Comment
Rate
Attendance area is approved for new elementary
 |
| Jim Powell of Yellowstone Acoustics works on installing the ceiling grid at Prairie Wind Elementary on Tuesday. - News-Record photo by Alton Strupp |
By MICHAEL JOHNSON, News-Record Writer mjohnson@gillettenewsrecord.net
Prairie Wind Elementary has a new attendance area.It will include all of the Stocktrail attendance area and the subdivisions in the Westover Hills area that were formerly part of the Pronghorn Elementary attendance area, school trustees decided Tuesday.
All students in the attendance area will be expected to attend school at Prairie Wind, but there are a few exceptions that should help to keep transitions to a minimum, school officials said.
- Students now in fourth or fifth grade at Pronghorn could remain there through the completion of sixth grade at the request of a parent or guardian.
- If Prairie Wind should reach grade level capacity, students may be clustered to another elementary school.
- A parent or guardian of Prairie Wind students can submit an attendance area change request for their child to attend another school.
The next step is to notify those fourth- and fifth-grade students of the opportunity and find out how many plan to stay at Pronghorn and how many plan to attend Prairie Wind.
School trustees also worried about keeping families together during the move. Associate superintendent for instruction Larry Heslep said the chances of siblings of the fourth- and fifth-grade students staying at Pronghorn is very low.
“If a parent of a fourth- or fifth-grade student wanted to keep their child at Pronghorn, and they had siblings, the likelihood of the siblings being able to attend there is not good,” Heslep said. “Just want to make sure that is clear.”
Trustees approved the new attendance area, but the idea of taking another look at the district boundaries was not far away. “We realize we might have to redistrict next year,” chairman David Fall said.
It would be wise to wait and see if another elementary school is built next year before going in to change more boundaries, he said.
School nearly complete
Prairie Wind Elementary is almost ready for children and should be complete in March on time and on budget, according to project superintendent Matt Wuitschick of Van Ewing Construction.
All of the drywall is up and the roof is weather tight. The big push now is to finish as much work as possible to make way for the air-handling units that are set to begin operating in about three weeks. There are three rooms of air-handler units in the school that bring adjustable temperatures and fresh air into each room.
It’s been a smooth project, said construction manager Randy Faust. If workers have any questions, all they have to do is look at the full scale model on the other side of town — Hillcrest Elementary School.
The schools are nearly identical except Prairie Wind’s $20.6 million price tag is slightly more than the $18.6 paid for Hillcrest. Another major difference between the two schools is that Hillcrest has rooms designed for a special education program, Prairie Wind does not. It has room for three delayed-development kindergarten programs.
Other minor differences include changes that were made after Hillcrest became operational. Tile will be used in front of the children’s cubbies instead of carpet. Tile is easier to clean when students track in mud and snow. There also is an extra hook here and there for an extra coat, Wuitschick said.
“It won’t be long and there won’t be any difference,” Wuitschick said.
After the building is complete, more work will resume on the grounds in the spring, including finishing work on the pavement, seeding the lawn and assembling the playground.
“They’ll be bringing in a few truckloads of wood chips,” Faust said. “Enough to feed a herd of beavers.”
 |
 |
|
| City has some new ideas for recycling | Man on trial says accuser is a compulsive liar |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of gillettenewsrecord.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
REGISTRATION IS FREE.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
