Piedmont Middle School

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Piedmont Middle School
Type public
Principal Jeanne Donovan
Grades 6-8
Location 740 Magnolia Avenue
Piedmont, CA USA
District Piedmont Unified School District
Colors purple, white
Mascot Scottish bagpiper
Newspaper The PMS Globe
Assistant principal Dan Bonnin
Website Piedmont Middle School
A view of Piedmont Middle School from the patio near the "new gym."
A view of Piedmont Middle School from the patio near the "new gym."
See also: Piedmont Middle School (disambiguation)

Piedmont Middle School, also known as PMS, is part of the Piedmont Unified School District and provides education for students grades six through eight in the city of Piedmont, California. Piedmont students come from Frank C. Havens Elementary School, Wildwood Elementary School, and Egbert W. Beach Elementary School. Once they reach sixth grade, they are mixed together in the middle school, along with students from other districts who move to Piedmont.

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[edit] Location

A view of Piedmont Middle School "P.E. hill," overlooking Witter Field and the greater Bay Area
A view of Piedmont Middle School "P.E. hill," overlooking Witter Field and the greater Bay Area

The school is located next to both the Millennium High School and Piedmont High School. It overlooks Witter Field and has a view of the west side of Piedmont, of Lake Merritt and Oakland, and, when there is little fog, the Bay and San Francisco.

[edit] Architecture

Piedmont Middle School is made of several buildings, including the main building, which holds classrooms for core, math, social studies, English, and various electives, as well as a gynmasium ("the old gym"), Food Service; the science buildings, which are lower than the main building; and the P.E./music building, which includes a gymnasium ("the new gym"), locker rooms and rooms for band and orchestra. The main building has three floors, with the majority of sixth-grade classrooms on the first, seventh on the second, and eighth on the third.

Much of the school is made of concrete with fake brick layers. Only a few buildings — such as the science and P.E. buildings — are completely indoors. The main building has open hallways.

[edit] History

When Piedmont High School was created in 1921, it included grades seven through twelve, split into a junior high school and a senior high school. Piedmont Junior High School, grades seven through nine, became a separate entity from the senior high in the late 1960s, but the name change to Piedmont Middle School and switch to grades six through eight did not occur until a decade later.

When the high school was demolished for safety reasons in the mid-1970s, the separate junior high building was constructed. The dedication was made on June 1, 1975.[1]

[edit] Academics

The majority of the school is open to the air, such as this hallway leading from the art room to the stairs that climb to the second floor, and to Food Service on the first floor.
The majority of the school is open to the air, such as this hallway leading from the art room to the stairs that climb to the second floor, and to Food Service on the first floor.

[edit] Schedule

Unlike the block schedule of the high school, in middle school classes repeat every day of the week and students take seven classes a day.

[edit] Core

"Core" class aid in the transition from elementary to middle school. "Core" is a series of classes taught by the same teacher in the same room, much like the main teacher in elementary school. Sixth graders are taught reading, language arts, social studies, and math by their core teacher. Seventh graders are taught reading, language arts, and social studies, but have a separate teacher for math[2]. By eighth grade, the core system is nonexistent. Other classes not taught by core teachers include science, physical education, and electives.

[edit] Foreign language

All seventh graders may begin a foreign language their second semester. Languages offered are Spanish, French, and Mandarin. If a student chooses Spanish, he takes Spanish A in seventh grade and Spanish BC in eighth. These equal Spanish I in high school, and so by ninth grade he can take Spanish II. Students who do not take a foreign language in middle school, or who do not meet the minimum grade requirements to continue, start from the introductory level, such as Spanish I, when they reach high school.

[edit] Electives

All sixth graders participate in the elective wheel, which rotates them through different electives, including drama, art, woodshop, and computers. By seventh and eighth grade, students are allowed to pick a semester- or year-long elective.

Semester- and year-long electives offered include foreign language, drama, art, ceramics, woodshop, music (band and orchestra), filmmaking, economics, and computer network management. Journalism, another elective, involves students in the production of the student newspaper, The Globe. [3]

[edit] Physical education

All students are required to take physical education unless they participate in an outside athletic, such as gymnastics, for a certain number of hours a week. In sixth grade, P.E. may be taken with band/orchestra so that students take P.E. every other day and music the remaining days. In seventh and eighth grade, P.E. is an everyday class. Students are required to wear a standard Piedmont P.E. T-shirt, along with purple shorts. The uniform may be purchased from the school. Students are required to run the mile frequently, from every other week in sixth grade to weekly by seventh.

Sports played in P.E. include hockey, ultimate frisbee, soccer, bocce ball, juggling, rock-climbing, basketball, paddle tennis, team handball, track and field, whiffleball, croquet, hiking, dance, archery, and softball. [4]

Students and staff members can buy snacks and lunch from Food Service during breaks such as lunch and brunch.
Students and staff members can buy snacks and lunch from Food Service during breaks such as lunch and brunch.

[edit] Daily breaks

Between each class a five-minute break is offered. In addition to this, brunch is a 10-minute break (much like elementary-school "recess") in the morning, and lunch is a half-hour break.

Students may purchase food from "Food Service." Its menu includes cookies, milk, pizza, brownies, pretzels, and drinks.[5][6] Students who sign up to work as "TAs" (teachers' assistants) may be assigned to work for Food Service, in which case they stand behind the counter and facilitate the transaction of money and food.

The school has an open campus for lunch, so students often go elsewhere to buy food. Popular locations are Bonfare and the Recreation Department.

[edit] Notable alumni

Actor Clint Eastwood attended what was in the mid-1940s Piedmont Junior High School.[7] Among Eastwood's classmates was Joseph W. Knowland, who later became the publisher of the Oakland Tribune.[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lombardi, Gail G. "A Pictorial History of Piedmont", Piedmont Post, January 31, 2007.
  2. ^ Math. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  3. ^ An issue of The Globe is viewable here.
  4. ^ Piedmont Middle School Physical Education. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  5. ^ Food Service. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on February 22, 2007.
  6. ^ Menu available here.
  7. ^ a b Rayburn, Kelly. "Oakland native takes current fame in stride", Oakland Tribune, February 25, 2007.
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