| Woodrow Wilson Middle School - Pre Law Magnet School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| 83-501 Dillon Avenue, Indio, CA 92201 |
|
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1964 |
| Principal | Harry Munoz |
| Faculty | 0 |
| Information | (760) 775-3880 |
| Colors Mascot |
Blue/Gold Nomad |
Woodrow Wilson Middle School (WMS) - Pre Law Magnet School was a middle school (grades 6 to 8) in Indio, California in the Desert Sands Unified School District. The school was named for US President Woodrow Wilson and the first school year was 1964, but closed its doors in 2009 after 45 years in session.
They were the second oldest middle school after Thomas Jefferson Middle School (Indio) where WMS had an earlier site in 1962 to 64. The official school mascot name is the "Nomads" to represent the area's seasonal economy and residents live in the Coachella Valley of the California Desert.
It was once the alternative middle school for all students residing in the eastern half of the Coachella Valley in the Desert Sands district zone (i.e. Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta and Palm Desert) north of Avenue 48 and west of Jefferson Street. This was the case until the 1980s when Palm Desert Middle School and later La Quinta Middle School opened its doors.
When the school closed, 460 students (down from 800 in 2004 and 1200 in year 2001), mainly residents of Indio, the northern section between Indio Blvd. and Interstate 10, and those from zip code 92203. The school boundaries shrank, changed and designed to accommodate certain sections of Indio. The city has three other middle schools: Thomas Jefferson Middle, Indio Middle School and John Glenn Middle School of International Studies.
Woodrow Wilson Middle School is a Pre Law Magnet School, the only one of its kind in the school district. The school provides all required classes that provide Math, English, Social Studies, Music (the Wilson Middle school band appears in the annual Indio National Date Festival parades every Feb.), P.E. including sports (softball, football, basketball, volleyball, and track & field) and several elective courses of various academic subjects.
The majority of their students attend Indio High School, but a certain percentage choose La Quinta and Palm Desert High Schools since these high schools ranked higher in state and federal academic standards.
In November 1993, Wilson Middle School students commemorated the 30th anniversary of their school by burial of a time capsule with articles and toys to represent the trends of 1994 and the time capsule will be opened on June 15, 2024.
As of June 2009, Wilson Middle School will officially close its doors. The DSUSD will open a new middle school, Desert Ridge Middle Academy in late Aug. Like WMS, the transferred Desert Ridge students reside in North Indio between Indio Blvd., I-10 and State Highway 111 and like Jefferson, the student body was predominantly Hispanic.