If the Malverne Board of Education moves forward with school reorganizational plans recommended by the district's Educational Facilities Task Force, the 2010-11 school year will mark the start of a new grade setup in District 12.

At a recent school board meeting at Howard T. Herber Middle School, administrators announced that they are aiming to reorganize three of the district's four schools. The recommendations were made by the task force, a 31-member group that includes administrators, staff, parents and community members.

Beginning last year, school officials said, the group analyzed data in the district and visited other districts in the area in Long Island to make the recommendations. The district serves Malverne, Lakeview and North Lynbrook.

"The force explored many different options for reorganizing some of the schools in our district, and we decided to move forward with a primary recommendation, which we believe will improve this district," said Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund, who was the chairman of the task force. "This is all about addressing and accommodating the needs of our students as well as our school buildings and grounds."

Under the proposal, Maurice W. Downing Elementary School would become a primary school, housing kindergarten through second grade, and Davison Avenue Elementary School would serve the district's third and fourth grades as an intermediate school. Both schools currently have kindergarten through fourth-grade classes. If approved by the school board, the change is expected to take effect in September.

Academically, administrators said, the changes would improve, among other things, the efficiency of class scheduling, teacher collaboration and mentoring and end comparisons between Davison and Downing because students in the same grades will be in the same school no matter where they live.

Hunderfund added that the changes are also needed because the district expects kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment to increase by 330 students, or 20 percent, by 2017. The new setup, school officials said, would prevent the district from having to dramatically increase class sizes.