| Bell Middle School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 620 Briarwood Rd. San Diego, California. 92139 United States of America |
|
| Information | |
| School type | Public |
| Established | 1969 |
| School district | San Diego Unified School District |
| Principal | Michael Dodson |
| Faculty | 65 |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Enrollment | 1,720 |
| Mascot | Trojans |
| Website | http://sandi.net/bell/ |
Bell Middle School, formerly Bell Junior High School, is a middle school in the South Bay Terrace neighborhood[1] of San Diego, serving grades 6-8.
The school first opened in 1969 and was named after inventor Alexander Graham Bell. For 2006, a school Accountability Report Card listed student demographics as 39.5% Filipino, 36.2% Hispanic, 19% black, and 5.5% white. An Academic Performance Index in 2006 placed it schoolwide at 681 where 800 is the California State goal.[2] As of 2007, the school changed from a junior high school to a middle school.[3]
Part of the school site was used as a sanitary landfill from 1961 to 1967.[4] The landfill is currently known by various names including "Bell Junior High School Landfill", "Paradise Valley Landfill" and "Sweetwater II Landfill".[5] The school buildings are not on the landfill, but the students' playing field is built over the top deck of the landfill.[4] In 2005 the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board reported that groundwater monitoring at the site had detected 26 volatile organic compounds and found concentrations of chromium, iron, manganese, selenium, and vanadium that were above "water quality objectives."[6]