District Reviews Middle Schools

The Conejo Valley Unified School District is looking at the future of middle schools, and whether the sixth grade should be offered in an elementary or middle school setting.

The issue of where to put sixth-graders has captured the attention of Conejo Valley educators for the last decade, after a 1988 state Department of Education study titled “Caught in the Middle” recommended that elementary schools be configured as kindergarten through fifth grade and middle schools reworked to host grades six through eight. At the time, the district rejected making any changes to its K-6 format.

During the 1994-95 school year, the district began a pilot program allowing up to 10% of sixth-graders to attend Colina Middle School. Since then, more and more sixth-graders have chosen to go to middle schools, officials said. This year, for instance, 56% of sixth-graders are enrolled in elementary schools and 44% are enrolled in middle schools, while 6% of the elementary school students remain on waiting lists for the middle school program.

With half of its students requesting middle school enrollment, the district faces potential costs of more than $20 million to expand facilities. The sixth-grade populations at elementary schools, meanwhile, are dwindling. For example, only 11 sixth-graders remain at the Weathersfield Elementary School.

On Tuesday, about 40 administrators and parents met at a study session with the district school board to weigh the district’s options.