Third-graders could stay
at Atchison
Students were moved to school in temporary reconfiguration plan
BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer

It could be a case of "where there is room they will stay" when it comes to third-graders in the school district.

When the district reconfigured a couple of years ago to alleviate crowding at the Tinton Falls Middle School, Tinton Avenue, third-graders, who were previously attending school at Swimming River School, Hance Avenue, were temporarily moved to the Mahala F. Atchison School, which originally housed students in kindergarten-second grade.

The sixth-graders originally at the middle school with seventh- and eighth-graders moved over to Swimming River. Now that a $6 million referendum project is in progress and slated for completion come September 2004, the Board of Education is mulling over the notion of keeping third-graders where they are.

Discussions on the subject started in December and are expected to continue until a final decision is agreed upon. A primary factor in the decision-making process, said Business Administrator/Board Secretary Tamar Gens, is a more effective instruction environment at Mahala.

"One of the discussions, throughout the referendum updates and preparations to move students back to their original schools once the work is done, was the possibility of leaving the third grade at Atchison," Gens said. "No decision has been made and the matter is merely being discussed, but the feeling so far seems to be that there is more room there and keeping the third-graders there will eliminate the need for trailers at Swimming River."

If the third-graders are moved back to Swimming River, the four trailers that are there now to accommodate the present overload of students will have to stay put, Gens noted. Trailers have proven to be costly to the district, which is why — before the 2001 $6 million referendum was approved — in 2000 the board ultimately opted to reconfigure instead of purchase and use trailers to accommodate overcrowding at the middle school.

"So far, a lot of educational benefits have been associated with leaving the third grade at Atchison," Gens said. "The small instruction groups could stay intact in classrooms at Atchison, for instance, instead of being in trailers."

The board will continue the discussions on the subject over next month or two and then vote on the matter.