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By Ann Andersen | November 28, 2008Apart from school closures and busing cuts, nothing brings out parents like proposed grade configuration changes.
In November, 1984, the Cowichan school board announced a major shift in its current middle school configuration. After successfully moving grade 7s from Quamichan feeder schools into that school in 1981, the district would now move grade 7 students in the other Duncan elementary schools to Mt. Prevost. Meanwhile, the grade 10s currently at Prevost and Quamichan would move to Cowichan Secondary.
The restructuring, explained school superintendent Bill Marshall, was a move to the middle school concept, allowing administrators to incorporate features from both the elementary and senior secondary systems.
“With time tables, for instance, we’re able to include more time with one teacher and then slowly phase into the secondary stream.”
“The grade 10s are itching to get into the high school. The real work is convincing the parents of grade 7 students of the educational merit of middle schools,” Marshall admitted.
A quarter century later, there are four different grade configurations: K – 7; 8 – 12 in Chemainus and Crofton; K – 6; 7 – 9; 10 – 12 in Duncan, Maple Bay; K – 5; 6 – 8; 9 – 12 between Cowichan Bay and Mill Bay; and K – 5; 6 – 12 in the Lake Cowichan area.
