The Fort Dodge Community School District’s move to transition fifth grade from the middle school level back to the elementary level continues to go forward as the district begins molding its staffing plans for the changes.

Superintendent Jesse Ulrich introduced his proposal to move fifth grade back to elementary during a school board meeting in September 2019. The board ultimately approved the plan, which included recomissioning the former Arey building on South 17th Street as an Early Childhood Center to house preschool, transitional kindergarten and kindergarten, in late October 2019.

“It is our opinion that it is more academically age-appropriate for fifth-graders to be in the elementary setting,” Ulrich said. “We feel like they’re not quite the age to be in a full-blown middle school.”

With curriculum changes because of the Iowa CORE standards, the district’s elementary curriculum is aligned for kindergarten through fifth grade.

“So when you have a fifth grade that’s a part of the middle school, it kind of messes with your alignment of the curriculum as they progress through the elementary,” he said.

Moving fifth grade to elementary school would also alleviate “management issues” within the middle school, Ulrich told the school board in September 2019, when he introduced the proposal. “Fort Dodge Middle School, 800 N. 32nd St., is the third-largest middle school in the state because it contains four grades.

Since the proposal was first made last fall, Ulrich said he’s received mostly all positive feedback from parents and community members.

“Parents are excited about this change,” he said. “They recognize that maybe their children would be more successful as a fifth-grader in the elementary setting rather than sending them to the middle school.”

The transition will be complete for the start of the 2021-2022 school year, with the neighborhood elementary schools housing grades one through five. In January, the district will open up the fifth-grade positions, as well as the positions at the Early Childhood Center, for internal applications from current staff to give their preference of where they’d like to teach. Ulrich said he hopes to have those positions staffed by the beginning of February.

Ulrich said that most of the staff agree with the concept, but he understands that for the fifth-grade staff, change is difficult.

“Especially when that change is creating a situation where you’re not going to be in the same building that you’ve been teaching in for many years,” he said. “We recognize that and we’re appreciative that we’ve got great teachers and we’re appreciative of their passion for their kids.”