RICHMOND, Va. -- Another year will bring another big change for students who attend Elkhardt Middle School.
Right now those student are finishing out the year at Clark Springs Elementary because of a pesky mold problem inside of the 75-year-old building.
Monday night, the Richmond School Board voted 9-0 to merge Elkhardt and Thompson Middle schools for the 2015-2016 year.
They also agreed that RPS would build a new middle school south of the river for the 2018-2019 school year to accommodate future growth.
Thompson teacher Sean Conard said he felt compelled to speak out, for a few reasons.
"The average class sizes are going up to possibly 22 to 25 or more. So, I have concerns about that and concerns with neighborhood rivalries and of clashes with students and them not being able to get along, " Conard said.
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Kranz says they’re working on some strategies to get the students form both schools interacting with each other before the September 8 start date.
He also said this about parents’ concerns about class sizes.
“We are going to do everything we can to ensure students are getting the resources that they need to be successful, " said Kranz.
Kranz added that Monday’s vote is just the first step. Soon, they’ll turn their attention to building bus routes, firming up security plans and custodial staff among other things.
“We’ll be getting our staffing levels up to where they need to be," Kranz explained. "Asking if our dining area going to be sufficient because we are going to have more students. Do we need to add extra lines? We need to do a lot of things to make sure this will make the school better than what it was.”
He says when the doors open in September, some teachers from both schools will be reassigned to fill other vacancies within the school division.
