| Lakota Middle School | |
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Home of the Falcons
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| Location | |
| 1415 SW 314th St. Federal Way, WA 98023 United States |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1960, 2010 |
| Principal | Pam Tuggle |
| Enrollment | 700 (approximately) |
| Color(s) | Red and White |
| Mascot | Falcon |
| Information | (253) 945-4800 |
| Website | schools.fwps.org/lakota/ |
Lakota Middle School is a public school within the Federal Way School District and located in Federal Way, Washington, United States. It is located adjacent to the City of Federal Way's Lakota Park. Students come from three elementary schools: Adelaide, Green Gables, and Twin Lakes. Lakota is a feeder school for Decatur High School.[1] The school has a self-described “conservative” uniforms policy about acceptable clothing items and usage.[2] The school's new facility has noteworthy sustainable features including on-site generation of electricity through rooftop photovoltaic panels.
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Standards and research-based instructional strategies are components of the school’s curriculum. Core content areas are language arts, math, social studies, and science. Primary focus areas are reading, math and writing. All students are required to participate in physical education as well as either music or an elective class. Students in sixth and seventh grades are organized in teams or “houses” with core teachers and students in eighth grade and the Cambridge Checkpoint Prep Academy are in conventional six period schedules. The school participates in the National Junior Honor Society.
Music is a core program at the school which offers band, jazz band, orchestra, and choir. Over 200 students (over 25%) participate in the music program.[3]
It is a school requirement that each student participate in daily Physical Education classes.[4] The school uses the park's athletic fields and the community has access to the school's gymnasium. The following athletic programs are offered:
* Americorps
* A.V.I.D. (Advancement Via Individual Determination)
* Cambridge Checkpoint Preparatory Academy
* H.E.R.O. (Honoring Education and Respecting Others)
Accelerated Reader, Advanced Placement/Pre-AP, Associated Student Body (ASB) & Leadership, Band, Cheer Squad/Team, Choral Music, Dance/ Drill Team, Drama Club, ELL English Language Learners, ELO Extended Learning, Equity Club, Friends of Rachel, Intramurals, Jazz Band, Latino Girls Club or Latino Club, Learning Resource Room, Math Team/Club, Nat’l Junior Honor Society, Orchestra, PTSA, Science Club, Special Ed Inclusion, Special Ed Resource Room, Special Ed Self-Contained, Sports, Summer School/classes, Technology Lab, Yearbook.
The school opened in 1960 as Lakota Junior High School for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students. It became a middle school in 2003.[5] The school is named for Lakota, an American Indian people. The school’s website states that Lakota also means “considered friends,” or “alliance of friends.”[6]
The school underwent a major renovation and expansion in 2009-2010 which was occupied by the school in time for the start of the 2010-2011 school year. Most of the existing school remained occupied and in operation throughout construction.
The new 92,500-square-foot (8,590 m2) Lakota Middle School was designed for 800 students. The District’s principle of “Focus on Student Learning” led to the academic spaces being grouped into Small Learning Communities which foster personalized learning. Most of the school was replaced by the new facility, except the gymnasium which was renovated. The design was conceived as “A School in the Park”. Bassetti Architects were the new architects for the new facility. A new exterior landscape element called "The Green" serves as a refuge for the school community and was designed for casual learning, gathering, and outdoor performance.[7]
The school was designed to exceed the requirements of the Washington Sustainable School Protocol, a state-mandated performance standard based on the LEED Silver Rating.[8] The facility has rooftop solar panels that comprise the largest thin film solar cell photovoltaic energy generation installation in the state (as of 2011). This is a 39 kW system designed to offset 13 percent of the school’s energy cost.[9] Eighty percent of materials from the old school building were recycled or reused in the new school, including recycled wood, electrical equipment, steel, glass, bricks, and fill material created onsite from existing concrete.[10]