The School District of Beloit aims to collect feedback from teachers and the community as it weighs plans for a potential grade reconfiguration.
Some members of the school board voiced concerns during a special meeting Thursday night about how quickly the school district is moving on the proposal.
Board president Pam Charles said she feels other issues are taking a backseat while administration works on reconfiguration. Board members Jeff Klett and Stephanie Jackson also expressed a desire to slow down the process and take more input from the school community.
Superintendent Dr. Stanley Munro said the district’s revitalization task force has provided significant feedback that has shaped the restructuring, and his administration plans to conduct teacher work groups in the coming weeks to gather input from each school building.
He admitted to being too narrowly focused on the idea of a single intermediate school to house all seventh- and eighth-grade students, and he cited that as an example of the effectiveness of the task force feedback. The plan also no longer includes the idea of a magnet school for the arts and they are reconsidering whether or not to close McNeel Intermediate School.
The reconfiguration plan was originally set to come before the school board later this month, but Dr. Munro said feedback from the task force led to the district and its consultants pushing that timeline back to March.
The school board also used the Thursday night meeting to realign some of their priorities for 2020 and beyond, focusing on school climate, teacher input, district communication and discipline.
Dr. Munro noted his administration implemented new instructional practices and professional development at the schools, which he said can be done simultaneously as the reconfiguration planning.
