HOBART | After 18 months of conversation, the River Forest School Board has approved a plan to move sixth-graders to one building this fall.

About 120 sixth-graders attend three elementary schools. All the sixth-graders will be moved to one wing of the River Forest Elementary School building.

Superintendent James Rice said they researched the issue for many months and looked at other districts.

He said the plan has many advantages.

It provides a smoother transition to the junior high and it frees up space in the elementary buildings for full-day kindergarten. It also will allow students an earlier interest in band and choir and other extracurricular activities at the junior high,

Based on legislation under consideration, Rice believes the district could have full-day kindergarten this fall.

"If it's based on free and reduced lunches, we would be among the first school corporations to implement full-day kindergarten," he said.

River Forest serves a total of 1,500 students in K-12. Some 56 percent of them receive free lunch and 11 percent receive reduced lunch.

River Forest currently offers two half-day kindergarten classes and one full-day or extended-day kindergarten class which serves about 22 children. The extended-day program is housed at River Forest Elementary.

"We have room in all of our buildings to handle placing the sixth grade in one building and to address full-day kindergarten, if and when it occurs," Rice said.