Yakima - The West Valley School District is also gearing up for some big changes next year. Fifth graders will no longer be considered elementary students. They'll be moving up to the middle school starting next fall. And that has some parents worried about whether they'll be able to handle it. And what they'll be missing.

More than 500 students crowd each of the West Valley Elementary schools. But with the opening of the new high school, district officials saw a way to change that.

Rick Ferguson works as the district Human Resource Officer, but he'll be an assistant principal at the Junior High next year, " We're continuing to move forward, looking at the growth we have and fit in all areas so we don't have to do things that are inconvenient for students, staff and families. "

Come next fall, fifth graders will join 6th graders at the middle school. 7th grade students will move to the Junior High with 8th grade. And Freshman will be bumped to the old high school, having the campus to themselves.

But these changes have a lot of parents concerned. Mostly about the fifth graders and what they'll be exposed to. One issue is the bus and who'll they'll be riding with.

" There's not many 12th graders on the buses. So some districts, what we do is age appropriate seating. So you have younger kids in front, older kids in back," said Ferguson.

Parents are also concerned about their fifth graders not having any recess time. Kids this age need to get up and move around quite a bit during the day. But there's no playground equipment at the middle school.

Middle School Assistant Principal, Jim Fannin tells me he believes in active participation. The kids will have one hour of P.E. every six weeks, but they'll also have opportunities to get outside during class time.

" We're going to give the freedom to our teachers. If they need to take them, give them a break, that's what they'll do," said Fannin.

Ferguson adds, " They don't have the mileage club, that's at the elementary schools. So that's another opportunity for them, is to start a mileage club at that level."

The move is still a year away, but the principals and teachers are doing what they can now, to make this transition as smooth as possible for everyone. Administrators also plan to make sure the 5th graders stay in one wing of the middle school so their classes are all close to one another. Since this will be the first time they won't stay with a homeroom teacher all day.