EAST CHICAGO | When school starts again in the fall, the city's six elementary schools will have a new focus.

The East Chicago School Board on Thursday approved a restructuring plan to turn five of the six elementary schools into primary centers that would serve prekindergarten through fourth grade. One elementary school will be converted into an intermediate center for fifth- and sixth-grade classes.

For decades, the school system's elementary schools have enrolled kindergarten through sixth-grade students. The district's two junior high schools currently have seventh- and eighth-graders, while Central High School offers ninth- through twelfth-grade classes.

Board Vice President Scott J. Prewitt cast an abstention vote. Now that the restructuring plan has been approved, the administration will make preparations for the 2009-10 school year. No details on the preparations were released Thursday.

Ethel Sacha, the district's education director, said the restructuring will allow specialized programs to be offered for both primary and intermediate grade levels. It also will provide "an expanded learning day for students," Sacha said.

The new structure will create an environment in which younger students will be grouped together and the older intermediate students will have contact with their peers.

The intermediate center will work with the junior high schools to provide a smooth transition to "the rigors of secondary education," Sacha said.

The new configuration also will provide intensive classwork for students who are overaged for their grade levels. The effort is to move them more quickly through the system so they can catch up with students their own age.

In other business, the East Chicago School Board:

- Gave administrators approval to explore the creation of an enrollment center. The center would be the place where parents of students who enter the district after the regular fall registration could go to register their children for any of the city's public schools.

- Approved a summer academy for teachers from all grade levels to learn about new Title I and Title II programs. The voluntary program would offer teachers $25 an hour to attend. The summer program eliminates taking teachers out of the classroom during the academic year.