New Middle School Strategy Underway

[Willis]

Superintendent discusses new school plan

By Samantha Cronk - Journal staff writer

CHARLES TOWN - A change in the function of the middle school concept in Jefferson County is under way, after Superintendent Susan Wall proposed the new approach in Monday night's Board of Education meeting...

..."Jefferson County is working to keep the components of the middle school concept while adding curricular teams in order to place added emphasis on academics and instruction," Wall said...


...When board member Alan Sturm asked who would lead the curricular teams and grade-level teams, as the middle school team leaders received reduction-in-force notices, Wall said that school administrators would lead the grade-level teams and a new position would be created for the curricular teams...


...Sturm voiced additional hesitation, stating that he wished this concept would be piloted in one of the middle schools before being launched in all of them, especially given how many years the county spent developing the current middle school concept, he said...


..."We've been accused, not just Jefferson County but education in general, of killing the arts program, curtailing field and such with the only purpose of raising test scores, and I fear that perhaps we've moved into this without giving it adequate study," he said....

Read the full article HERE
Maybe I need some more schooling. This is clear as the Shenandoah after a heavy rain to me

[lar]

Sturm mentioned Middle School being a transitional period and it is. They need to give these kids some room to breathe or they are going to burn them out early. Trust me high school is a kick in the butt. Their attention spans are not that long and they have lots of other things on their minds and they need to learn to deal with a lot of things at once. I might be off base. Personally I don't have to worry too much about stuff because my kids are pretty smart and well balanced but you have to keep them "interested" in school.

[AAT53]

It would make much more sense to try it out at one school before trying to implement it at all of them.