U-46 eyes high school courses for middle schools

Starting next year, Elgin Area School District U-46 middle school students could have high school come to them.

The school board Monday voted to ask the Illinois State Board of Education to modify the Illinois School Code to allow for high school courses to be taught at the district's eight middle schools.

Currently, middle school students can enroll in honors geometry classes at U-46 high schools.

To qualify for the course, students must complete both pre-algebra and algebra.

Bused from their home schools to Bartlett, Elgin, Larkin, Streamwood and South Elgin high schools, students take part in 7:40 a.m. classes, returning before their middle school day begins at 9 a.m.

Middle school principals say there would be several advantages to the change.

By allowing high school courses, such as honors geometry, to be taught at the middle schools, advanced students could start their day at the same time as their peers.

"Right now, it's a very long day for them," Kenyon Woods Middle School Principal Sue Welu said.

At South Elgin middle school, an extra snack time has been built into the day to give students taking honors geometry a breather, Welu said.

Because many middle school activities take place before school, students taking high school geometry often find their extracurricular choices diminished.

Athletic teams and student councils regularly meet in the mornings, Kimball Middle School Principal Al Tamburrino said.

Middle schoolers may also be more comfortable taking high school classes on their own campus, as opposed to a high-school environment, Tamburrino said.

"The advantages of having it on site make it 'our kids, our school, our class,'" Tamburrino said.

For the 2008-09 school year, 197 U-46 middle school students are enrolled in high school geometry. District officials attribute the numbers to the success of the Everyday Math curriculum put in place in 2002.

If approved by the State Board of Education, middle schools would begin featuring on-site advanced courses in August.