by Dennis Dalman
Big changes are coming for middle-school students and teachers in Sartell for the next school year – changes that are aimed at maximizing learning so students will be well equipped for their high-school years.
The changes will affect fifth-grade students at Riverview Intermediate School and students in grades 6-8 at Sartell Middle School.
Tom Lee, interim superintendent for the Sartell-St. Stephen School District, said in an interview with the Newsleaders that much misinformation has been circulating about the proposed changes, including many inaccurate comments about major cuts to music programs.
Lee was hired as interim superintendent and started work July 1, 2023. A search is underway for a new long-time superintendent.
When Lee started his interim job, he took a good look at schools’ program offerings, and there were several “issues” with middle-school programming and the administration agreed with him.
Last year, Lee and school officials examined middle-school programming in schools throughout Minnesota, and then they developed a plan to maximize learning for middle-school learners. The ambitious proposal was presented at the Feb. 26 school-board meeting. A video of that meeting, including a power-point presentation, is available on the school district’s website sometime later this week.
The proposal
The new learning proposal will increase the learning time for core subjects from the current 64 percent to 70 percent and the time for specialist subjects from 16 percent to 23 percent.
Core subjects are language arts, science, math and social studies; specialist subjects include “Project Lead the Way,” music, physical education, family-and-consumer science and art.
In the Newsleaders interview, Lee outlined the changes for next year.
“As we considered our options,” Lee said, “the current tutorial time for fifth-graders at Riverview Intermediate School and for all students in Sartell Middle School was not maximizing learning.”
Some of the changes will be the following:
Music
There will be no more choir, band or orchestra during school hours for fifth-graders – just after-school sessions. However, there are lessons taught in general-music classes, and that will not change. After-school ensembles (choir, band, orchestra) will make it possible for students to participate in up to three ensembles since they will meet on separate days. Transportation home will be provided after the ensembles. The reason for not having school-day ensembles is because they were taking away time from core-subject instruction.
Ensembles in sixth grade will be mandatory in order to increase numbers of students in those ensembles (choir, band, orchestra). Lee said there has been a dramatic decrease in ensemble enrollment during middle-school years.
There will be time built into the day for students to have lessons on how to play instruments, but those lessons will not require students to come out of core classes for the lessons.
The new schedule will have ensembles meeting for 40 minutes every other day, allowing for 200 minutes in a two-week period. That is an increase from the current student/teacher ensemble learning time.
More time
The new school schedule will increase learning time in all areas, not just in reading – from the current 64 percent of time in core subjects to 70 percent, from the current 16 percent in specialist subjects to 23 percent.
Re-teaching
The new plan will still allow teachers to meet toward the end of each class with students who may be having trouble grasping their lessons, such as reading. Then teachers can provide one-on-one help for “re-teaching.”
