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Show School Board Votes to Move Fifth Grade After a lengthy discussion Tuesday night the school board voted unanimously to move the fifth grade to the new middle school beginning with the fall term. About thirty-five parents attended the meeting to discuss the issue with board members and hear their reasons for their decision. The board's decision comes after a heavily attended community council meeting held several weeks ago in which parents overwhelmingly overwhelm-ingly expressed the desire to have the fifth grade remain at Parley's Park Elementary School. Most of the compalints agains the move came from the Summit Park and Sny-derville Sny-derville area represented by board member Gene Lambert. Lam-bert. Lambert admitted, "Frankly, I came to this meeting tonight (Tuesday) prepared to vote against moving the fifth grade and hold out as long as we could at the elementary school. But I think if we go into the program right and take care of any problems, it could be beneficial. If it doesn't work out, to me it's a simple matter of voting them back into the elementary school." Still parents wanted to know how many children's lives were going to be affected by a "trial and error" process. The board explained, however, that the new middle school facility had been designed with the fifth grade included and that the overcrowding possibilities possibili-ties at the elementary school indicated the fifth grade would only be able to oe at the school two more years. Board member Nancy Mc Comb explained, "I've seen no adverse affects on my kids by having the fifth grade in the middle school. I think many of our fears come from the unknown but if you visit the facility first-hand many of your fears would probably be alleviated. As far as I'm concerned the worst thing to do to our kids is to put them in overcrowded situations." McComb recommended . that fifth through eighth grade parents meet with the middle school staff and join students in a visit to the school before it opens and work on a transition period. Elementary school principal Rob Freeman indicated that he and middle school principal princi-pal Brian Schiller had already al-ready worked up a transition plan. In addition, the board asked for a survey of fifth graders opinions now and at . the end of next year to use as comparison data in making future grade placement decisions. |