Albert Lea School District administrators recommended Tuesday night that elementary schools contain kindergarten through fifth grade, that the middle school contain sixth and seventh grade and that the high school contrain eighth grade through 12th grade.

The recommendation came Tuesday at a school board workshop.

More than 30 people were present to discuss realignment options the board has been studying. Parents, teachers and administrators are concerned about which realignment option is best for alleviating the overcrowding in Albert Lea’s elementary schools.

Many of the people at the meeting had attended site visits throughout southern Minnesota, looking at districts with similar setups as what the board was considering.

“I really appreciate the amount of work that went into this,” board chairman Bill Leland said. “This will make the decision a lot easier.”

The administration also asked the board to make a speedy decision because they’d like to start working on the changes they’ll have to make for whatever realignment option is chosen. The board will likely decide at the next board meeting — Monday.

Before the administrators made their final recommendation they reviewed each site visit and the positive and potentially negative aspects of each for the board. Parents, teachers, administrators and board members were invited to the visits, and each visit had at least five people attend. The four site visits that were presented on are as follows.

Woodson Kindergarten Center in Austin

One of the realignment options for Albert Lea’s district is to move all kindergartners to Brookside Education Center. The site they visited in Austin was similar. Some of the things visitors liked about the center was that the staff were all focused on kindergartners and classes could be flexible. Concerns included lack of media center, computer lab and art, music and physical education teachers. Administrators were also worried about having kindergartners transfer to a new school after one year.

Willow Creek Intermediate School in Owatonna

Another realignment option for Albert Lea’s district is to have all sixth-graders move to Brookside. The site visited in Owatonna would be similar to that realignment option. Visitors liked that students weren’t able to be influenced negatively by older students, though they were worried about students not getting positive influence from older students that they would at a middle school with two grades. Visitors also liked that teachers can share responsibilities and schoolwide events were more age-appropriate for the sixth-graders.

Concerns that were voiced to the board include that the site in Owatonna was not excelling in annual yearly progress scores. They also didn’t like that the school was a sort of island and didn’t line up with curriculum in the next year as well as it would at a middle school with two grades. Another problem was keeping parents involved in parent organizations, and the costs to upgrade Brookside with a sufficient library. There are also better science labs at Southwest Middle School, and a few teachers in the audience said they’d rather have sixth-graders there than at Brookside.

Sibley Elementary School Principal Ross Williams spoke up to say he thinks his sixth-graders are ready to get out of elementary school.

“Sixth-graders are ready for a change,” Williams said. “They’re ready for something different, socially especially.”

Red Wing High School

The third realignment option the board is considering is an eighth-grade through senior high school, much like the one in Red Wing. Visitors liked that there are more elective and upper-level classes available to eighth-grade students and it would reduce the amount of teachers who have to travel from Southwest to the high school. Red Wing currently separates younger and older students with separate locker bays, lunch times and social events, like dances.

Administration at Red Wing told the visitors they’d like to mix the students more, because eighth-graders can often learn better behavior from upperclassmen. Superintendent Mike Funk said he asked specifically about whether there was an increase in violence or bullying with younger students at the high school, and Red Wing administrators said they hadn’t seen any problems like that. Some concerns are that there may have to be some separate activities for eighth-graders, like an eighth-grade only theater production.

Mankato East High School/Junior High

This site visit wasn’t exactly like any of the realignment options, but administrators thought the public, parents and the board would like to see another option. Mankato East is unique in that it’s a seventh-through 12th-grade school, but it houses seventh- and eighth-grade in a junior high in the same school and separates those students from the ninth-grade through seniors in the same building.

There are basically two separate schools in the same building, each with its own administration. Visitors liked that the school worked to welcome younger students and that junior high students had a daily advisory period where they could connect with an adult during their time in junior high. There were concerns when visitors found out that scheduling elective classrooms, libraries and computer lab time can be difficult.

After the presentation on the site visits Funk thanked the parents, teachers and administrators who came to the site visits. He said the visits will help to give the board a more complete look at the options before a decision is made. He said that he believed the board would make the best decision and the district will make that decision work.

“We need to do something,” Funk said. “We’re looking at more kids next year so this has to happen.”

He then told a story he had recently heard about the art teacher at Sibley who was teaching in the cafeteria and being distracted by the music class, who were practicing in the teacher’s lounge.

“We’re recommending a decision sooner than later,” Funk said.

He then showed the board ratings of each of the three realignment options. The ratings were each based on one of the district’s three aims. After putting the three scores together, the kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary, sixth- through seventh-grade middle school and eighth-grade through senior high school scored the highest. Funk said he would like to welcome more feedback, questions or comments before the board meeting on Monday.

In other action the school board:

Appointed Jeshua Erickson to the board early for the seat vacated by Bill Villarreal. He will finish the two years left in the term of that seat. Erickson Tuesday took the school board oath. Erickson was elected to the seat in a special election on Nov. 2, but the board decided to have him join immediately instead of waiting until January.

Certified election results from the general election on Nov. 2. Sally Ehrhardt, Jill Marin and Mark Ciota will each start a four-year term on Jan. 1.

Discussed an advertising contract at Albert Lea High School. The contract the school currently has had for three years is finished, and the company the school has worked with has asked to start a new contract for six years. The ads are on a scrolling sign in the high school’s gym. The contract is expected to bring the school $5,000 if approved.