Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School

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Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School (MEMS) is an American seventh and eighth grade public middle school in Manalapan Township, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District.^[2]

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,420 students and 104.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 13.7.^[1]

[edit] Overview

A picture of one of the entrances to MEMS in fall 2006.

The area of MEMS is over 275,000 ft². Since there are about 1,400 students, MEMS sorts its many students into ten "communities" that are named after Greek letters. This school also runs through an A-F schedule. MEMS currently has two stories and underwent renovation from June 2005 to September 2006 (fifteen months, which yielded twenty-seven new classrooms, air conditioning throughout the school, a new courtyard, two new science laboratories, one new computer laboratory, an expansion of the cafeteria, an expansion of the nurse's office, an expansion of the art classrooms, and a new gym. Facilities include girls' and boys' locker rooms, more than one soccer field, a track, several computer laboratories, and a cafeteria. MEMS is noted for its electronic equipment, including smart boards, three to five computers in every room, 20-30 computers in each computer lab, and an electronic account for every lunch-purchasing student.

Clubs, teams, and committees include a student council, a newspaper called the Paw Print Press, a soccer team, a basketball team, a yearbook committee, a cheerleading squad, a tennis team, a track team, a softball team, a baseball team, a wrestling team, a field hockey team, a math club, a Battle of the Books team, etc. There are also programs such as Teen Talk, in which students meet in groups with a guidance counselor to discuss their problems, and a stamp club, in which students meet with the elderly, who share their collection of stamps and sometimes photographs with them. MEMS also has their own television channel on all tvs in MEMS. MEMS Television 64 is on every morning at 7:40 and give all important announcements and upcoming events

A news program ran every morning on televisions around the school

This school is noted for its Academically Talented and With Distinction programs for each subject, which are special projects for those students who wish to challenge themselves. To participate in a WD project, the student's grades in that subject must be B+ or higher, and in AT projects, the student's grades in that subject must be A- or higher. AT/WD projects are usually submitted in competitions such as the New Jersey Social Studies Fair. MEMS is also noted for its above average scores in the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) in the math department.

Other significant programs in MEMS include SITES, a program for advanced science students. It is a year long class which challenges students to exceed in the scientific field while keeping up with the normal science curriculum. Many SITES students participate in the Jersey Shore Science Fair; several of them place each year.

Lockers are either full-sized (five or six feet), half-sized (two to three feet), or medium sized (two to three feet with a separate compartment on top). They used to be all beige, but after construction, were painted either red, blue, or yellow.

[edit] How MEMS Operates

The front entrance to MEMS. A plasma-screen television on the wall displays slideshows of each community with teacher names, picture slideshows, the morning announcement school news show, pictures of student work, etc.

Communities in MEMS are named after Greek letters. There are "community days" once in a while, in which students in each community enjoy a group activity during which they bond and get to know one another. The 7th grade communities are Delta, Gamma, Beta, Alpha, and Zeta. The 8th grade communities are Sigma, Omega, Theta, Kappa, and Lambda. Each community has a sister community with the same schedule; for example, Zeta and Omega are sister communities and have identical time schedules. The exception to this are the sisters Delta and Sigma; Delta has extended periods on B, D, and E days, while Sigma has double periods on these days. Sigma and Delta are usually the largest communities, with Zeta and Theta being the smallest by far; however, starting the 2007-2008 year, Zeta and Theta were supposedly being made into full-size communities.

Schedules usually include sixty to seventy minute classes (homeroom is not a separate period) and seven periods, with a different double period for a different core subject each day. The only communities that do not have to follow this rule are Delta and Sigma (sister communities), which have extended periods for all the core subjects instead of one double period for one core subject. MEMS uses an A-F day system; on days ACE, the 8th grade communities have a double period while seventh graders have physical education or health class, and it is vice versa on BDF days. Students are sorted into three levels of classes (Levels 1, 2, and 3, 1 being the highest).

2006 Test scores show that 93% of 7th graders at MEMS are at or above the level for Language Arts Literacy, as compared to 80%, which is the New Jersey state average. 84% of 7th graders are at or above the level for Math in 2006, as compared to the 64% state average. MEMS is noted for two of its Cycle classes (Cycle classes are similar to electives), which specialize in preparing students for the GEPA standardized testing in 8th grade.

8th grade 2006 scores include 89% in science (state average 79%), 91% in language (state average 74%), and 83% in math (state average 65%).

[edit] Awards

The cover of the 2006-2007 MEMS yearbook.

The MEMS yearbook has been the top 10 list of USA yearbooks for the past eight years.

