I’d like to address some of the anxiety regarding the proposed K-6 grade school reconfiguration in Centralia. Older Centralia residents will recall that Centralia elementary schools were once first through eighth grade with no kindergarten or middle school until the junior high was built in the mid 1950s.
Elementary schools then became first- through sixth-grade buildings with all kindergarteners housed at the Logan School after 1973. After the levy failure in 1973, grade centers were formed with the exception of Edison School, which remained 1-6.
I was principal at Edison from 1974 to 1980 and also at the Logan Kindergarten Center when I transferred to Oakview School (4-6) for seven years, and later, another 11 years as principal at Washington School (4-6).
I found no difference in the quality of education available in either configuration. There were differences in the population attending those schools but had nothing to do with whether a school was K-6 or 4-6.
My personal school experience varies from a one-room schoolhouse in Nebraska to a K-6 school, to junior high, high school and college. I found I was able to learn in each of those schools.
I’ve taught elementary school through high school, and my teaching certificate reads that I was qualified to teach “K-12.” My employers expected that I was “capable and willing” to do a credible job regardless of my grade level assignment.
I later spent 13 years teaching at Centralia College, and never once did I detect a relationship between a student’s performance and the configuration of his/her elementary school.
My Centralia School District experience was 25 years as a principal in both a 1-6 elementary school and two 4-6 elementary schools, occasionally filling in as a K-3 principal, and that experience convinces me that there was no difference in the student performance or quality of learning in either, based on the configuration of his/her elementary school.
There are advantages and disadvantages to either configuration, but we shouldn’t be needlessly afraid of change. As reflected above, Centralia schools have a history of significant change and we’ve successfully evolved to what we have today.
Jerry Eacker
Centralia
