Proposed Bon Air reconfiguration is 'using the building space better,' Burrell superintendent says

Bon Air Elementary School can accommodate Burrell School District’s fourth grade students without any additional classrooms when Stewart Elementary closes next year.

And, according to Superintendent Shannon Wagner’s proposal, all six kindergarten classes could be located on the basement floor of Bon Air, as well as a speech classroom, for next school year.

The first floor would have six classrooms each for first and second grades, and an intensive support classroom.

The second floor would have six classrooms each for third and fourth grades, music and art rooms, learning support and sensory classrooms and an autistic support room.

“It’s using the building space better,” Wagner said.

The proposal was unveiled to the Bon Air task force — comprising about 20 parents and teachers — during a meeting Tuesday for their review. They, along with the Huston Middle School task force, will present their recommendations on the reconfigurations during a March school board meeting.

The Burrell school directors in October closed Stewart effective next school year because of declining enrollment, building infrastructure and to focus resources. They also decided to send fourth grade to Bon Air and fifth grade to Charles A. Huston Middle School.

Wagner has said that, with just fourth grade attending Bon Air, the district would only need to add additional cafeteria and kitchen space to the building. No additions would need to be made at Huston to accommodate fifth graders.

If the board chose to move fifth grade at Bon Air the following school year, the district would need to add six additional classrooms to that building.

Currently at Bon Air, three kindergarten classes are in the basement, as well as the cafeteria, kitchen and intensive support classrooms. The first floor has the three other kindergarten classrooms, six first-grade classrooms, the library, computer lab, offices, gymnasium, reading specialist, nurse’s office and a sensory room.

Bon Air’s second floor has six second- and third-grade classrooms, a learning support classroom, art room, personalized learning coaches and two empty rooms.

What’s coming to Bon Air?

Fourth graders attending Bon Air brings six additional classrooms for those students. It also moves six “specialists” — such as physical education and music teachers — to Bon Air.

“Our goal is for those six specialists to no longer have to travel and be dedicated to this building only,” Wagner said.

It adds another behavioral specialist, reading specialist and special education teacher. With a guidance counselor retiring at Stewart at the end of the year, district administrators are pondering what that position will look like at Bon Air.

At Huston, there would be six classrooms for fifth grade, one personalized learning coach, and one special education teacher, Wagner said. Its task force will look at Wagner’s proposed building layout at Huston during a meeting Monday.

Project timelines

At the Feb. 11 school board meeting, Burrell’s architect will present drafts of projects, including heating and ventilation at Burrell High School and Bon Air, and additional kitchen space and six more classrooms at Bon Air. In March, both Huston and Bon Air task forces will present their recommendations on the reconfiguration to the school board.

In April, the board will consider advertising for construction bids, Wagner said.

“Then the board will make the big decision about, do we add space? Do we not add space? All of those things,” Wagner said. “But the common denominator for me is: I want heating and ventilation. I want this place to stand for 30 years.”