6th Grade Profile

Welcome to the 6th Grade Center!

Sixth graders receive personal attention to help them be successful.

Bond Progress – Reconfiguration

Reconfiguration to smooth the transition from elementary school

Union Public Schools – thanks to overwhelming voter approval in February 23 – pledges to do a better job of bridging the gap between elementary and middle school for our sixth grade students and provide separate campuses for both sixth grade and seventh grade students. Union hopes to create a smaller, more elementary-like environment for sixth graders, and a springboard for seventh graders that positions them for success in the eighth grade. Structural changes are needed to accommodate two widely different experiences.” 

Among the proposed changes as part of the new 5-year bond include: 

• New school configuration, with sixth grade on one side of the building and seventh grade on the other. We anticipate changes to bus and vehicular traffic flow around the school. 
• Smaller clusters of classroom spaces with common learning areas for teams. “We need space where teams of 120 – 150 kids can get together and collaborate with nearby restrooms,” said Federline. The changes will also ease crowding and require less travel by students, while providing additional pathways and reducing congestion. “With the smaller learning environment feel, we are going to change the culture and kids won’t feel so disrupted.” Team spaces will have designated color schemes to make communities feel more self-contained. 
• Smaller and additional bathrooms will be placed closer to classrooms, with sinks and paper towels located outside in the hallways. This provides for improved monitoring. 
• Improved cafeteria serving area with two eating spaces: To make lunch more efficient for 2,200 students, a centralized kitchen will be placed between smaller eating spaces. This will allow 450 kids to spread out and eat lunch at the same time, but it will be quieter and more comfortable. 
• Addition of a gym on the building’s southwest side. This will not only provide seventh graders with a separate gym, but it will be a hardened facility designed to shelter students and staff in the event of inclement weather. 
• The spirit and winter guard programs will have two new practice areas and locker rooms with the addition of this gym. 
• Renovation of the HVAC system, replacing an old geothermal system that no longer works. 
• The media center, along with the beautiful fine arts facility on the building’s west side, will continue to be a shared space utilized by both grades.