During last month’s Paso Robles Joint Unified School Board meeting, two proposals to upgrade Daniel Lewis and Flamson middle schools were approved, so they can better meet the needs of their changing student bodies next school year.
Flamson’s modernization proposal included two phases to take place in under two years and will prepare the site to become a 7th/8th grade junior high by this August. The campus will house better facilities for students with special needs and will undergo an administrative remodel with four new counselor offices.
The proposal for Lewis School consists of three phases to take place over two and a half years. The site will be updated to meet the needs of its younger students with a new elementary play structure, renovated kitchen, and new modular classrooms. The changes are intended to prepare the site for the Georgia Brown Dual Immersion Program by this August.
Next year, all elementary schools in the district will convert from K-5 to K-6. Georgia Brown’s Dual Immersion program will relocate to the Lewis campus. Lewis students will relocate to Flamson Middle School. Flamson Middle School will only enroll students in 7th and 8th grades as opposed to 6th through 8th.
Assistant Superintendent Brad Pawlowski explained the reshuffling.
“At the Lewis campus right now, the current eighth graders, they’re going to be moving to the high school next year, so that plan would have happened no matter what," he said. "And the current 6th and 7th graders, that student body will move to the Flamson campus. We have approximately 210 students in each of those grade levels, so we’re looking at about 420 or so students that will leave the Lewis campus and move to the Flamson campus.”
One Lewis Middle School teacher of 12 years said these changes have been very impactful.
"Lewis Middle School is my home. It’s been my home for a long time. Even before the 12 years of me being here, I was student-taught here. I did three years of substitute teaching here. It’s a home to me,” Carame Kroener said. “The biggest impact for me is that I’m being put back in elementary school.”
She is one of many Lewis teachers who will be relocating campuses next year.
One first-year Special Education teacher, Mattas Kepins, said she’s optimistic about the changes for her students.
“I’ve always just been a person that cares about my students, wants them to do well, so any changes that are positive to help our students succeed, I’m beyond thrilled,” Kepins said.
Construction on each of the middle school sites as part of the modernization proposals is set to begin as early as this June.
