SNOHOMISH — The school board voted 4-1 last week for Superintendent Kent Kultgen’s recommendation to continue the current model for elementary and middle schools versus moving sixth graders up to middle school for fall 2025.
A few parents in the boardroom audience clapped on the decision after the board’s vote. One was preparing to hand in a petition of 621 parents opposing the change.
Kultgen spoke plainly that the proposal could be discussed again in a future year.
Kultgen had proposed the move to give sixth-grade students a broader education and access to a wider range of extracurriculars offered in middle school.
After listening and reflecting, “I believe there are two substantial obstacles that need to be brought forward,” Kultgen said in a short speech before issuing his recommendation last week.
“The first one is this is a group of kids that was impacted by COVID. It is a fact and one thing we cannot change. They almost lost one year of their kindergarten and first-year experience to online learning” and dealt with much more.
“These kids have really experienced a lot. I cannot nor will I deny this impact on our students.”
“However, I do believe we can overcome this obstacle by delaying the implementation of this reconfiguration,” Kultgen said.
The other substantial item is capacity at Centennial Middle School. The plan would have added three to four portable classrooms to fit adding 300 to 325 sixth-grade students.
“In the end, the capacity at (Centennial),” Kultgen said is “one that cannot be overcome by delaying.”
Every one of Snohomish’s elementary schools uses portable classrooms today.
“Many of your children have spent one, two or even three years of their elementary career in a modular,” Kultgen said. “So when I hear that modulars are not the answer, they are in the district and being used.”
Repositioning sixth grade to the district’s middle schools means the district will need to use fewer portable classrooms at its elementary schools. Kultgen told the Tribune in January, though, that “we’re not doing this for space reasons at all.”
Last week, the majority of school board members reiterated concerns they already gave at the Feb. 14 meeting regarding the capacity limits at Centennial and the cohort of today’s fourth graders being moved to middle school.
Board member Jay Hagen gave the no vote. Two weeks prior, he’d stated he likes that bringing sixth-grade students to middle school will expand their horizons with more clubs and activities available.
Kultgen concluded saying he was happy there was a conversation on the idea.
“In the end, we have had a conversation and we should be proud of that,” he said. “We had great discussions. We talked and we listened. I am proud to lead in a district where we can have positive conversations.”
