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Making the move

The groundwork is being laid for the transition of the former RSS building into a largely primary school structure.
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The move is on to the yet unnamed kindergarten-to-Grade-9 school in Rossland.

The groundwork is being laid for the transition of the former Rossland Secondary School (RSS) building—that currently houses grades six to 12—into a largely primary school structure.

In September children in kindergarten and up to Grade 5 at MacLean Elementary School will begin taking their classes at the former high school, along with grades six to nine already at the school.

Around 420 students will be on site at the school—to be named by the school district board in fall—but the school’s principal, Karen Lavender, said the process is already underway.

There are many facets for transitioning students in to RSS and out to Crowe (in Trail),” she said. “We are currently working on plans for meetings, orientations and tours.”

There are also renovations planned for RSS, she aded, and the planning for this is also underway.

Grades 6 and 7 will continue to run as a middle years program at the new school and there will be a grade 6-9 program developed, said Lavender.

All courses at grades K-9 will run as linear courses except exploration courses,” she said.

Grades 6, 7, 8 and 9 will take all electives as exploratories. All students will take all courses.

What we are offering is contingent on staffing areas of expertise, but we anticipate running what we currently do,” Lavender said in a newsletter that went out to parents recently.

Sports teams (field hockey) will continue as in the past as long as the school can find coaches, she noted.

There will be changes made to the configuration of the grounds. For kindergarten to Grade 5 students, Fourth Avenue will be closed by the City and gated. The current teacher parking lot will become play space, while teacher parking will be on Jubilee Street and along Queen Street by the gymnasium.

The school administration will be working with the maintenance depertament, Lavender pointed out, to have some play items in the new play space (hoops on the outside of the gym wall, four square lines painted).

Parent parking and visitor parking will be along Jubilee Street. Traffic flow for student drop off and pick up will be on Fourth Avenue and Queen Street, not Jubilee Street.

The school’s staffing is not complete yet, said Lavender, and until the school district’s budget has passed this cannot be fully determined. Carolyn Catalano has been named as vice principal.

There are still many plans underway, there is a lot of work to do, and as questions are answered and decisions are made, we will inform the parents,” said Lavender.

editor@rosslandnews.com

 

K-9 considerations:

Lunches will be staggered for K-5 and grades 6-9.

Start and end times will be the same for all students (TBA).

Code of Conduct:

Both MacLean and RSS have different codes of conducts and ways to operate.

In an effort to bring the culture of both schools together rather than assimilate one group in to the other, the school will create committees in the fall to develop a new code of conduct for the new school.

In the meantime, the school year will staert with the K-5's operating under the MacLean code of conduct and grade 6-9 students operating under the RSS code of conduct.

School Name:

The school will go through a renaming process as determined by school board policy. This will likely be initiated in the fall as it needs the new School Planning council committee.

The board shall appoint a committee to act as a liaison between the community and the board.

The committee's composition will be determined by the board and will include new school planning committees and representatives from Rossland.

The committee shall present a shortlist of potential names, in order of preference, to the board.

Source: newsletter to Rossland parents