Brooklyn Center plans sixth-grade program for 2012

The Brooklyn Center School District will move much of its sixth-grade program from Earle Browne Elementary to the high school campus next fall.

The seventh and eighth grades already operate on the high school campus, and the move will create a new "middle school within a school."

Earle Brown has been operating over capacity for the past few years, said district Superintendent Keith Lester. "We turn away potential enrollment," he said.

Now, a grant from the McKnight Foundation focusing on early literacy means the district will be adding early childhood education classes to Earle Brown. Moving three sections of sixth grade to the high school campus will free up space for those classes.

Earle Browne was originally built for 1,000 students, Lester said, but now holds about 1,120 and in the past has had as many as 1,140.

Christine Mann, dean of students at Brooklyn Center High School, said the current seventh- and eighth-graders are in more of a "junior high" model, but that next year, the sixth, seventh and eighth grades will function as more of a middle school.

The move will allow the students to participate in the "middle years" of the International Baccalaureate program and have access to the arts and technology amenities offered by the high school, she said.

All district families with a current fifth-grade student need to apply for the option they prefer by Jan. 15, she said. If too many students select one option -- the new program has capacity for about 90 students -- a lottery will occur. There are currently about 125 fifth-graders in the district.

Safety of the middle-school students has been a concern among parents, Mann said.

"Once they hear of all the things that we really have in place already, they're very excited about it," she said. "It's more a fear of the unknown."

The high school already keeps the seventh- and eighth-grade students contained to the cafeteria, library or gym before school starts, and it uses cameras and a police liaison on-site. The students would not mix with upperclassmen for such daily activities as lunch or gym, she said.

But anxiousness among parents over the move was to be expected, Lester said.