BATTLE GROUND – The Battle Ground School Board of Directors has made the decision to discontinue to Summit View Middle School program at the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
Board members, district administrators, principals and school staff discussed the current functionality of Summit View Middle School during a work session on Dec. 14 and again during a regular board meeting on Jan. 11.
Assistant Superintendent Mark Ross presented the recommendation to discontinue the program after researching the program and current supports within the district’s other middle schools. District administration agreed that the program is at a crossroads, and board members had to make a decision to either add resources and restructure the current program - expanding grade levels, adding staff and increasing space - or to look at serving the needs of those students at their home schools.
Many intervention systems have been put into place since the inception of Summit View Middle School, including Response to Intervention (RTI), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), school counselors, intervention specialists, school psychologists and soon to be mental health professionals.
Director of Instructional Leadership Shelly Whitten will continue to work with building principals to strengthen current and develop new intervention systems and support models to work with at-risk students and communicate with parents.
The recommendation presented to the board includes the following:
● Do not recruit students for SVMS in the spring of 2016.
● Allow current seventh graders to continue as eighth graders in the school at the current location for the 2016-17 school year. A student FTE of no more than 15 may be filled with other eighth grade students if the current seventh grade class is not large enough.
● Bussing would continue to be provided for students attending SVMS in 2016-17.
● Two classroom spaces would be utilized for SVMS in the 2016-17 school year at Chief Umtuch Middle School.
● One full-time certificated teacher would be employed at SVMS for the 2016-17 school year and any other supporting staff would be determined by FTE needs.
● Current Summit View teachers would be placed in District schools once they have finished their role at Summit View.
During the meeting, district administration and board members applauded the amazing work, dedication and compassion that Summit View Middle School staff have for students and thanked them for their years of work. Board members will continue to discuss ways to increase supports for at-risk students.
Summit View Middle School opened in fall 2012 in portable classrooms on the campus of Chief Umtuch Middle School, 700 NE Ninth St., in Battle Ground. It has two full-time classroom teachers and some part-time staff.
The school currently serves 26 seventh- and eighth-grade students. Next school year, the school’s only students will be the 13 eighth-graders who are currently Summit View seventh-graders. The school will have one full-time teacher instead of two.
