KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The Kalamazoo Public Schools board has decided to not only give El Sol Elementary a new home in Kalamazoo Township, but expand the program to include middle schoolers.
Last night they voted to go ahead with a design to make room for 6th, 7th and 8th graders, in addition to the K-through-5th grade Spanish immersion program.
Dr. Micole Dyson, assistant superintendent of elementary instruction, says they have received overwhelming support from parents and students for the extended program and to ease the transition for its graduates into the upper grades.
Dyson says it would open to K through 5 in the fall of 2028, with the additional grades added to the curriculum in the three years following.
Principal Natalie Wilson tells us that if construction stays on schedule, this year’s second graders would spend their 5th grade at the new school. First graders would be the first to have the option to go through the new middle school program.
Dyson says preliminary designs employ the school’s name, El Sol, “the sun,” as a theme for its shape, a central building with three rays extending from it.
Dyson says it will cost about $4.6 million more to add space for the three additional grades.
The new school, on Baker Street near Craft in Kalamazoo Township, would be built on what is now a large vacant lot owned by the district that used to be home to Brucker Elementary, using bond money already approved by voters.
Members of the El Sol staff were on hand when the board approved the recommendation unanimously last night.
Students who make it through the program will receive the State Seal of Biliteracy on their diploma, and a leg up in the future workforce.
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