The District 241 School Board finalized decisions Monday to add more electives, more teaching staff and all-day, every-day kindergarten (ADEDK), among other things, to the district. Teachers and administrators say these changes may prove to turn out more liberally educated students.

&uot;Obviously what we’re about here is student achievement,&uot; Superintendent Dave Prescott said. &uot;Reducing class sizes puts fewer kids in more classes and really helps to develop further better student-teacher relationships.&uot;

The most obvious changes for students at the high school level will be more electives, smaller class sizes in the core courses, and fewer mandated study halls for lower classmen.

&uot;In the past we haven’t really had much of a selection of electives for the ninth- and tenth-graders,&uot; Prescott said. &uot;Now they will be able to have a full load without a study hall, and they’ll be able to take a course they’re interested in instead.&uot;

The changes in the high school will include adding more core classes and more electives in family and consumer sciences and agricultural science.

Wayne Busch, an agricultural science teacher at the high school, expects that the addition of a ninth-grade elective in agri science will give students an opportunity to explore the field in more general terms.

&uot;They can take a course in ninth grade and they’ll be a lot more likely to follow through with (agriculture) classes through high school,&uot; he said. It would also give students from urban areas, or those who might not be interested in taking many courses in agriculture, a chance to get a general idea for the subject, he added.

Busch said there are areas in his department students want to explore but courses are not yet offered. He hopes the programs can be further expanded in the future.

The high school will have 50 more students in grades 9-12 for the 2003-04 year than they have in the 2002-03 year, according to Prescott, which means these changes are timely.

Conversely, Southwest Middle School will have 60-70 fewer students next school year than this year.

Even with the loss, the district has decided to keep on the same number of teachers at the school for ’03-’04.

&uot;This will give students more options,&uot; Prescott said. &uot;They will have smaller class sizes and enrollment will drop to the 26-to-28 (student per class) level,&uot; he said.

The most discussed issue for the district has been the addition of the new kindergarten program.

&uot;This is the golden crown of our changes,&uot; Prescott said about ADEDK.

The district will be starting the program in the fall in every elementary school. It will require hiring five to six teachers.

Anne Bonnerup, a kindergarten teacher at Sibley Elementary school, said she looks forward to starting the program.

&uot;I think it is a real beneficial move for the district,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s been a direction we’ve wanted to go for a long time.&uot;

Bonnerup said the staff had talked about a program like it for six years, but the funding was never solid enough to begin one. Now that the footing is set, she says the district should see a difference.

&uot;This will give us more opportunity to individualize instruction,&uot; she said.

Bonnerup said that with the current half-day programk, teachers are forced to &uot;cram&uot; their lessons in instead of taking the time to make sure children fully understand.

While this will help the students who need more help with learning, it will also provide another advantage, she says. The children who are reading when they come in will get more attention.

&uot;It will give us more of an opportunity to challenge those children,&uot; she said.

The programs and courses added should give the district’s students many opportunities and advantages other districts might not be able to provide.

The ADEDK program will be the only one in the Big Nine conference, according to Prescott. He says this should get the students up to speed faster and more advanced in their reading and math skills as they move through the school system after the program.

But elsewhere, Prescott says the district will benefit.

Students will be able to take more focused course-work at the high school. Further, students at the junior high school will be able to have more individualized courses.

&uot;These changes should be great for students,&uot; Prescott said. &uot;We are really looking to meet students needs. We want to make sure that what we have will give them a highest quality education we can.&uot;