FORKS — The Quillayute Valley School Board will vote Tuesday on whether to proceed with a plan to shift students between schools, creating a school system with four schools instead of the current three.
The school board will meet in the Forks High School library, 261 Spartan Ave., at 5 p.m. Tuesday for a public hearing on the reorganization and is expected to vote on whether the district will continue planning for a grade-level reorganization during the following 6 p.m. regular meeting.
The proposed reorganization would make room to expand preschool hours from 2.5 hours a day to 6 hours a day for the district’s low-income preschool program and add benefits for other students.
School board members have said that a full-day preschool program for families who qualify for free or reduced-price meals will soon be mandated by the state, and the school district is getting ahead of the game.
Currently, the preschool serves 54 children and is housed in two portable classrooms behind the main elementary school campus.
Kindergarten through fifth-grade students are currently in Forks Elementary classrooms, while sixth through eighth grades attend Forks Middle School.
Under the proposed realignment:
■ The preschool would move into four classrooms adjacent to the kindergarten wing at the Forks Elementary building, which would become Forks Primary School for students in preschool though third grade.
■ Fourth- and fifth-graders would move to the Forks Middle School building, which would become Forks Intermediate School for students in the fourth through sixth grade.
■ The seventh- and eighth-grade classes would move to “The Annex,” an empty building between the middle and high school, which would become Forks Middle School.
■ Several programs currently without adequate space — such as the occupational therapy program — would move into empty classrooms at the newly renamed Forks Primary School.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
