More than 30 people attended the Albert Lea school board meeting Monday evening to discuss the options for realigning schools in the district.

Currently in Albert Lea all four elementary schools are at or over capacity. Administrators said at the meeting that some classes were being in hallways and even old locker rooms were being used by staff.

“When we say our buildings are full — they’re full,” Superintendent Mike Funk said.

Currently the board is looking at three options to alleviate the overcrowding problem.

Move all kindergartners to Brookside Education Center.

Move all sixth-graders to Brookside.

Make the high school eighth through 12th grade, Southwest Middle School sixth and seventh grade and all the elementary schools kindergarten through fifth grade.

Because the issue raises concerns with parents in the district, the board held five community meetings. There was a meeting at each elementary school and the high school. Monday evening the board toured Albert Lea High School and Brookside to look at facilities and changes that would have to be made depending on which option is chosen. Director of Facilities Eric Hudspith led the tour and fielded questions from the board members.

The board members heard from district residents at the meeting Monday night and is still planning on doing more research before making a decision. One parent spoke during the open forum about her thoughts on the school realignment.

“I’m here to thank Dr. Funk for coming to the schools and talking about the realignment,” Jenny Edwin said. “We’re hearing rumors, and we’re nervous. We’re all a little disappointed our voices haven’t been heard up until now.”

She said she wanted to make sure the board heard some of her fears and that they make sure to look closely at all possibilities. She stressed that the board would do well to have some parent involvement in the issue.

“I’m very passionate about our school district,” Edwin said. “We will be supportive of what your end decision is, we just wanted you to hear our fears and concerns.”

Currently, tours are being scheduled at schools in southern Minnesota who have implemented one or some of the options the board is considering. They will be posted on the school’s website or interested parties can call the district office to find out when the tours are being scheduled.

“This is a deliberate decision-making process,” Funk said. “We value all input.”

The district held realignment meetings on Sept. 30 and Oct. 7, 11 and 14; however, district officials did not contact this newspaper about them. They were announced on the superintendent’s online blog.

Funk invited parents, board members and community members to attend the tours that are being scheduled and to bring opinions and thoughts to their next workshop, scheduled for Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. At that workshop the board will also look at how much money each option would cost the district, though they stressed the decision will be made about what’s best for students.

“The district has gone through realignment before,” Board Chairman Bill Leland said. “This is an opportunity and we’re framing the discussion around district aims.”

Leland and Funk said they had heard from parents that people were thinking the district had already made a decision and are just going through formalities. Both stressed that this is not the case and the decision has not yet been made.

“We want feedback,” Leland said. “It’s positive and welcome.”

High School Principal Al Root spoke at the meeting about the benefits of possibly having eighth-graders at the high school. He said they’d be able to take languages earlier and more advanced technology courses. He also said that academically eighth graders would benefit by having advanced courses to take.

Funk then brought up some of the concerns he’d been hearing from parents and spoke about each one. He said he’d heard parents say they think the buildings aren’t that full and the district can just wait instead of making a move now and having to rearrange in a few years. Funk then said that elementary schools have classrooms that are being used for a variety of different functions, including computer labs, rooms for special needs children and other programs mandated by the government.

“There’s a legitimate space concern,” Funk said. “It’s difficult to say the least at this time.”

Leland then said that the board makes decisions with long-term goals in mind. Funk said there hasn’t been much fluctuation in the number of students graduating and the number coming into kindergarten. This means the overcrowding problem won’t be fixed by waiting for enrollment to decline. While on the tour of the high school and Brookside, board members asked questions they had heard at the community meetings and were interested in learning more about each option. There are positive and negative aspects to each option, which is why the board wants to hear from parents.

If there were to be a separate kindergarten center in the district, it would work well with all the early childhood development classes that are currently at Brookside. This option would displace students in the Area Learning Center, and they would most likely go to the high school. This could be an issue for the students who are at the ALC because they weren’t succeeding at the high school. There would also need to be modifications made to the existing bathrooms at Brookside.

If the district was to have a separate sixth-grade building there would have to be modifications to the cafeteria. The cooking space and seating arrangements are too small, and what used to be a dishwashing area is now a bathroom. Transportation would also be an issue because buses currently don’t go to Brookside. Staff at the elementary schools have told Funk that they would like to have sixth-graders out of the elementary schools and getting to know students from other elementary schools. This option would also displace students at the ALC to the high school. Either option that uses Brookside for an entire grade would then need an administrator for the building.

If the district were to move sixth-graders to Southwest and eighth-graders to the high school there wouldn’t need to be much of any building modifications. Because parents are concerned about eighth-graders being with older students the board is looking at options to propose. Options include having eighth-graders in their own area of the school and mixing with mostly only ninth-graders. There could also be different schedules so that younger students have different passing times than older students. There would be some issues with the number of students at lunch times, but the district is looking into those problems. Funk said socially sixth- and seventh-graders fit together better, but there is concern about middle school sports programs.

In other action the board:

• Heard from Funk about how schools are demonstrating the new district aims. Teachers have been making goals based on the district goals for ways to help students.
• Designated Hudspith as director of transportation for the district.
• Approved a grant from the Minnesota State High School League that will help students with financial struggles participate in sports.
• Heard from Dennis Dieser, the Pioneering Healthy Communities administrator, and Ellen Kehr, the Statewide Health Improvement Program coordinator, about the possible Front Street bike lane project. Kehr said to the board that she wanted their involvement and to keep them updated because the bike lane could be near Southwest and Sibley Elementary School. The proposal for the bike lane will be on the City Council’s agenda for Nov. 22.