Sumner Elementary will reassign rooms to make more classroom space

Sumner Elementary School is shaking things up to accommodate for more students next school year.

The school will add three new sections — a section of first grade, third grade and fourth grade. Sumner Principal Sheila Berger said enrollment at the school is up in general, not necessarily because parents are moving students from one elementary school to Sumner.

“We’re projected to go up about 35 to 40 students next year,” she said.

Administration isn’t adding on as of now, simply reassigning rooms.

“We’ll just be reconfiguring them to make them into classrooms instead of offices, [etc.],” she said.

Sumner currently has one learning suite for third grade, where all the students are in one big room. They plan to add a suite for the fourth grade as well. Berger explained there are still the same number of teachers for the class as there would be if it was split up.

“But it allows you to do small groups throughout the day that meets your needs,” she said.

The learning suite started in October 2014, and Berger said it has been going well. She likes that it allows staff easier collaboration throughout the school day. At this point, the learning suites will only be for third- and fourth-grade classes, but with time they will determine if it would be a good fit for all grades.

Sumner administration visited a school in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, which had a learning suite, before they decided to test it out in Austin.

“It’s gaining some ground,” Berger said. “I have had a couple schools visit us from our area that are looking into it as well.”

Administrators hope to look at the school’s auditorium as a potential suite location in a year, but they are still discussing what that change would look like.