Ligon Middle School

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Ligon Middle School
Location
706 East Lenoir Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Coordinates 35.770237, -78.626331
Information
Principal Scott Lyons
Vice principal Lauren Likosar, John Toscano, Ronald Sharpe
Enrollment

1,046 (as of 2005-06)[1]
Faculty 75.0 (on FTE basis)[2]
Student:teacher ratio 13.9[3]
Motto Ligon’s Mission is to embrace diversity, exploration, and service to create a progressive learning community.
Mascot little blues (lynx)
Homepage ligon.wcpss.net

John W. Ligon GT Magnet Middle School is a middle school in the Wake County Public School System located in the Chavis Heights neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina. The principal of the school is Scott Lyons. The school was named as a School of Excellence at the 2006 Magnet Schools of America conference.

Contents

[edit] History

Ligon was founded in 1954, right after the US Supreme Court's ruling on the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education, as an all African-American high school though it has since been integrated. In the 1980s, the school became a middle school. The school has undergone major renovations, including the building of new hallways, a baseball field and classrooms.[4]

[edit] Chapters

[edit] Demographics

Ligon is known to be a very diverse school, which is part of its goal. As of 2007, there were 157 Asian students (~15%), 376 African-American students (~36%), 496 White students (~47%), and 17 Hispanic students (~1%). In addition, students' differences in income and class are shown by the 24% of the school which gets reduced price or free lunches. [5]

[edit] Courses

In Wake County, Ligon is known for its wide elective choices and extracurricular activities. A large number of its NC state-identified Academically Gifted students go on to Enloe High School, consistently ranked among the best high schools in the US.

[edit] Mandatory Courses

Students at Ligon are required to take a Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies course each year, as well as two quarters of either a dance or physical education course. Students in the sixth grade are required to take Ligon Way, a course introducing students to middle school, and either Computer Skills or Keyboarding.

[edit] Electives

Ligon has many extracurricular courses/electives. These can include foreign languages, which include Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, and American Sign Language, as well as Russian (effective as of the 2008-2009 school year) plus standard sports, e.g. Soccer, Basketball or Tennis, and electives can be as specific as Flash software, and Visual Basic programming. Many electives involve students in running the school, such as auditorium tech, yearbook, and LTV (Ligon Television).[6]

Instead of like most middle schools, who only have ten or so, Ligon has about 300 electives. Students can take three electives per quarter, unless they are semester-long, or year-long electives.

[edit] Performing arts

Ligon offers multiple courses in orchestra, band, dance, and acting. Silver Strings, Sinfonia and Ligon Philharmonic, three of Ligon's string orchestras, biannually perform in Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY.[7]

[edit] Clubs/Sports Teams/Councils

Ligon has teams in volleyball, softball, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, roller hockey, track and field and a cheerleading squad.

Besides sports, Ligon has after-school clubs that meet regularly. They can range from the Japanese anime to the national mathematics competition MathCounts. These usually meet once a week or more depending on the club. There is also currently an art club.

Ligon also has a student council board, of 60 students, 20 per grade level. Ligon Student Council (LSC) organizes the school dances, helps teachers around the school, etc. This is an elective that students may apply for. [8]

[edit] Security

Ligon is located in a neighborhood, Chavis Heights, with somewhat notable crime, so security usually is a top priority for school officials.

[edit] Fatalities