Piedmont Middle School
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| 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 |
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- See also: Piedmont Middle School (disambiguation)
Piedmont Middle School, also known as PMS, is part of the Piedmont Unified School District in Piedmont, California.
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[edit] Background
Piedmont Middle School provides education for students grades six through eight in the city. 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.
The school district of Piedmont is noted for strong academics.
[edit] Location
The school is located next to the joint building of 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. Located on Magnolia Avenue, the middle school is opposite the Piedmont Recreation Department.
Like most Piedmont schools, the middle school is in the center of town, and is only a few blocks away from Mullberry Market, several banks, the police station, and a gas station.
[edit] Campus
Although the school has closed lunch, much of the campus is open to the air. The campus sprawls from its street entrance to Witter Field at the back and Piedmont High School on the right.
[edit] Architecture
Unlike the high school, which was originally built in a neoclassical design in the 1920s, the middle school's design is reflective of its construction in the 1970s.
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 floor and the seventh- and eighth-grade classrooms disbursed throughout the school- which tumbles down a fairly steep hillside.
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. Most hallways and many classroom have views of the Bay.
[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
In 2005, the school's API score was a 918.[2] Ninety-eight percent of teachers are fully credentialed, and the average teaching experience is 15 years.[3]
[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. Unscheduled periods are rare and usually occur only when a student replaces P.E. with an un-athletic extracurricular sport.
[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[4]. 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, Shakespeare, 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. [5]
[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 weekly, if they take full time P.E. If they do not which may only occur in sixth-grade, they run the mile every other week.
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. [6]
[edit] Demographics
The student population is 71 percent white and 20 Asian. Zero percent of students participate in free-lunch programs, and less than 1 percent is in an English-learning program.[3]
[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 thirty-five minute break.
Students may purchase food from "Food Service." Its menu includes cookies, milk, pizza, ceral, chips, pretzels, and drinks. Students may also order "Food for Thought" online and pick it up during lunch. "Food for Thought" is a small, TV dinner like meal with health choices for the students.[7][8] 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 no longer has an open campus for lunch.
[edit] Library
The Piedmont Middle School Library is run by Mrs. Vorhies and has a large variety of books for all the middle school students. They have over 1,000 books not including books for research and biographies. It also has a excellent selection of textbooks and learning materials. Students who cannot participate in other classes such as P.E. spend that time in the library and then return to their normal classes.
[edit] Notable alumni
Actor Clint Eastwood attended what was in the mid-1940s Piedmont Junior High School.[9] Among Eastwood's classmates was Joseph W. Knowland, who later became the publisher of the Oakland Tribune.[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Lombardi, Gail G. "A Pictorial History of Piedmont", Piedmont Post, January 31, 2007.
- ^ 2004-05 Academic Performance Index (API) School Growth Report. State of California Department of Education.
- ^ a b Student Teacher Ratio Piedmont Middle School. GreatSchools.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-26.
- ^ Math. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ An issue of The Globe is viewable here.
- ^ Piedmont Middle School Physical Education. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ Food Service. Piedmont Middle School. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ a b Rayburn, Kelly. "Oakland native takes current fame in stride", Oakland Tribune, February 25, 2007.
