SARANAC LAKE — As the Saranac Lake Central School District discusses reconfiguring its school buildings, St. Bernard’s School Principal Andrea Kilbourne-Hill said her school is considering adding a sixth-grade class.

Currently, the private Catholic school has classes from Pre-K to fifth grade.

Kilbourne-Hill said administrators have been keeping an eye on the district’s decisions and talking about what works best for their students and families, based on the different options proposed. They don’t want to “wing it” and want to be prepared for any changes.

“If (Petrova) stays (grades) six through eight, it doesn’t make sense for our students to stay with one more year, necessarily,” Kilbourne-Hill said.

But, she said, now that it appears Bloomingdale Elementary will close and the district will move its middle school from Petrova Elementary to the high school building, she said they’re planning to add a sixth grade, so that students don’t have to make two jumps — one year in Petrova in grade 6 and then to the high school for grade 7.

Kilbourne-Hill said they have a room for the class and would hire staff to instruct.

This would also allow the school to do things they’ve been wanting to do — like having more experiential learning and a culminating capstone project.

Kilbourne-Hill said grades 3, 4 and 5 are still about foundational skills.

She said they’ve been speaking with staff at Paul Smith’s College about experiential learning — doing citizen science work with the college’s Adirondack Watershed Institute, learning in nature at the Visitor Interpretive Center or picking up culinary skills from the professors and students there.