John Jay Middle School

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John Jay Middle School is a public school located in Cross River, New York. It is the only middle school in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District. The school includes three grades, from grade six to grade eight. It was named after John Jay, an American statesman, who is best known serving as the first chief Justice of the United States from 1789 to 1795.

John Jay Middle School
Location
Cross River, New York, United States of America
Information
Principal Alice Cronin
Staff 132
Faculty 180
Type Public school
Grades 6-8
Color(s) Purple, White, Black
Homepage jjms.klschools.org

Contents

[edit] Faculty

John Jay Middle School boasts about 180 members in its faculty which includes teachers, administration, custodians, monitors, special education helpers, and library aids.

[edit] Teachers

John Jay Middle School has 132 teachers, in subjects ranging from English to Earth Science.

[edit] Students

Students live in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, which includes Katonah, Cross River, Waccabuc, Goldens Bridge, and controversial parts of South Salem, North Salem, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Brewster, Bedford hills, Bedford, and Pound Ridge.

Students are of a wide variety of races and heritages, from Native American, to West-Pacific Islander.

[edit] Education Structure

Each of the three grades is divided into multiple teams. Students are supposedly randomly distributed to a random team, according to their grade. Each team usually has a set of four academic teachers who coordinate team events, team schedules, and team curriculum. Teams of the same grade usually meet to coordinate grade events as well as to discuss the education of the whole student body. The teams by grade are as follows:

6th Grade - Determination, Symphony, Synergy, Transformation

7th Grade - Dream, Imagine, Triumph

8th Grade - Endeavor, Integrity, Summit

School officially begins at 7:45 a.m. and ends at 2:17 p.m. There are nine periods a day, with each period being one class.

[edit] Classes

John Jay Middle Schools offer basic academic classes in the 6th grade, and adds additional accelerated classes as the grades progress.

Along with academic classes, all students of John Jay Middle School must take a music course each grade. These include either playing an instrument in the band or orchestra, being in the choir, or taking a "music media" class in 6th and 7th grade. 8th graders are able to take "fun with guitars" instead of "music media". Unified arts is also another mandatory course. Each year, a period is set for either art, technology, or "home and careers".

6th Grade - English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Spelling/Learning Center, Gym/Music, Unified Arts

The 6th Grade English and Math classes take place during three consecutive periods, the middle period split in half, giving both English and Math an extra twenty minutes. The anchoring of this period is determined by the team teachers. Science and Social Studies can also be anchored, giving students a double period of a subject every other day. Spelling/Learning Center is a daily class set aside for all students at different times of the day. These classes are held in unused rooms during that period. Depending on the teacher, this period may be a study hall for students, or a Spelling class for others. These teachers are usually physical education teachers.

7th Grade - English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Academic Extension, Gym/Music, Unified Arts, World Language

The 7th Grade English and Math classes are no longer three periods all together. Instead, the third period is replaced with a world language, which is chosen by the student at the end of their 6th grade year. The languages available are Spanish, French, and Latin. Spanish is the most popular and said to be "easy", and Latin is the least popular and said to be "hard". French is between the two. However, these beliefs are completely false, as each language includes the same amount of work. Academic Extension is the "Learning Center" of 7th grade. This period has a "rotation pattern" that is organized by the team teachers. Students are split into groups according to their accelerated capability, explained in the next paragraph. During this period, the teacher usually takes this time to either review class work, teach non-curriculum based information, or allows the students to have a study hall. Accelerated classes are introduced in the 7th grade, which are offered to students with a teacher recommendation, or parental request. The only accelerated course available to 7th grade students is accelerated math. Accelerated students, or "accelerated" are expected to retain a "B" average, complete accelerated work, and answer more questions with a greater accuracy than that of an average student, commonly referred to as a "standard" after their class name. Above all this, accelerated students must have double the time in math academic extension schedules than in any other subject.

8th Grade - English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Academic Extension, Gym, World Language, Unified Arts, Music

The 8th grade schedule is more complex, a result of being offered not one, but two accelerated classes: Integrated Algebra (Accelerated Math 8) and/or Earth Science (Accelerated Science 8). Now, academic extensions might only take place once every other day if you are in Accelerated Math, and Accelerated Science will also take place every other day, anchoring with your music course or physical education.

[edit] Facilities

John Jay Middle School has a total of three floors, the top two lined with classrooms and lockers. Recently constructed halls at the south end of the building are commonly called "the new hall(s)". The bottommost floor, or the basement, has a band room, a choir room, and a room with guitars which also serves as the orchestra room. There are also a kitchen and two classrooms for home and careers classes. The John Jay Middle School has two full basketball gyms, commonly referred to as the "old gym" and "new gym". Physical education classes take place in the gyms. Also, the middle school has a weight room, or "fitness center" which physical education classes may also take place in. The Middle School also has a full theater and stage, with over 300 person seating. The John Jay campus also boasts a full turf football field with a 400 meter track around it. To the west of the school, there is also another field which can be used to play football or hold P.E. classes.

[edit] Social Events

All social events are organized by the elected representitives student council.

[edit] Recent History

None, at the moment

[edit] Contact

John Jay Middle School , 40 North Salem Road, Rt. 121 , Cross River, NY 10518 Phone: 914- 763-7500 | Fax: 914-763-7658 Writer of the Article - a student of JJMS