In response to requests by teachers and parents to shrink class sizes, the Redmond School District will try to do just that — with major elementary school shake-ups.

By using part of the $5 million the district will receive from Oregon’s new Student Success Act business tax, Redmond School District will transform its kindergarten-only Redmond Early Learning Center into a K-3 elementary school in September, according to Superintendent Mike McIntosh.

That shift will have a ripple effect on Redmond’s elementary schools. Currently, all kindergartners in Redmond attend the Early Learning Center. Starting in September, kindergarten classes — and more teachers — will be added to the other elementary schools in an effort to reduce class sizes, particularly for kindergarteners and first graders, McIntosh said.

The school district is aiming for 20-student classes for those two grades. Right now, the average kindergarten and first-grade class in Redmond has more than 25 students, McIntosh said.

In the 2017-18 school year, the average Oregon kindergarten classroom had 22 students, and the average first-grade classroom had 23 students, according to state data.

“Our kids are in classrooms with other students that are too big for a single teacher to be effective,” McIntosh said. “Getting them down to 20 is our goal.”

The district plans on hiring as many as 10 new kindergarten and first-grade teachers districtwide for next school year, but that number isn’t set in stone, McIntosh said. These new teacher salaries will be paid for with part of the district’s cut of the state’s $2 billion Student Success Act tax.

The new elementary school — to be named Hugh Hartman Elementary — will become the new home for Redmond’s popular Spanish-language dual-immersion program, which will move from Sage Elementary. There are about 48 students in each grade in the K-2 dual-immersion program, which adds a new grade each year, McIntosh said.

Moving the dual-immersion students from Sage will help relieve overcrowding at that school, which is located in booming south Redmond, McIntosh said. The move will free up room for a few kindergarten classes and a couple extra classrooms for the upper grades, he said.

“I need capacity and a building to grow two classrooms every year for the next two years, and Sage does not have that space,” McIntosh said.

Hartman will also host K-3 students in its surrounding neighborhood in September, along with the dual-immersion students. Because the building is in the middle of John Tuck Elementary’s existing attendance area, a small new attendance area — McIntosh called it an “island” — will be formed around Hartman.

The new school’s attendance area is bordered by NW Hemlock Avenue to the north, W. Antler Avenue to the south and NW 19th Street to the east. The western boundary mostly follows NW 31st Street, squiggling alongside housing developments.

All students in this “island” will move from John Tuck to Hartman, except for students entering fourth and fifth grade, and younger siblings of those students, McIntosh said.

“Most of those kids go by Hugh Hartman to go to Tuck every day,” he said. “I think it’s going to be an easy sell to say, ‘How about you go to this new school?’”

The shift will also give John Tuck more room for its incoming kindergarten classes, McIntosh said.

The K-8 Tumalo Community School will also see a major change in the fall: all of its middle school students will be sent to Obsidian Middle School, near downtown Redmond. About half of Tumalo’s middle school students were already bused to Obsidian due to overcrowding at Tumalo, McIntosh said. This change will allow for smaller elementary class sizes at Tumalo, he added.

Two more Redmond elementary schools will have a minor boundary shift in the fall. Students who live on the east side of U.S. Highway 97, between NE Negus Way and state Highway 126, will be moved from M.A. Lynch Elementary near downtown to Tom McCall Elementary in north Redmond.

This change was made for two reasons. First, Tom McCall Elementary has more available space than any other Redmond elementary school, McIntosh said. Furthermore, students in this pocket of east Redmond already attended Elton Gregory Middle School, which is next door to McCall. McCall would be more convenient for these east Redmond students, he said.

Vern Patrick and Sage elementaries will not see any changes to their attendance areas, McIntosh said.

Families curious or concerned about the changes can attend a parent information event from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Redmond Early Learning Center, 2105 W. Antler Ave. Principals from each affected school will be present to meet families and answer questions, and students being moved to Hartman can see the school for themselves, said district spokesperson Kelly Jenkins.

McIntosh acknowledged that some families might be upset by the changes, but added that opening Hartman as a full elementary will move fewer students than if the district tinkered with each elementary school’s attendance area.

“There will be some reaction to it, we know,” McIntosh said. “We hope it’s mostly favorable.”