Decatur Mom

Decatur Metro and CSD Mom have provided excellent coverage of the CSD reconfiguration, including the latest updates and all of the challenges along the way. In her latest post, CSD Mom urges parents to continue voicing their opinions to the Board as it currently leans towards reconfiguration option #13 – renovate 5th ave as a new K-3 school rebuilding Fifth Avenue as the new 4/5 academy and converting Glennwood to a K-3*, with option #9 – combine Glenwood Academy with Renfroe Middle (and open Glenwood as a new K-3 school) as the second most likely choice.

*Thanks for the correction on option #13 CSD Mom!

Obviously, there are strong feelings about all of the options and for good reason. The Academy is truly unique and achieving International Baccalaureate status is no small task. It’s difficult for me to support an option that might put that program at-risk by moving the 4th and 5th graders to Renfroe Middle. However, I attended a highly-regarded public middle school that also had a 4/5 program, and the combination worked very well in terms of keeping the programs special and separate.

As a middle-schooler, I joined the math team, got a cool “math mentor” t-shirt and thought that I was going to help other students in my class.  It was not until the first tutoring lesson that I had any idea that there were 4th and 5th graders in our building. They led us mentors into a part of the school that I never knew was there and I remember being completely shocked and then thinking,  “how did they manage to get these little kids in and out of school without us big kids ever seeing them?”

I’m not sure if Renfroe’s campus would allow for such a separation of the big kid versus little kid traffic flow but, coming from a school where it worked well, I can see how it may be possible. And from a leadership development perspective, I can say that the opportunity to mentor the younger students in the school is one of the few lasting memories that I have of my middle school experience.  However, I do understand that there are many more considerations beyond how frequently or infrequently the middle and younger students may intermingle.

If you have a strong opinion one way or another I’d encourage you to voice it to the board as soon as you can.