Middle School Redesign Task Force

Q: What is the current average class size in middle school?
The average class size varies based on the class and course. For example, PE classes tend to be larger than English classes.  Classes for English Language Learners and Special Education Students tend to be smaller.

Q: How many students open enroll at each site? (i.e. which is their “school of choice”)

• American Canyon Middle received 2 out-of-district open enrollment applications which were accepted. The resident families of ACMS applied and accepted open enrollment seats at 1 HMS, 3 RMS, 2 SMS, and 5 River. 
• Harvest Middle received 25 1st choice open enrollment applications and all were accepted. The resident families of HMS applied and accepted open enrollment seats at 19 RMS, 7 SMS, and 51 River. (20 7th grade applied and accepted for Dual Language Immersion) 
• Redwood Middle received 39 1st choice open enrollment applications and all were accepted. The resident families of RMS applied and accepted open enrollment seats at 20 HMS, 3 SMS, and 85 River. 
• Silverado Middle received 12 1st choice open enrollment applications and all were accepted. The Resident families of SMS applied and accepted open enrollment seats at 4 HMS, 15 RMS, and 42 River. 
• River received 196 1st choice open enrollment applications and 170 were accepted based upon a staffing of a 5 to 34 ratio, one teacher with 5 classes of 34 students.

Q: What is Harvest Middle School’s English Learner and Dual Immersion student population?

At Harvest, there are a total 23 Dual Immersion students that are also English Learner students.

Q: Has the district considered moving 6th grade to all (or at least some) of the elementary schools and have middle schools just be 7th & 8th grade?  
The district is not currently considering the option of moving 6th grade to the elementary schools, but may do so in the future if feasibility and interest studies warrant it.

Q: Who determines how school boundaries are drawn?
The board of trustees drives the process for drawing boundaries and maps for residency. 

Q: What is the land value/resale value of Harvest, Redwood and Silverado MS?
There are many things that go into the value of a school site. Neighborhood, size and future land use are all factors. Future land use or entitlement can sometimes be changed with the approval of the City that the land is located. Since the future land use has not been determined, it is very difficult to determine the market value of the property. 

Q: What are annual operational costs for NVUSD middle schools?
The cost of operating Silverado, Redwood, and Harvest is about $2,000,000 each. 

Q: What is the maximum capacity of River School? What is the plan to increase enrollment?
Based on the staffing number used, 553 represents a class size average of 26.33.  630 represents a class size overage of 30:1, which is probably the more realistic number. Any potential growth at River would be contingent upon open enrollment demand and how the outcomes of the Middle School Redesign process impact future enrollment plans. There is currently no “formal” plan to grow River.

Q: Are there students who want to attend Harvest but enrollment has been cut off due to not having enough teachers.
100% of families that requested Harvest for 2021-22 were accepted.   

Q: What are the residential areas that make up the enrollment population of River? 
The approximate breakdown of River Enrollment based on residential boundary is as follows:

• Silverado 27%
• Redwood 36%
• Harvest 33%
• American Canyon 3.5%
• Out of District .5%

Q: Is there still an ELA class available for parents and guardians to provide  language assistance for parents and guardians of english learners?
Several school sites offer English classes on site for parents provided by NVUSD’s Adult Education.

Q: Silverado has a much higher number of socioeconomically disadvantaged and unduplicated students. What funding or programs are being received for these students at this site and at the other schools?
Unduplicated students generate additional federal (Title I) and state (supplemental) funding. (NOTE: unduplicated count refers to the number of students who are identified as Foster/Homeless Youth, English Learners or qualifying for Free/Reduced lunch. If they are identified as more than one, we still only count them once, hence "unduplicated"). 

Q: What are the specific programs at River? How does River differ from other Middle Schools?
You can find the differences in elective programming on slides 31-32 from the February 16 meeting.  River had operated as a Charter School until the 2019-2020 School Year.  The goal of the charter was to develop self-actualized students through a schoolwide focus on respect, responsibility, resourcefulness and responsiveness, which manifests in a variety of programs and routines on the campus.  The school is all Open Enrollment, meaning there is not a boundary and all students must use the open enrollment application.  River is the smallest middle school with a capacity of just over 600 students.

Q: How can we make co-curricular course offerings like art and music more equitable? 
Our ultimate goal is to build on our strengths and create equity across sites. Teachers require different credentials in order to teach different arts courses.  Some schools have found there has been a strong interest from students in one type of arts or another, and have, over the years, ended up with a larger choir program at one school, and a larger band program at another school.  When we transitioned to a 6 period day from a 7 period day, most of the middle schools phased out world language in favor of Visual and Performing Arts Electives.

Q: What plans does the district have to provide additional resources to the final middle schools for music, language, art, etc.? 
We believe that consolidation will provide the benefit of allocating resources across fewer schools, leading to more robust offerings at each school.  It is important to make sure the programs have strong alignment to the programs at our High Schools as well.

Q: What are the courses/programs that support ALPS students who are transitioning from Elementary to Middle School?
ALPS students are encouraged to enroll in Accelerated coursework at the middle school level. That said, any student who exhibits the need for extra challenge may benefit from a Student Success Team (SST) meeting. The SST is an intervention process that brings together parents/guardians, teachers, administrators, and students (if appropriate) to identify strengths and needs and discuss recommendations and strategies to support and challenge students in class.

Q: What is the current demand for DLI programs? Does it exceed current supply?
Currently there is a wait list of 7 Kindergarteners split between PV and NVLA.

Q: How does Dual Learning Immersion (DLI) compare to other types of K-12 programming in terms of its ability to successfully desegregate schools in NVUSD? 
DLI schools are schools of choice, meaning families choose to attend outside of their school boundaries. The DLI model creates and promotes bicultural environments based on the 50/50 ideal ratio of native English/Spanish speaking students. Other magnet school programs (Artful Learning, IB, etc.) also encourage students to attend outside of their resident boundaries.

Q: How many students at Harvest Middle School are considered DLI students?
 208 students.