End of the road for Barstow Intermediate School

BARSTOW • Fifth-grader Penny Kinnett has mixed feelings about the end of the school year.

The Barstow Intermediate School fifth-grade student is disappointed that her school will be closing but said she is still looking forward to the start of summer vacation.

“I’ll be kind of sad and happy,” said Kinnett, who will attend Crestline Elementary School next year. Over 400 current fifth grade students will return to an elementary school next fall.

The last day of school on Thursday marks more than just the end of the year  for the students, teachers and staff of BIS. The school will be shuttered indefinitely as a result of the state fiscal crisis, which forced the Barstow Unified School District to slash its budget. The board of trustees voted in March to shut down BIS as a budget-cutting measure, in addition to other cuts like teacher layoffs, program reductions and larger class sizes.

BIS has a varied history, according to Mike Crist, a counselor at Central High School who worked for several years at one of BIS’s many incarnations over the decades. Most recently Crist worked as a counselor at BIS when it changed to serve fifth- and sixth-graders in 2004.

According to Crist, it took a lot of effort from the BIS staff to rebuild the new intermediate school and credits much of the success to Larry Notario, the former principal who took leave mid-year due to an injury.

Language arts teacher Rosanna Elgohary agrees that the staff has become unified over the past five years.

“When we first started, we came as different people with different ideas,”  said Elgohary, who will teach sixth grade at Lenwood Elementary School next year.

The staff plans to wear screen-printed T-shirts on the last day that reads, “End of our legacy” on the front. The back reads: “We will be known forever by the tracks we leave as our new journey begins.”

Jesse Ramos, a grandparent of a BIS fifth-grader said while his granddaughter is not looking forward to returning to elementary school, he has made sure she understands that it’s a budget issue that starts from state level government.

“It’s not the city, it’s the state,” said Ramos.

Fifth-grader Caitlin Scott-Blakely, who will be returning to Skyline Elementary School, said some of her friends will be dispersed among other schools like Cameron Elementary School and Henderson Elementary School. But Scott-Blakely plans to keep in touch with them on their cell phones.

“I’ve got their numbers so I can text them,” she said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com

A look at Barstow Intermediate School’s history

Fall 1959: Barstow Intermediate School opened as a newly built school for seventh and eighth grade students on Avenue G. Previously, seventh- and eighth-graders didn’t have a separate facility and were housed in the upper rows of classrooms at the high school campus.

Late 1960s: Population in Barstow and surrounding areas start to grow. At the time, BUSD included Baker, Silver Valley and Fort Irwin. BIS held extended school days from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an early and late shift of students and served close to 1,000 students by hold double sessions.

1970: Pitcher School opened on Armory Road as a seventh and eighth grade school, relieving the student population at BIS, which changed its name to Barstow Junior High School.

Early 1980s: Building became the district’s maintenance facility and also housed the district’s first independent study program.

1990: Building reverted back to a school, becoming Barstow Middle School for grades six through eight.

2004: Barstow Middle School turned into a fifth and sixth grade school — the present day BIS, returning to its original name.

March 3, 2009: BUSD board of trustees voted to close BIS as a budget cutting measure.

June 18, 2009: BIS students attend last day of school.

Source: Mike Crist, Central High School counselor.