District looks at adding 6-8 grades to elementary schools

By Tom St. Myer

Escambia County Public Schools is putting measures in place to transition two of its elementary Schools to K-6s for the 2024-25 school year.

Interim Supt. Keith Leonard confirmed that Cordova Park Elementary and West Pensacola Elementary will add a sixth grade in the fall with the potential to be K-8s within three years.

“For a number of months, we’ve been working on what we can do to recruit, retain and provide stability,” Leonard said. “We’ve been researching at school sites, particularly elementaries that would have a positive educational impact. There are several variables.”

Leonard said the school district identified six to eight sites that would be beneficial to expand before deciding on Cordova Park and West Pensacola as the first entries.

The school district plans to hold meetings with parents at the two schools within the next two weeks to discuss options that include staying at the elementary, applying for admission into the magnet school Brown Barge or enroll in one of the middle school career academies.

Whether Cordova Park and West Pensacola, or other schools identified as possibilities, expand to K-8s depends on how their enrollments shake out through the transition.

“We see a few sites that do have the opportunity to get to K-8,” Leonard said. “The timeframe is dependent on what we have in other zones. Some middle schools will be able to take on more capacity because parents will choose to go to academies.”

School grades have yet to be released for 2022-23, but only two of the nine middle schools earned better than a C grade during the 2021-22 school year. Cordova Park consistently earns As each year and West Pensacola has earned a C in five of the past six school years.

Mayor D.C. Reeves fielded a question at his Tuesday press conference about the possibility of elementary schools expanding to K-8 models.

“We’ve got to take bold steps to get out of the 50s,” he said. “If there’s a way for us to do it, then I support it. I mean, I think we’ve got to try. I would never criticize trying anything at this point because not trying anything…. As I said, I happily would support that, and I would rely on their expertise to say whether it’s sixth grade at Cordova Park or whatever.”