Published: March 11, 2009 11:50 pm      

Garrett transfers middle-schoolers

OAKLAND — After this year, Bloomington School will no longer have a middle school program, following a decision made by the Garrett County Board of Education on Tuesday night.

“We did it to move it to a (pre-kindergarten through fifth grade school),” said Rodney Durst, board president. “There was no opposition. As long as we did a correction on the bus routes so the kids are not on the busses so long, the parents were happy. It was a nonissue really. I think it will give (the students a) more educational opportunity.”

The consideration to make the change began largely after some parents requested that their children be allowed to attend Southern Middle School last year, said Wendell Teets, schools superintendent.

He said while the teachers at Bloomington did a good job offering a middle school program, it wasn’t the same as having the students at Southern. He said the students would benefit through the programs that could be offered at the larger middle school.

This change will affect 19 students next year who will be in grades six through eight.

By not having the sixth- through eighth-graders at Bloomington School, Teets felt that resources would not be stretched among the number of students, which totaled 76 this year, including prekindergarten.

An added benefit of having the students go to Southern Middle, he said, is helping the students adjust to a new school.

“I think that having all of them going to the sixth grade at the same time will help them come together as a new group,” Teets said. “By high school, it will be a smooth transition.”

To accommodate parent concerns about the amount of time students will spend on a bus to go to Southern, Teets said there are plans to dedicate another bus just for transportation to that area.

The change in grades will bring Bloomington in line with other schools in the county. Of those schools which offer kindergarten classes, Bloomington is the only one with a middle school program as well.

Swan Meadow School, Teets explained, is different because through state law, those students begin at the school in first grade and are exempt after eighth grade. The students either go on to get their GED or their high school diploma through another method.

The board doesn’t anticipate any jobs to be lost through this transition, he said.

Overall, Teets said, the change would be a positive one.

“I feel very good about what we can do,” Teets said. “As a superintendent, it bothered me for some time.”

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.