Crowd questions St. Charles School District superintendent about proposed changes
Superintendent Donald Schlomann fielded questions from a passionate, near standing-room only crowd Wednesday night as he introduced St. Charles School District 303’s proposal to realign Davis and Richmond elementary schools this fall.
District administration in March will seek school board approval to transform Davis Elementary into Davis Primary School, serving second-grade and younger students living in the attendance areas for Davis and Richmond, Schlomann said.
Richmond would become Davis Intermediate School, serving third, fourth and fifth grades. The school day would be extended by 40 minutes to provide students with 120 minutes of foreign language instruction and 80 minutes of science instruction facilitated through technology each week, with each student equipped with iPads, Schlomann said.
“Will this change our middle schools?” he said. “Absolutely, and we hope it does. Will this change our high schools? Absolutely, and we hope it does.”
As one woman summarized, “This idea is pretty dramatic.”
Parents appeared to have countless questions that addressed these, and other, subjects: transportation and traffic issues, the costs, whether kids would have the stamina for a longer school day, how this would affect the middle schools, other options considered and whether this was in response to Richmond not making Adequate Yearly Progress standards in recent years.
“This is not about a failing school in any respect,” Schlomann said.
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