials and parents backing the idea despite the lack of definitive proof middle schools boost academic achievement.
Some parents are opposed, saying the current school approach works fine.
“What’s so broken in the district that it has to be fixed by this grade configuration?” said Mary Ann Doyle-Giesenhagen, who has three daughters enrolled in Poudre and a fourth almost ready for school.
She and some other parents hope the school board reverses its April 23 decision to move ahead with the middle-school changes. The second-guessing is likely to come this fall when the district begins discussions on changing school boundaries.
Parents worry the sixth-graders leaving the elementary ranks also will take with them art and music programs.
Sixth- and ninth-graders, meanwhile, will find themselves in harsher environments with older kids who may provide a bad influence.
“I know things go on in middle schools that shouldn’t go on,” said parent Virginia Beaney. “I don’t want my 11-year-old exposed to that. Why can’t we let our children remain children without them growing up too soon?”
But parent Rob Petterson said there are ways to shield sixth-graders from the older kids in their school while sparking their interest in academics.
“Hopefully, we can give sixth-graders access to foreign languages and instrumental band,” Petterson said, “something they can’t get in elementary school.”
There is also no indication middle schools improve grade scores, said Colorado Education Commissioner Bill Moloney. “Research has shown that the whole idea of putting kids in those middle years in separate schools is academically disastrous,” he said.
Others, however, say more academic rigor is being introduced into middle schools, including courses such as algebra. Meanwhile, students are getting more opportunities to bloom at a time when some begin dropping out in junior high.
“Certainly we are happy with our academic performance,” said Ron Maulsby, Poudre’s assistant superintendent of school services. “But anytime we think we can do better, we will shoot for that.”
Sixth-graders in middle schools will have access to secondary-level pursuits like music and sports. At the same time, freshman will be exposed to advanced courses and more academic rigor than they would have in junior high, Maulsby said.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
