Reader comments
Salt Lake school to become Utah's first to offer K-8

If I had a child in school now, I'd want them to go to this school. Junior high is one of the hardest times in school and it sounds like this concept would be much more suitable and help students learn more. I really like the idea of them having one main teacher with breakouts for different subjects.

Teachers of 7th graders need to be highly qualified in the subjects they teach. They should not be the "jack of all trades" like elementary teachers. Elementary teachers are super heroes in my book, but even super heroes have limits.

They certainly aren't "reinventing the wheel". Strange that the article doesn't mention several charter schools in the state that are like this.

I grew up in CA and my elementary school had K-8 in the same school. We had other feeder schools that went K-6 and then for 7th and 8th grade came to ours. It worked for me. We had a 7 period day and went to different teachers for all of our subjects.
It might be easier to coordinate busing schedules with the K-8 configuration. Just a thought.

I see the comments as being quite funny as I went to K-12 in one school building.
Of course this was before Federal Aid to Education which has basically destroyed the local school educational concept which produced far better results than the poor reading and math skills we find today.

I think that middle schools are the worst thing that could happen to a child. That age is so fragile as they are growing up and wanting to become more independent, and they want to fit in. I think that all schools should be k-8. I wish mine would have been.

Do the 7th and 8th graders still get recess?

I think this format would be a step backwards in educating our youth. I remember breezing through elementary school. I always finished my assignments in class, never had any homework, never studied for exams, always scored at the top of all standardized national tests, and basically aced my way Kindergarten through the 6th grade. I put in NO EFFORT whatsoever. Those study habits did not fare well going into junior high. I didn't know why all my grades were C's and D's, or why I couldn't keep up with the students in my class that failed to execute at my level just one year ago. I continued with 1.7 to 2.2 quarterly GPAs until my final quarter in the 8th grade. It took the school that long to bring me in to my academic counselor to discover my academic woes were a result of my poor study habits. My final academic quarter in the 8th grade was a 3.0. That was also my 1st quarter GPA of high school, and my lowest quarterly output thereon. I graduated, with honors, 23rd in my class (of 677).

People can say how difficult and fragile that age is, but it's likely the only transition that saved my academic career. Grades in Jr. High don't really count. High School grades determine if and where you go to college. It would have been unfortunate if I had to learn my lesson in study habits the end of my Sophomore year of high school. I doubt I would have even finished in the top half.

I'm sceptical about the claim that this is the first K-8 in Utah. In the late 40s and early 50s I attended a K-8 school. All the schools in Northern Utah at that time were K-8. There were no middle schools or junior highs.

This certainly makes sense. Years ago someone got the bright idea of duplicating High Schools and calling them Junior High Schools. This was a very bad mistake. I dare anyone who thinks Jr. High is a good idea to go and substitute teach in a Jr. High for a few days. K-8 is brilliant.

As we worry about the destructive tendencies of youth in America today, I add my vote that K-8 schooling is best for 7th and 8th graders. This system helps keep the overall grade sizes smaller and reduces the breeding ground for bad behavior. As a junior high school teacher in a K-9 school in North Salt Lake, and having survived my own children in the normal middle school environment, I can promise there is an enormous difference. K-8 schools produce better behaved, better focused youth through stable and nurturing environments.

AS LONG AS THE TEACHER'S ARE VERY WELL QUALIFIED/UNLIKE SOME WE HAVE NOW ,
ALSO
A LITTLE ON $ SPENT PRE PUPIL
WE NEED TO INCREASE IT THROUGHOUT THE STATE

As the parent of a Nibley Park 2nd grader, I am very excited about the direction this school is taking. The middle school experiment does not work! Students need consistency, and this model certainly provides consistency and community. While some may complain about the lack of elective options, there are things that are more important in school than having multiple elective options. Ultimately, we need to keep in mind that schools should be focused on what is best for the students, not what is easiest for the adults or "what has always been done." It seems that Nibley Park and Whittier are taking steps toward this goal.

The only way this will work in SLC is if all grade schools did the same. Nibley Park Elementary is about to become a magnet school for low achievers and the motivated kids will move on to the traditional model middle school. We moved our family from Nibley to Davis school district, best move ever! Nibley Park Elementary is just not the same.