BY
LACEY REES - FOR THE SIERRA STAR
PHOTOS BY LACEY REES
Custodian Sandy Joubert steadies the ladder while custodian/bus
drivers Gail Moore and Sherry Shepard clean the Coarsegold School
library windows in preparation for the new school year.
After
installing a new portable building to be used as a reading lab at
Coarsegold School, Robert Lewis of Roth Crane prepares to load a
counter weight onto a truck.
In principal
Randy Haggard’s office at Coarsegold Elementary School hangs an
old black-and-white photo of a family standing in front of a school.
A caption notes that Coarsegold School opened in 1878 with a handful
of families filling its register to about 20 students.
There’s been a lot of growth since then, with enrollment now hovering
around a “comfortable” 530, notes Haggard, who is excited to explain
the school’s new reading program that will involve all those students.
While designed to meet the needs of struggling readers in all grades,
the new program will also benefit accelerated readers who need the
extra challenge as well as those on grade level. For a half hour
each day, each grade in turn will be divided into three reading
groups based on ability and need. The school’s existing reading
materials will be used. Since the whole class will participate,
below-grade-Ievel readers, especially, won’t be “pulled out of class”
for reading time, therefore missing what the rest of the class is
doing and then having to catch up.
Four instructional aids, now called para-educators, “have been trained
with the same materials as the teachers, so they are highly qualified,”
Haggard said. They will continue to get training throughout the
year. There will be one-on-four assistance for those struggling
the most. Leading the new reading program will be Karen Fruth who
has been teaching at the school.
A double-sized portable has been newly installed on campus to accommodate
the reading lab. Two new teachers will be joining the staff. Kristi
Ferguson will teach a kindergarten-first-grade combination. Amanda
Halmeyer, who did her student teaching at Coarsegold, is a new fifth-grade
teacher. Beverly Hansen, a long-time teacher, retired this year.
Continuing a new entity formed last year, a student senate will
help in decision making at the school. A representative from each
classroom, carrying class suggestions, attends a student senate
meeting quarterly, conducted by a student. Haggard also attends.
In addition, a student representative sits on the school board at
its meetings and reports back to the student body. “I think citizenship
is one of the most important things a student can participate in,”
the principal said.
Physical
additions
Physically, the school is getting a face lift. The school office
has been refurbished. Check out the cougar tracks inbedded in the
ceiling. A new carpet graces the library. New restrooms were installed
in the upper athletic field and those existing on the lower field
were gutted and remodeled.
Through efforts of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, a group
lauded by Haggard as “unique,” the lower field now sports new shades
and a student store, the Cougar Cabana. On the docket is the construction
of a stage to make a truly multi-purpose area of the school’s cafeteria.
Financed through developer fees, the $1,400,000 renovation should
begin by next summer, said Haggard. School begins Monday, Aug. 23.
Back to School night will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 31, beginning
with a barbecue at 5:30 p.m. sponsored by the PTA. The program will
start at 6:30 p.m. in the quad.