North Bend School District previews K–2 / 3–5 elementary reconfiguration; decision expected at regular meeting

The North Bend School District held a work session on Jan. 20, 2026, where staff laid out a proposal to reconfigure the district’s two elementary schools into a K–2 campus and a 3–5 campus. Tim, who led the presentation, said the change is intended to address declining and uneven enrollment, reduce duplicated services and expand targeted supports without adding staff.

Tim told trustees the district has seen uneven grade-level enrollment and that combining grade bands would let specialists and intervention staff focus on narrower age ranges. He presented current and projected enrollment numbers: Hillcrest reported about 429 students this year with a projected roll-up to 378 next year under current assumptions; North Bay’s current enrollment was presented at about 332 with a projected 313. Staff noted those projections do not yet fully account for a phased new housing development in the Hillcrest attendance area and used a conservative estimate of six students per grade from that development for planning purposes.

Staff ran multiple scenarios, including moving intradistrict and interdistrict transfers and limited rezoning of specific streets (for example, parts of Ash Street). District staff reported roughly 30 intradistrict transfers at Hillcrest and more than 60 out-of-district students attending the elementary schools; the modeling showed rezoning or transfer moves would shift school totals but would not reliably eliminate grade-level imbalances.

The presentation stressed educational and operational rationales: in examples shown combining sections reduced some grade-level class sizes (one example combined kindergarten sections to an average near 24.5 students), enabled more efficient use of specialists and limited the need for midyear hires. Tim summarized the intent this way: “Elementary school reconfiguration ensures that we will not reduce services. We will, in fact, expand current services with the staff on hand.”

Trustees and staff discussed teacher assignment, with staff saying grade-level assignment would be the starting point and that teacher preference, seniority and contract provisions would be part of any reassignment process negotiated with the union. Staff also promised a planning team, clear timelines, school visit opportunities for families and frequent communications if the board votes to move forward.

No formal board action was taken at the session. Staff said a community brief and the presentation materials will be posted to the district website and that the reconfiguration is scheduled for formal consideration at a future regular board meeting (staff referenced the next regular meeting date in early February). The district did not announce a final implementation timeline pending additional board direction and community input.

The board meeting closed after discussion; trustees asked staff to continue refining transportation and staffing plans and to return with clarifying materials and the community summary in advance of the formal vote.