Community Middle School

Community Middle School
Location
95 Grovers Mill Road
Plainsboro, NJ 08536
United States
Information
Type Public Middle School
Motto "If Not Me.... then Who?"
School district West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
Principal Dr. Shauna Carter
Asst. Principal Kyle Schimpf
Guyler Tulp
Faculty 104 (on FTE basis)[1]
Grades 6th to 8th Grade
Enrollment 1,256 (as of 2009-10)[1]
Student to teacher ratio 12.08:1[1]
Color(s) Black and Red and White
            
Athletics Jean Marie Seal, Athletic Director
Nickname CMS
Website School webpage

Community Middle School is a middle school located in Plainsboro, New Jersey in Middlesex County, New Jersey serving students in grades six through eight. The school is part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, a school districtserving students from West Windsor Township (in Mercer County) and Plainsboro Township (in Middlesex County). The school's Science Olympiad has performed at the state and national level, winning the national championship in 2005.

As of the 2011-12 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,166 students and 101.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 11.51:1.[1]

The mascot of Community Middle School is the panther. The school colors are black, red, and white.

Location

Community Middle School is part of a three-school campus that also includes Millstone River Elementary School, which serves fourth and fifth graders, and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, which serves students from ninth to twelfth grade. The district has two additional schools in Plainsboro Township and five other schools in West Windsor Township.

Subjects

There are four academic classes in Community Middle School (math, science, social studies, and integrated reading and language arts) each lasting approximately fifty minutes. Lengths of periods can vary from 40 minutes to 52 minutes. The academic classes are taught by groups of 4 teachers. These teachers and about ninety students make up a team. In each team, there are four (sometimes five) teachers who teach the subjects of IRLA (Integrated Reading and Language Arts), mathematics, science, social studies, and sometimes special services for children. There are also team field trips and team days (often in which students get to watch movies or play games during most of their school day), most of which are not required by the school but are planned and taken by individual teams. In addition to the four basic classes instructed at CMS, there are also three daily classes that last 40 minutes long. These classes are World language classes, A-B day classes (also called electives), and cycle classes.

Seventh graders get to pick one elective, and eighth graders get to pick two electives. In sixth and seventh grade, students have their electives every other day and have physical education in place of the days that do not have electives. Eighth grade students have electives opposite each other in somewhat complicated 2-day schedules.

Cycles are extra curricular classes that each student is assigned to every year. Each cycle is a fraction of the year, and each cycle is a different subject. For example, in the 7th grade each cycle is a marking period, on alternating days, and are either Technology, Health, Music, Computers, Art, or Life Skills. 6th graders have life skills, study hall, health,art, music, and computers. 8th graders have 60 day cycles which consist of Art, Music and Health.

World languages

There are four languages taught at CMS: Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, German, and French. If students wish to learn German or French, sixth grade is the first grade in which those languages are available to students. After that they will not be able to change their language until they enter 9th grade.

A-B Day Classes

A and B Day classes are electives (chosen by the student, starting from 6th grade) and physical education. There are separate classes for these time slots each day, which alternate every day from the first day of school, an A-day. For example, a student may have physical education during one time slot on an A day, but have their chosen elective during the same time slot on a B day.

Cycle classes

Cycles are broken into 6 sections, each panning over 30 school days. Each student goes through all of the cycles but with their assigned cycle group (which they keep throughout the year, in exception to transfers or students entering in the middle of the year). They switch cycle in a rotating pattern. These cycle classes are required, unlike electives, which are chosen by the students.

PRISM

PRISM is a Gifted and Talented program offered to students. Within PRISM, students may choose one of several different programs, including Cognetics, FPS (Future Problem Solving), NHD (National History Day), Rogate, CMPS (Community Middle School Problem Solvers) and Scenario Writing. Most of these programs are available to all grades. Unlike other classes, PRISM is not a required course, even if a student is invited to join. A student may be eligible to attend PRISM classes (which are usually taken during lunch period or during a half-hour period called Flex) but may choose to not attend.

Student Council/Government

The Student Council is made up of 24 team representatives, ad 4 executive board members. The 2 CMS Student Council Advisors are Pamela Scott, and M.Ku . The Student Council plans most of the night events. They plan dances, and other night events. They have a finale dance, with their districts other middle school, TGMS. They are very active throughout the school, being active student leaders. Representative Elections are held in the fall, and Executive Board elections are held in the spring.

A&E

A&E (Accelerated and Enriched Mathematics) is an advanced math program available in the WW-P district for grades 3 to 8 for students who show real exceptional skill and talent in mathematics. A test is taken either during the school year or over the summer, and if a student passes, he/she is accepted into A&E and takes these advanced math classes instead of regular curriculum math classes. A&E students, for the most part, learn math three grades above the normal math level. Depending on the teacher's style of teaching, students may also learn additional math lessons and skills in addition to the regular A&E curriculum.

Advanced Science

There is also an advanced science class for 8th graders in CMS for students with an interest in science called ES. Like A&E, a test is taken for eligibility into the classes. This program was first launched in 2009 (testing began at the end of the 08- 09 school year) and advanced science classes began in the 2009- 2010 school year.

Honor roll

To be eligible for the Honor Roll, students must attain grades in the "B" range or above. To be eligible for Principal's Honor Roll, which is a slightly greater honor, students may only receive one grade in the "B" range; the other grades must be in the A range.

Competitions

CMS is an active participator in the nationwide Science Olympiad, First Lego League, and MathCounts competitions. The school is more well known for its academic achievements and its athletic achievements, having beaten its crosstown rival, Thomas Grover Middle School, in sports competitions for many consecutive years.

Science Olympiad

Multiple teachers, including the prior principal himself, coach the Science Olympiad team. It is a competition with more than 200 students trying out for the 15 person team. All students of all grades are allowed to take the test for the SO team. Testing consists of a first round, which tests for scientific knowledge in a high school level in four or five subjects. The second round is more difficult and those who have passed the first round must select three tests from the list of tests. The second round testing is much more difficult and more refined in specific subjects than the first round of testing, and after the second round, the 15 main team members are chosen, along with some backup members, making a total of about 35 students who eventually make up the school's Science Olympiad team. A maximum of five 9th graders are also allowed into the team. CMS has achieved a rank within the top 10 schools in the nation multiple times in the SO competition.

Accomplishments

Administration

Core members of the school's administration are:[5]

The former administration (lasting since the initial opening of the school itself) with Dr. Arthur C. Downs as Principal and Donna Gibbs-Nini and Stephanie Leroux as Assistant Principals came to an end with the Community Middle School Class of 2009-2010 after which Dr. Downs announced his retirement and the vice principals did as well.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Community Middle School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed August 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ State Board Recognizes Winning National Science Olympiad Team, New Jersey Department of Education press release dated September 7, 2005.
  3. ↑ "National Science Olympiad - May 21, 2005 - Division B" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2006. Retrieved October 14, 2006.
  4. ↑ 2006 MATHCOUNTS National Champion, American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Accessed August 2, 2008.
  5. ↑ Schools, West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed August 22, 2014.

www.ww-p.org

External links

Coordinates: 40°19′20″N 74°35′23″W / 40.322121°N 74.589681°W