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District Considers Converting Southside into Middle School

Posted on: Sunday, 29 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Karen Robinson

East Aurora's former Southside School would make an ideal new middle school, many school administrators said this week, but Parkdale Elementary School would still require an addition to ease a space crunch.

A round-table discussion Wednesday on potential grade-level configurations at Parkdale, Main Street and Southside schools sparked a new idea for the current Main Street Elementary School that would blend some elementary grades with a community center focus.

"I think there are a lot of opportunities at Southside. The big challenge is what to do at the Main Street building," said Robin Mach, district architect. "It would open up more space in the center of the community. The possibilities are endless, and you could transform the parking lot into a park. I could see it as a community center and a grades-three-to-five school."

It largely hinges on what the School Board decides to do at Main Street School and whether it would house third- through fifth- graders, instead of the current elementary/middle school combination of third through eighth grades.

Southside could handle up to 500 pupils and has quickly been embraced by many as a solution to the district's space crunch. Plus, the district would receive substantially more state aid to convert it into a middle school, instead of an elementary building.

Southside also would offer middle school pupils a unique identity to have their own building and would provide more space for science labs and an auditorium, in addition to lots of land for intramural sports.

However, Southside lacks a pool, and swimming is part of the district's physical education curriculum for middle school pupils, though it's not required by the state. Some have suggested dropping swimming from middle school requirements or, if Southside becomes a middle school, busing those pupils to Main Street School to swim.

Main Street's ground floor could be designed to serve the community, offering such things as library space and Boys and Girls Club activities and would house the district offices. If the district does repurchase Southside and uses it as a middle school, there would not be enough room to house the district's administrative offices there.

For the most part, committees and staff said Southside would make an excellent middle school, though some residents prefer that the district instead opt for two separate kindergarten through fourth- grade buildings -- one at Parkdale and one at Southside, keeping sixth- through eighth-graders at Main Street.

A drawback of having two K-4 schools would be that children needing special support services would need to be shifted between buildings and may not be in the same school as their siblings, said Lynn Fusco, curriculum director.

The board hopes to decide on grade configurations at its Feb. 8 meeting.

e-mail: krobinson@buffnews.com

Source: Buffalo News

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