Two to six students have placed in the Jersey Shore Science Fair for the past ten years.

[edit] News

On March 1, 2007, all students and faculty were evacuated from the building at approximately 12:30 PM. The principal, Mr. Robert Williams, stated over the school loudspeaker that it was a drill and did not allow students to contact their parents. Students and teachers boarded buses to the nearby Wemrock Brook Elementary School. However, it wasn't a drill. A note stating that the school would be bombed at 1:00 PM that same day. Police dogs were sent in to sniff for explosives; firemen and policemen investigated MEMS. It turned out to be a false alarm; the fourteen-year-old student who wrote the note was caught and arrested at 8:00 PM on March 2nd and sent to Monmouth County Youth Detention Center.^[3] On March 2, Mr. Williams and the vice principal encouraged students to give up any information they had about the bomb threat.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Construction from 2005 to 2007

During the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school year, construction took place at MEMS. The construction took place from June 2005 to September 2006. This resulted in the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year being spent at various elementary schools and the first day of school being canceled because the school had failed to receive a Certificate of Occupancy before the school year began. The year began on September 12, 2006 instead of September 11, as originally planned.

A student cuts the ribbon opening MEMS after 9 days of being in elementary schools.

Each eighth grade community was paired with a seventh grade community and sent to an elementary school for nine days in September 2006; in total, six elementary schools were used as hosts to the middle school students. There, classes took place in the elementary school classrooms and gyms; there was one class per classroom and four classes per gym, which resulted in confusion and not much learning. These three weeks were half-day sessions from 7:25 AM to 11:35 AM. Students had to take shuttle buses and then regular buses, which, in the first few days, took up large amounts of time because they had to stop at every elementary school. After three days, the bus rides became shorter as kinks in the system were smoothed out. After the Certificate of Occupancy was received, the MEMS students moved from their various elementary schools to the newly renovated MEMS.^[4][5]

Sigma students work in class at the Clark Mills Elementary school gymnasium.

The elementary schools used were Clark Mills Elementary School, Pine Brook Elementary School, Taylor Mills Elementary School, Milford Brook Elementary School, Wemrock Brook Elementary School, and Lafayette Mills Elementary School. Alpha and Theta went to Taylor Mills, Beta and Zeta went to Wemrock Brook, Gamma and Kappa went to Pine Brook, Delta went to Milford Brook, Sigma went to Clark Mills, and Omega and Lambda went to Lafayette Mills. The elementary school students' schedules remained as it normally would, though they did not have gym classes and some classes might have been placed together as one temporarily to give classrooms to the middle schoolers. Sigma and Delta got whole elementary schools to themselves because they are the two largest communities.

One of the new computer labs opened in the 2006-2007 school year after construction.

After construction, there were twenty-seven new classrooms, air conditioning throughout the school, a new courtyard, two new science laboratories, one new computer laboratory, an expansion of the cafeteria, an expansion of the nurse's office, an expansion of the art classrooms, and a new gym.^[6]

The school underwent some criticism for its delayed opening, its system of housing different communities at elementary schools, and the sometimes poor bus system while the students were at the elementary schools. However, while some thought that the school handled the situation poorly, others believed that the administration did the best it could under the situation. ^[7]

[edit] Graduation

The 2006-2007 graduation ceremony inside Brookdale Community College. It was held inside because of the rain.

Eighth graders are given a graduation ceremony. It used to be held outside Manalapan High School, but is now held at Brookdale Community College. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony is moved inside. Eighth graders practice for this ceremony for about a week in one of the school gyms. They practice walking in, sitting down, standing, and receiving their diplomas. All students are given a red robe; the measurements for this robe are taken in the beginning to the middle of the school year. One cannot graduate if they have library books they owe, debt in their lunch account, or, obviously, if their grades are not acceptable. The ceremony is typically two to three hours long.

The school holds an essay contest to see who gets to read a speech during graduation. There are two winners per community. The class president also reads a speech, alongside important figures such as the school principal. Each household receives three tickets to the graduation ceremony. Additional tickets cannot be bought due to space issues. Typically, the students walk in to graduation music, sit down, listen to speeches, receive their diplomas, and then the ceremony ends. After the ceremony, students go to specially marked flags with their community and meet up with their parents there. After that, they may take pictures and/or leave. Graduation is the last day of school, and students do not attend school; they head straight to Brookdale.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School website
• National Center for Education Statistics data for the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District
• Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School profile provided by schooltree.org
• Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School profile provided by greatschool.net