Kinard sixth-graders make smooth transition

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

There are downsides to being the shortest kids in school, a lesson not lost on sixth-graders who were moved to Kinard Core Knowledge Junior High this year.

The move, which resulted from crowding at Zach Elementary, created a four-grade junior high school, and it's likely to remain that way for a few years. Kinard now has 77 sixth-graders on its brand-new campus on Ziegler Road.

Lockers are one of the big issues, students say. While it's fun to have personal lockers (there are none at Zach), the two-tier stacking design proves somewhat risky for short people. The unlucky sixth-graders who have lower lockers have to tunnel through bigger folks to put their books away. They also get banged by locker doors, and heavy items sometimes land on their heads.

Not only that, but the sixth-graders lost their top-dog position at Zach and became instant underdogs. They take a fair amount of heckling and teasing as a result.

Aside from those small things, life is good in the eyes of the sixth-graders. Heather Camping's math class had a conversation with the Fossil Creek Current recently, and the reviews of Kinard were mostly positive.

Some things the students like are lunches with menu options, switching classes and the high-tech features at Kinard, including large-screen projectors and surround sound in each room. Teachers use wireless microphones, a plus for both teachers and students. Other popular features include three music rooms, three computer labs, a gym and a football field with artificial turf.

With Kinard's competitive sports program, sixth-graders know many of the athletes when they watch the Mustangs play football and basketball. Recess is more fun, too, since the playing fields are bigger than those at Zach. Students give high marks to their sixth-grade teachers, who are very involved with them. As one example, Camping plays basketball with her students every Friday during recess.

The sixth-graders are not able to participate in junior high athletics, band or dances, but they have plenty of other opportunities. Activities for them at Kinard include intramural sports, the sixth-grade choir, a sixth-grade newspaper and a myriad of clubs for everything from art to Lego robotics to skateboarding.

It's not all positive, though. Sixth-graders have lunch at the early hour of 10:15 a.m., and lunch lines are long. In fact, the entire school day is longer than Zach's, running from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. compared to Zach's schedule of 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Some of the older students set good examples, but others are "really scary."

Kinard Principal Joe Cuddemi said the sixth-graders' transition has gone very well, and that has not been accidental. Shortly after the decision was made a year ago to move the Zach students, Cuddemi began meeting frequently with parents and teachers to address their concerns. The primary concern of parents, he said, was that they wanted their children to have the same sixth-grade experiences they would have enjoyed at Zach, such as Eco Week and the gifted and talented program.

Cuddemi surveyed both parents and sixth-graders in the first semester, and the satisfaction rating was "very high" on many items. One factor in making the transition a smooth one was that all three sixth-grade teachers at Zach transferred along with the students to Kinard.

According to Cuddemi, two factors could affect how long Kinard will be a four-grade school. They include the new elementary school that will be opened near Timnath in 2008, taking some pressure off Zach; and possible configuration changes within the school district. The school board will hear recommendations in February on possible reconfigurations such as adopting a middle school model and creating four-year high schools.

If the change to a middle school concept is made, the experiences at Kinard may prove helpful. "It's neat to be living and breathing the model," Camping said, and she thinks the lessons learned at Kinard could help other schools make the transition.

Meanwhile, Camping is thoroughly enjoying her sixth-grade students. "It's a great bunch of kids. They have such a positive attitude, they're an inspiration to us and the others in the building," she said. "They still have that elementary school sparkle, and they just light up the building."