Even though school was out for the summer, on May 31, the fourth grade classrooms in Ellsworth Elementary School took a field trip. The three classrooms were packed up and moved to Kanopolis.

“We had lots of help, maintenance and kids from the high school move a couple classrooms,” said Kristy Rodriguez, principal of Kanopolis Middle School.

When the 2022-23 school year kicks off, all students in fourth grade will attend classes in the KMS building.

Rodriguez said KMS had one classroom that was utilized for small-group work.

“We rearranged our classes. With technology and library being more of a media center, we were able to move our technology classroom into the media area in the library,” she said. “That freed up a classroom.”

The science lab will be utilized all day for fifth and sixth grades, freeing up an additional classroom. This allows all three fourth grade classrooms to be housed in the KMS building.

The students will have a homeroom teacher, where Rodriguez said they will spend the majority of the day. The students will rotate between classrooms for Social Studies/Science, Math and ELA (English Language Arts).

“It’s not quite a middle school schedule, but it’s not a primary education schedule either,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a stepping stone.”

About 55 students will relocate to KMS for the 2022-23 school year.

Rodriguez noted there is still additional space in the school.

“The upstairs is not ADA compliant, and there is no heating and air up there,” she said. “In a perfect world we could utilize the upstairs, but it’s not feasible at this time.”