YG–Kelly Transition Team Updates

The Kelly middle school and Yujin Gakuen transition teams, consisting of school administration, teachers, classified staff, parents and students, have completed a series of meetings to work through the upcoming move of the Yujin Gakuen program to the Kelly middle school building. Those teams have resolved many of the issues and the two staff teams are working together to ensure the students have a smooth return to school.

The teams will begin work on the long-range plan to find the right home for the two programs after the new North high school building is complete. Those meetings will reconvene as soon as possible in the coming school year. The school and district leadership will send out communications to the community with more details as we work through the challenges of re-opening the schools together.

The Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen transition leadership teams met on February 20 to review and provide feedback on a proposed school schedule and updated space allocation plan, which continues to have a classroom assignment for every teacher as well as additional spaces identified for other needs and purposes. The teams also processed input received from the all-staff joint meeting the preceding week. The leadership team will meet with impacted staff to discuss concerns and look for concrete solutions. The next meeting of the joint transition teams is currently scheduled for March 19.

The Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen staff met in an all-staff meeting on February 12 relating to the temporary co-location of the two programs in the Kelly Middle School building. The combined school staff discussed operational issues, space allocation, the long-term plan, facility improvements and other day-to-day concerns. Several Kelly staff spoke of the desire for more space. The combined school teams also met in small groups to capture numerous questions, concerns and suggestions for the transition leadership teams. The next joint meeting of the transition leadership teams is scheduled for February 20.

 The Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen transition teams, consisting of school administration, teachers, classified staff, parents and students, continued a series of meetings to resolve issues relating to the temporary co-location of the two programs in the Kelly Middle School building. In the meeting held on January 23, several key issues were resolved:

• School start times: YG will continue its current start time, and will not change to the earlier elementary school start time. Yujin Gakuen starts at 8:30 a.m. Kelly Middle School starts at 9:00 a.m. The teams concluded that the current schedule difference would alleviate traffic and overlapping student use, and that this solution would work best for families.
• Supervision and restrooms: Concerns were voiced about the hallways and restroom where elementary and middle school students could be sharing space. The Kelly MS leadership team committed to providing direct supervision over those spaces when elementary and middle school students were both present. Elementary and middle school students will be directed to separate restrooms when Kelly students are in the cafeteria for lunch. This was deemed a good solution by the transition team.
• Kelly weight room spaces: The exercise equipment now in the Kelly weight room will be moved across the hall to the inner gym. The health teaching staff will move into an office adjacent to that gym. This will increase student access to the equipment as it will be supervised more. Additionally, the inner gym will be adapted to become a health and wellness classroom, enhancing student access to health and movement.

The full staffs of both schools are scheduled to meet in February, April and June. These meetings will give the staff a chance to get to know one another, work through issues, and become a cohesive unit when the students arrive next September.

The Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen transition teams, consisting of school administration, teachers, classified staff, parents and students, continued a series of meetings to resolve issues relating to the temporary co-location of the two programs in the Kelly Middle School building.

In the meeting held on January 14, the combined school teams met to discuss operational issues, such as school start times, in-school supervision and passing times, and other day to day concerns. The team also reviewed the current space plans in more depth to ensure that each program has enough space to support their activities, and that the renovations proposed were a good operational fit.

In general, the teams are making good headway and are actively looking for ways to enhance the student experience for both schools. The next meeting for the transition teams is scheduled for January 23.

 The Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen transition teams, consisting of school administration, teachers, classified staff, parents and students, convened the first of an ongoing series of meetings to coordinate detailed plans for the move and integration of the YG elementary school and staff into the Kelly building. The teams will collaborate with 4J district leadership and a facilitator to answer parent concerns and teacher/staff questions, and resolve both the short- and long-term planning needs for the co-location of the YG program in the Kelly Middle School building.

An updated building plan was reviewed in the meeting, and the teaching staff of both schools resolved to work with the principals to identify specific spaces in the building plan for all teachers and programs and determine if classroom space needs were met. District staff committed to providing answers to common questions and indicated the district is open to considering creating more space at a school if there is a clear demonstration of need.

The teams will re-convene after the winter break to review the classroom assignment plans and answers to common questions, and begin discussing the next steps for school transition planning.