| King Philip Middle School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 100 King Philip Drive West Hartford, Connecticut 06117 United States |
|
| Information | |
| School type | Public Middle School |
| Opened | 1955 |
| School district | West Hartford Public Schools |
| Principal | Michael Renkawitz |
| Assistant principals | Bruce Barger, Karen Kukish |
| Grades | 6-8 |
| Number of students | 1000 |
| Mascot | Mustang |
| Website | Official School Website |
King Philip Middle School is a middle school in the town of West Hartford, Connecticut.[1] It is one of the West Hartford Public Schools as well as one of three public middle schools in the town of West Hartford.[2] The school has 88 teachers, 74% of whom hold a postgraduate degree.[3] The school is beginning to move some homework and study related activities online.[4]
Contents |
Currently King Philip's school days are based on a eight period schedule (as opposed to a previous nine period schedule) consisting of a "Morning Advisory" at the beginning of the day referred to as Period Zero. There are also five required academics (generally: Math, World Language, Social Studies or Reading, Science, and Language Arts/English), as well as two "specials", or Unified Arts, or "U.A.'s" (generally: Visual Art, Technological Education, Health, General Music, and Physical Education). The remaining period is "Learning Lab" (either being Orchestra, Band, Choir-the performance music groups-a free study period, or Quest). Lunch is not currently being considered a period, though it was in past years only being changed to the eight period schedule in the 2009-2010 year. Therefore, there are still technically 9 periods. For students "Learning Lab" will rotate, one learning lab being Monday/Thursday, the other Tuesday/Friday. Wednesday will alternate every other week (with exceptions) between the Monday/Thursday schedule, and Tuesday/Friday schedule. For example, Choir Monday/Thursday schedule, Orchestra Tuesday/Friday. The school year is split into four marking periods (or quarters), and five "rotations" of several combinations of the Unified Arts.
Each grade is split into three teams, each having a team leader, and five standard academic teachers, a Special Education teacher, and 4 counselors, which will counsel the kids that have kids that have last names which start with their assigned "letters". For example, if someone's last name is Smith, and a counselor's "letters" are S-Q, then they will have that counselor. There is also a grade wide Unified Arts team.[5] Each team is named after a gemstone. For example: Diamond, Opal, Garnet, or Amethyst.[6][7] Students in each team would not have the same academic or Unified Arts classes with those in another team in most cases, exceptions usually due to the school's honor system (above grade courses).
The school was named after King Philip, a war chief of the Wampanoag Indians and their leader in King Philip's War.
The building was completed in 1955, and cost $3,446,540.44. It is on 42 acres (170,000 m2), and the building is 186,000 sq ft (17,300 m2). It has a capacity of 700 for elementary students and 830 for junior high.
King Philip opened in September 1955, with 345 students, and a teaching staff of 17. The school day was made up of 7 periods.
During the 1961-1962 school year, French and Spanish were offered as electives two periods per week. During the fifth period of the day, the entire school studied or elected a music activity. Clubs and athletic activities were carried out before and after school. Some 7th and 9th grade students were offered accelerated programs.
During 1962-1963 year, a flexible form of individualized scheduling was introduced, and block scheduling was eliminated. Also, a reading consultant was provided for 3 days a week for additional help.