RIDGECREST, La. &045;&045; This fall, Ridgecrest Elementary will not only be an elementary school but also will have a middle school program.

Come August, Ridgecrest Elementary School will add eighth grade students to its campus. Right now, the school houses kindergarten through seventh graders.

School board member Jimmy Wilkinson said the move is &uot;something parents have been talking about for a while.

&uot;It’s what the people of the community wanted.&uot;

Added Principal Stephanie Blunschi: &uot;I really think the parents are going to be pleased.&uot;

Blunschi and Wilkinson said the program will take a few years to build the program.

Blunschi will seek advice from other principals, and both are optimistic it will catch on.

Before, students left Ridgecrest after the seventh grade, attended Ferriday Junior High in the eighth grade and then Ferriday High in the ninth, causing students to go to three schools in the same number of years.

Adding the eighth grade will &uot;finish our middle school concept,&uot; Blunschi said. With the added grade, the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will change classes, much like in a middle school setting.

Bluncshi said the three grades &uot;fit together.&uot;

&uot;I really like the idea of us being able to finish that process we started at the junior high level,&uot; she said.

Changing class will prepare students for high school, where they will have multiple teachers instead of just one.

Blunschi said adding the eighth graders, who will take the LEAP test, will hold the school &uot;accountable for what we teach in sixth and seventh.&uot;

Wilkinson and Blunschi said they hope keeping students in a familiar setting in a year they also will take the LEAP test would result in better test scores.

This way, students won’t have to adjust to a new school and take the LEAP test in the same year.

Wilkinson also said the school was thinking of adding more extra-curricular activities similar to other junior high schools in the parish.

Blunschi said she owes the smooth transition to adding the eighth-grade program to the cooperative teachers and the school board, who unanimously approved the addition.

Blunschi said her teachers will go through training this summer to be &uot;highly qualified&uot; to accommodate adding eighth grade to the school.

Blunschi said middle school teachers have to have extra certification for the subject areas in which they teach.