Grade 6 To Move To New Kenton Secondary School

Kenton City Schools announced today that grade six students and staff will be moving to the newly constructed secondary school when it opens in the Fall of 2025.
Originally, the plan for the new Kenton Secondary School included grades 7-12; but due to increased Federal Grant funds, KCS now has the opportunity to include grade
6 in the building plan.

Several factors contributed to the decision to incorporate grade 6 into the new building project.

Greatly affecting the decision to move grade 6 is current research which supports grouping grades 6-8 together.

Developmentally, sixth grade students more closely resemble seventh grade students than fifth grade students. Their ages are more parallel to the period of human growth and development between childhood and adolescence, ages 11-13, which corresponds to students in grades 6-8.

Due to nutrition and socioeconomic factors, children are reaching puberty earlier than ever before. Behavioral issues often develop during this time, as Kenton Middle School Principal, Kirk Cameron sees having the 6th grade students grouped with elementary as a disadvantage to their personal growth.

Cameron reflects on a time when 6th grade was grouped with middle school, “The single largest challenge with losing the 6th grade to KES is that level of maturity the incoming 7th graders exhibit is drastically lower than before. It now takes about a year for us to help reduce those behaviors during the 7th and 8th grade years.”

Academically, sixth grade students are at an age where their individual intellectual differences are considerably greater than those of younger children. These differences are best supported with reinforcement and extension of skills through specialization/departmentalization and a broader curriculum, much of which occurs in grades 7-12.

According to Robin Bame, Kenton Elementary School Principal, “Although our elementary school has tried to create a middle school atmosphere for the 6th graders, it is a challenge when the rest of the building is in elementary mode.”