Changes In Bismarck Public School Classes - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Some Bismarck Public School students will be making a new adjustment next school year.

Tonight the Bismarck school board voted unanimously to move sixth graders into the middle schools and ninth graders into the high schools starting next school year.

Starting in the fall of 2013, K through 5th grade will be in the elementary schools, 6th through 8th in the middle schools and 9th through 12th in the high schools.

"It presents some definite challenges but if we didn't roll the sixth grade up we'd have massively crowded elementary classrooms across the district, our assumption is classes would go to nearly 30 and some cases higher and we know that 13 of our 16 elementary schools are already at or above capacity," Superintendent Tamara Uselman said.

The decision forces the high schools to find more quality space for their students, until the new high school is built.

The possibility of portables at the high schools was brought up at tonight's meeting, however more discussion will be made in the future, as to how the high schools will accommodate more students.