Pomona schools prepare for start of grade changes

By rearranging grades parents will have some options, she said, adding the reconfiguration will reduce the number of transitions students make during the course of their education.

Transitions can pose problems for students because in some instances children can fall behind academically as they adjust to a new environment, Walkenbach said.

Another benefit of this effort is that it will bring consistency that doesn't exist now at the elementary school level.

Currently the district has various elementary school grade arrangements. By adjusting the grade configuration Pomona Unified will eventually offer pre-kindergarten to sixth grade, pre-K to eighth grade, seventh to 12th grade and the more traditional 9th to 12th grade.

Schools to make the transition next year will be Fremont and Palomares middle schools and Harrison, San Jose, Lexington, Vejar and Golden Springs elementary schools. Also affected will be Cortez Mathematics and Science Magnet School.

The elementary schools will become pre-K to 8 campuses, with grades added annually until they have eighth grade, said district spokesman Tim McGillivray.

For the current middle schools an area of focus will be added. Palomares have a health professions emphasis and Fremont will focus on engineering and design, Walkenbach said.

Students will be able to enroll in non-academy tracks during seventh and eighth grades but will need to chose a track at ninth grade or transfer to one of the district's 9th to 12 grade campuses, McGillivray said.

Enrolling in the academy programs doesn't mean a student is tied to a field as a career choice, Walkenbach said.

"We don't expect kids at this age to make a lifetime career decision," she said.

The purpose of focusing on careers is that it helps make lessons in math, science, social studies or any other subject more relevant.

Students will use project-based learning in which they will solve and become engaged in "real world projects" that show them why it's important to learn about any of their school subjects, Walkenbach said.

Areas of concentration for the academies have been selected in part based on fields that are growing, she said.

Another factor in the decision is that the district has developed relationships with academic institutions such as Cal Poly Pomona and Western University of Health Sciences that can play a part in these programs, district officials said.

An expected result from these changes is that students will work in smaller learning communities where they have greater "personalized attention so kids don't fall through the cracks," Walkenbach said.

Recently district administrators conducted a series of meetings to explain the changes to parents. They also explained the process for enrolling their children at the reconfigured schools which includes waiting lists and lotteries to help determine who gets a seat at a school should space run out.

Paulette Laurie, who has two children in the district, attended one of the meetings and likes some aspects of the reconfiguration program but still isn't completely at ease with it.
She has a daughter attending sixth grade at San Jose Elementary and an son in eighth grade at Lorbeer Middle School.

Laurie plans to keep her daughter at San Jose instead of sending her to a larger, traditional middle school.

"I don't think she's quite ready for that big change," Laurie said. "I think it's probably better to leave her at a place with less kids."

She's less comfortable with the idea of having her son attend an academy program in part because there may be glitches that need to be worked during the first years of the new arrangement.

So Laurie is taking steps for her son to attend Diamond Ranch High School.

As she gets answers to her questions and gets a better feel for the reconfiguration plans she may become more comfortable with the entire plan, she said.

"When there are changes, everybody is a little hesitant," Laurie said.

To Estella Hernandez, the parent of a sixth grader at San Jose, the reconfiguration is something she's been looking forward for some time.

Last year she and other parents heard about the reconfiguration concept and have followed the development.

Hernandez feels her son isn't quite ready to go to a large middle school campus and will benefit from staying at San Jose as it adds grades.

Some parents will find it good for their children to remain at San Jose.

"One already has a relationship with the teachers and principal," she said in Spanish.

When the time comes for her son to leave he could go to Palomares.

Even though it doesn't offer a field that he's interested in now, he will benefit from the academic programs to be offered there, she said.

Over all she feels the program will be a success. She has spoken with faculty members and her son's principal and they are enthusiastic about the change.

"I believe and expect they will do a good job," she said.

Pomona Unified will begin the first phase of five year plan that will reconfigure the grade levels offered at most of its schools.
The first schools to be affected will be Fremont and Palomares middle schools.
Also impacted will be Harrison, San Jose, Lexington, Vejar and Golden Springs elementary schools in addition to Cortez Mathematics and Science Magnet School.
Those schools will become pre-K to eighth grade campuses.
Seventh grade will be added at all the campuses in the fall and eighth grade the following year.
Cortez, which already has seventh grade, will add eighth grade this fall.
Lincoln Elementary will become a pre-K to sixth grade campus in the fall.
For Fremont and Palomares the changes will start the transition that will turn them into seventh- to 12th-grade schools and incorporate an academy model.
The schools will offer seventh and eighth grade curriculum and add a new grade level each year starting by the 2010-2011 academic year.
As part of the academy model Palomares will offer a health professions emphasis and Fremont will focus on engineering and design.
The schools will also offer the option of an academic track without the academy focus for seventh and eighth graders.
When students reach ninth grade families will have to decide whether to keep their child at the school and enter an academy learning track or transfer to one of the district's traditional high schools.