Decatur ISD fifth graders will not be on the district’s three elementary campuses next fall.
The district announced Monday that it will move the fifth grade to McCarroll Middle School’s sixth-grade campus on Eagle Drive. The campus will house fifth and sixth graders. The seventh and eighth grades will stay at the current campus on West Thompson Street.
Carson and Rann will become kindergarten through fourth-grade elementary campuses. Young Elementary will hold pre-kindergarten through fourth.
Decatur ISD Superintendent Judi Whitis informed the staff of the campus reconfigurations during Monday’s staff development.
“This is step one. There are many decisions to be made,” said Whitis about the move. “This is the big one with the logistics of moving, budgeting and staffing.”
Growth throughout the district played a role in the decision. Since the end of the 2016-17 school year in May, the district has added 198 students, hitting an enrollment of 3,371 last week. The district has added 20 since returning from the winter break.
“We have a golden opportunity because there is room at the sixth-grade campus. It buys us space at the elementary,” Whitis said.
Before the district opened its third elementary, Young, in the fall of 2010, fifth and sixth graders shared an intermediate school.
“Fifth and sixth grade go together well academically,” Whitis said. “There’s been an intermediate school here in the past.”
The move will also change how the campus is graded in the state accountability ratings. Its rating will be based on two grade levels instead of one.
Whitis said the announcement was met with positive feedback from the staff.
Throughout the spring, the administration plans to address staffing and scheduling for areas shared between the two campuses at McCarroll Middle School.