RESERVE — When 10-year-old Yamil Lopez spoke up Thursday evening, he expressed his concern directly to St. John the Baptist Parish School District Superintendent Kevin George.

Yamil, a fourth grader, enjoys attending East St. John Elementary and does not want his siblings separated.

He shares the campus with his sister, 11-year-old fifth grader Norshelys, and brother, 5-year-old prekindergarten student Jose.

“My sister helps me and I can help my brother,” Yamil said. “I don’t want us to be at different schools.”

Yamil was one of approximately 50 people in attendance Thursday night during a public meeting hosted by School District leaders concerning a proposal to reconfigure the grade makeups at East St. John Elementary and Fifth Ward Elementary.

Each school currently serves prekindergarten through eighth grades. Administrators and School Board members are seeing if there is support to concentrate instruction at Fifth Ward Elementary on prekindergarten through fourth grade, and then turn East St. John Elementary into a fifth-through-eighth grade school.

While speaking of the moves’ benefits Thursday, George said he is simply on a fact finding and exploratory mission, adding an ultimate decision would be made by a vote of School Board members. He said there is a scenario to begin the reconfiguration this August if widespread approval is achieved.

Fifth Ward is currently rated a D school by the state, while East St. John Elementary is rated as a C school.

School officials said East St. John Elementary showed the most growth among St. John public schools in the most recent state ratings, increasing its performance score by 9.5 points.

If the proposed schools’ faculty focuses on less grade levels, reconfiguration proponents say it creates more teachers in one location to pool resources, success strategies and advice, thus increasing each student’s performance.

“This might not be the time, but I think I owe it to your children to do everything we can to improve this school system,” George said. “I think this may be a good idea, but I want to hear from you guys so I can bring that information back (to the School Board.)”

District 2 representative and School Board President Albert Burl is in favor of the reconfiguration, because he said it offers the best and fastest way to improve two borderline schools.

“To get those schools to a B or an A, teachers need to concentrate directly on those ages and classes for pre-k to fourth and from fifth to eighth, instead of having to teach all of them,” Burl said. “Right now, I am in favor of it, at least exploring it. I know there may be some push back from the community.”

District 8 School Board Member Russ Wise said it is a great idea, but the hurdle proponents face is garnering enough parental support.

“There would be academic benefits, which will take a few years and a little bit of patience to prove because we have a literacy problem in both of those schools,” Wise said. “If a kid can’t read, he can’t learn. The idea of concentrating on reading at one location solves a lot of problems farther down the road. That is the key to the success of any school system. I think this is a great approach.”

The most common objections to the reconfiguration raised Thursday included splitting families over multiple schools and a perceived lack of discipline and education quality currently provided at Fifth Ward.

George said he is continuing to accept as much feedback as possible and is creating a survey for parents at each school to offer extended feedback.

A possible vote or decision timeline has not been announced.

“Everything we do is about children,” George said. “I do think this will be good for kids, but a recommendation at this point would be premature because we don’t have the (complete) feedback from the faculty or community at this point.”