The Ames School Board is holding two open forums to discuss the public’s opinion of an appropriate grade configuration for the new Ames Middle School.

On Oct. 8, the Ames community voted to approve a local-option sales tax to replace the old middle school with a new building. Now the board must decide which grades will make up the new middle school.

Jane Acker, president of the Ames School Board, said the board will listen to both the teachers’ recommendations and the opinions of the community.

“Iowa State students’ perspectives would be very helpful to us due to the students’ wide backgrounds and their experiences at many different middle schools,” she said.

Acker said the school board hopes to make their final decision on Dec. 5.

Deb Barbour, science teacher at Ames Middle School, said making sixth, seventh and eighth grade part of the middle school would be “the best fit.”

With the current seventh- and eighth-grade configuration, students are either coming or going into middle school and they never feel comfortable in the building, she said.

Barbour said it would be costly for the school to provide ninth grade students with the same high school opportunities they currently have, such as advanced math and biology courses.

“There are a lot of parents who are very concerned about moving the sixth grade up. They feel that we rush our children to grow up too soon already,” said Deb Lee, mother of a third-grader and a sixth-grader.

“I believe there is a wide maturity range in any class of students,” she said. “Some sixth graders are ready for middle school and some are not.”

Lee said she agrees with the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade configuration recommended by teachers and administrators in the Ames school district.

“Reports and research provide some information, but its important to see what our community wants,” said Carol Kenealy, community relations representative for the Ames School District.

Kenealy said the School Board will make the ultimate decision, but the opinions of students, parents, teachers, administration and the community are important.

The public forums will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at the Sawyer Elementary School Auditorium, 4316 Ontario St., at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Nov. 20 at the Meeker Elementary School Gymnasium, 300 20 St. at 7 p.m.