Construction on Muriel Williams Battle High School, Columbia Public Schools’ third comprehensive high school, continues smoothly despite its name as the spring 2013 completion date draws closer.
“Due to great weather, construction has gone well and on time and on budget,” Columbia Board of Education President Tom Rose said. “The preparation of the main roadway and working with county on development and approvals has been an elaborate and exhaustive task at times, but progress is being made.”
Devising a plan for redistricting was another arduous task involved with the construction of Battle High School, Rose said. More than 100 different redistricting proposals were submitted for consideration, and a committee of 25 individuals was charged with presenting three final plans to the public last November.
Keeping in mind both the public’s opinion and advice from a firm which specializes in predicting future student population locations through geographic information science technology, the redistricting committee presented a final proposal to the Board of Education at the beginning of the academic year.
“We had many forums to gain input on the front end of the process,” said Christine King, Columbia Board of Education Vice President. “And toward the end, the committee followed their timeline set out at the beginning.”
Columbia Public Schools currently has three middle schools, which house grades six and seven, and three junior high schools, which house grades eight and nine. The finalized redistricting plan focuses on reconfiguring all middle and junior high schools to become intermediate schools, housing students in grades six through eight.
“It was decided that changing back to a sixth through eighth grade intermediate and a ninth through 12th grade high school configuration would better serve student needs by decreasing grade transitions,” Rose said. “It also allows for more efficient use of existing facilities by allowing us to greatly reduce the number of temporary classrooms in use.”
The decrease in the number of transitions also presents an opportunity for more parental involvement in school, especially for grades six through eight.
“With the current configuration it’s difficult for parents to get involved because half of the school’s population turns over each year,” said Wanda Brown, Columbia Public Schools assistant superintendent for secondary education. “We hope that the additional year of the intermediate schools will increase the amount of parental involvement.”
Students who attend Smithton Middle School and West Junior High School in Spring Semester 2013 will attend Hickman High School, students who attend Lange Middle School and Oakland Junior High School in Spring Semester 2013 will attend Battle High School and students who attend Gentry Middle School and Jeff Junior High School in Spring Semester 2013 will attend Rock Bridge High School.
“All three high schools will have similar scheduling, and all will have better access to (the) career center and on-site career center classes, which was a concern with our high school students in the past who could not work in career center classes if they had to travel to the center,” King said.
Both Rose and Brown estimate the construction on Battle High School is 65 to 70 percent complete.
“I’m happy to say that there have been no complications with the construction of Battle High,” Brown said.