Mid-Prairie School Board, Administration, and community members look at preschool classroom at Mid-Prairie East Elementary. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The Mid-Prairie school board went on a tour of all the learning centers in the district August 28.

Administrators showed the changes that have been implemented since the elementary schools became grade alike and the fifth grade was moved to the middle school. Middle School Principal Marc Pennington described the fifth grade wing, “It’s interesting because you get the elementary teachers, the fifth grade teachers, in the middle school and you see what they do to the rooms. It’s been a nice rub off, traditional middle school to fifth grade and vice versa. It certainly is their wing, they do a fantastic job and work great together.”

Several classrooms in the West Elementary and East Elementary Schools were shifted around to have one or two grades together in each wing. Board member Gabrielle Frederick complimented the administration on the community building activities that didn’t just encourage one class to get to know each other, but the grades as a whole. Mid-Prairie West Elementary Principal Bill Poock says, “It’s just so different, I don’t know. I said to Coralie (Miller, Secretary) today, I said, ‘I don’t know if this is the honeymoon period or what, but the kids, they seem so happy.’”

Mid-Prairie West Elementary houses preschool, kindergarten, third and fourth grades; Mid-Prairie East Elementary houses preschool, kindergarten, first and second grades. The Washington Township building now houses the home school assistance program.