Meigs Magnet
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Meigs Magnet is an magnet school in the city of Nashville, Tennessee for 5th to 8th grade students. Their mission is to produce educated, responsible, productive citizens for the 21st century by providing a learning environment that challenges and encourages enthusiastic, creative thinkers.
The Meigs Middle Magnet program was implemented in 1983. At that time, general guidelines were determined by the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education. The guidelines required that foreign languages, related studies and computer instruction be featured in the school. Students who demonstrate an above average academic ability are chosen by lottery from across the county for the opportunity to participate in learning activities that foster the development of self-discipline and assist in learning how to make responsible choices. The curriculum is classical in content.
[edit] Profile
Our mission is to produce educated, responsible, productive citizens for the 21st century by providing a learning environment that challenges and encourages enthusiastic, creative thinkers. We envision a school in which academic achievement is as high as any other magnet school in the US and not related to students’ ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, or religion. Our school will not only be recognized for its student achievement levels, but also for its creative curriculum which encompasses challenging academics, state-of-the-art technology, expanding arts exploration, and varied foreign language offerings.
[edit] History
Meigs began as a grammar school for African American students in 1867. Named in honor of James L. Meigs, Nashville’s second superintendent of schools, it was originally housed in a brick building that had been used as a gun factory during the Civil War. Because the city had no high schools open to African American students, Meigs added grades 9 and 10 in 1886 and grade 11 one year later. In 1888, Meigs graduated its first class of seniors.
Meigs’ high school classes were moved to Pearl in 1889, and for the next sixty years, the school educated African American students in grades K – 8. During this time, a tornado leveled the original Meigs school building. The school was rebuilt in 1933. In 1958, Meigs again became a high school and graduated classes through the spring of 1969. In 1970, it became a junior high school.
To satisfy desegregation requirements set forth by the federal court, the Nashville School Board voted to create an academic magnet school in an inner city area. Caldwell Magnet School opened its doors to 450 students in August 1983. Within just three years, the magnet school program outgrew its Caldwell facility and moved, in August 1986, to the larger Meigs building at 713 Ramsey Street. At the end of the 2001 school year, the program was temporarily moved to an empty school building (the former Highland Heights Middle School) while a new facility was being rebuilt. In August, 2004, the students returned to the newly built Meigs Middle Magnet School on its original site
[edit] Mission & Beliefs
Mission Statement: The mission of Meigs Middle Magnet School is to challenge the potential of our high achieving students to be enthusiastic and successful learners, creative thinkers, and responsible citizens.
Vision Statement: Our vision is for Meigs Middle Magnet School to provide the most exciting and compelling learning environment available for high-achieving middle school students.
[edit] Curriculum Offerings
Meigs Magnet School is a school of choice, offering in-depth instruction for academically gifted and talented students. Instruction begins each morning at 7:45 and concludes each afternoon at 2:45. In addition to traditional core studies, the curriculum is enhanced with courses in the arts and foreign language. Students have an opportunity to take art, computer, drama, and music each year they are enrolled at Meigs. Fifth, sixth and seventh graders rotate among these classes, along with physical education and foreign language each six weeks throughout the year. Weekly “Encore” classes are offered to qualified students in grades five and six. Band, strings, and choir classes are available to students in grades five through eight.
For the students eighth grade year, students can audition for advanced classes in art, computer, multimedia design, drama and select choir. Advanced related arts students attend these classes all year. Students may also take level one French, Spanish or Latin to earn a foreign language high school credit. High school credits in physical science, Algebra I, and Geometry can also be earned.
[edit] Student Population Data
Students entering Meigs must meet academic eligibility requirements. Their reading and math TCAP scores in third grade must both be advanced; they also must have an 85% average or better for the second semester of third grade and the first two grading periods of fourth grade.
Each applicant is arbitrarily assigned a number which is then placed in a lottery. Once the first 185 slots of fifth grade students are selected, the remaining applicants are put on a waiting list in the order drawn. The 185 slots made available for the start of the 2006 – 2007 school year is the largest 5th grade class since the inception of Meigs Magnet Middle School. Until 1998, when the Metro Nashville School System received unitary status, student enrollment had to comply with a court ordered 70/30 ratio majority/minority racial mix.
Students come to Meigs from all over Davidson County; for this reason, our student population mirrors the city’s socioeconomic profile. Twenty-seven different zip codes are represented at Meigs and show a relatively equal distribution over the four geographic sections of the county. There is, however, a fairly high number of students coming to Meigs from the Antioch and Bellevue areas—two of the more populated areas of Davidson County. Also, 81 of our 674 students attend Meigs as their school of choice rather than their zoned school of J.T.Moore Middle School, which is located near the Green Hills area of Nashville. Transportation is not provided for magnet school students. Parents must make arrangements for their travel to and from school. Carpools and public transportation are most often utilized.
Meigs current enrollment is 674 students. This population is 46% male and 54% female. White students comprise 68.8% of the population, while 22% are African American, 6.4% are Asian, 2.7% are Hispanic and 0.1% is American Indian. The Free/Reduced Lunch Program includes 15% of the total population. Meigs has no ELL students; .3% has been certified as eligible for special education services.
Students at Meigs are active learners. The school is focused on student achievement and discipline is proactive. Major discipline incidents are rare at Meigs. For the 2005 – 2006 school year, out-of-school suspensions involved only .04% of the population. The 2005-2006 transfer rate was 3.4% for Meigs. Our students achieve and meet the system promotion standards. Last year’s promotion rate was 100%. Our attendance rate for the same year was 96.8%..
Student progress is routinely monitored, and interventions are developed to address areas of concern. Parents are provided multiple means by which to communicate with the school. A school webpage is maintained, with links to each teacher. Every teacher has a school e-mail address and a “TeacherWeb” page containing information about curriculum and homework assignments for that classroom. Meigs purchases an on-line gradebook system for parents to monitor their children’s grades via the internet. Parent e-mail addresses are entered in a list-serve which currently enables us to communicate with all parent groups. A weekly newsletter is published electronically and sent to parents via e-mail as well as posted to the school’s web-site each Tuesday. Print copies are made available in the school office for parents requesting this format.
== Sports
The Meigs Magnet sports teams dominate in all sporting events. The girls soccer team has won the City Championship three years in a row. In the 07-08 season the boy's soccer team won 1st in the Eastern Division, and 2nd in City. Meigs also offers Wrestling, Vollyball, Track, Softball, and Basketball at the school. Meigs teams up with local school West End for the Football season. In all sports Meigs in one of the most dominant schools in Davidson County both private and public. ==
