The Sioux City School Board on Monday signed off on a plan to discontinue specialty statuses for five of six elementary schools.
Schools that have specialty classifications include Loess Hills Elementary, Morningside Elementary, and Spalding Park Elementary. The specialty school statuses end at the end of the school year.
According to a memo, the district has had special status elementary schools, for Arts and also Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
It also says during the last five years, the specialty focuses in the schools have been difficult to carry out, due to lacking individualized staff for the programs, and difficulty in finding funding to acquire necessary resources to function.
The school district sent out surveys to staff and parents. After the surveys were completed, one school is choosing to pursue maintaining their specialty status and will bring a proposal to the board in the fall.
Additionally, the memo says that the schools will redirect and increase focus on reading and math. Therefore, staff will have training and development focused on the two subjects.
