Montgomery Upper Middle School

Built in 1989, Montgomery Upper Middle School is one of two middle schools in Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in 7th and 8th grade. Montgomery Upper Middle School, often abbreviated as MUMS, or just UMS, is part of the Montgomery Township School District, which serves students from Belle Mead, Skillman, northeast Princeton, and Rocky Hill. The school has been recognized by the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, the highest award an American school can receive.[1][2]

Montgomery Upper Middle School is located at 375 Burnt Hill Road in Skillman, New Jersey. The building is less than 1000 feet from the Lower Middle School. There are several housing developments near the building.

The mascot of Montgomery Upper Middle School is the cougar. The school colors are forest green and gold. The school has solar panels in the parking lot to help save energy. The Auditorium was renamed to the William J. Robbins auditorium after the school's former principal who retired in 2011.

Awards and recognition

During the 1999-2000 school year, Montgomery Upper Middle School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.[3] Montgomery Upper Middle School was nominated for the program "Schools to Watch" in 2010.

Recent School Changes

With the completion of the new high school in 2005, the Montgomery Township School District has reorganized its grades. The old middle school is now Montgomery Lower Middle School, serving grades 5 and 6, while Montgomery Upper Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 in the old high school. The new high school serves grades 9-12. Up until the completion of the Lower Middle School in 1996 (originally called Montgomery Middle School), this building housed grades 7-12.

Student body

As of the 2010-2011 school year, there were 888 students enrolled (data for current 7th and 8th graders), as provided by the National Center for Education Statistics.[4] Students of each grade are split into 4 different teams, Team A, B, C, and D in which they usually have 5 different teachers, explained in the core classes section.

Faculty

There are 73 faculty members as of 2004-2005. The student to teacher ratio is 14.1:1. There are at least 5 core teachers on each team, and other teachers teaching cycle and elective classes. We also have 2 counselors, one for each grade, and a Student Resource Officer (SRO) from the Montgomery Police Department on-campus.

Administration

Core classes

There are 5 classes considered "core classes." These courses are year-round, daily classes that every student must take. These include: Language Arts, Math, Foreign Language, Social Studies, and Science. A teacher is assigned to each subject, and only teaches that subject throughout the 5 core periods of the day. With the exception of the Foreign Languages teacher, a "team" is considered to be composed of the 4 other core classes. Each team contains approximately 100 students, 4 (possibly 5, depending on which teams Foreign Language Teachers are placed) core subject teachers, and several support personnel (student teachers, assistants, etc.). The team that a student receives generally determines which teachers they have for core classes. When a student is assigned a core teacher (including Foreign Languages) not on his primary team, he is said to "cross-team". For the 2005-2006 school year, the team a student is on is based on his/her Social Studies teacher.

Foreign Languages

Montgomery Upper Middle School offers 7th and 8th graders 3 languages for their foreign language selection, French, Spanish, and German. 6th grade students choose the language they will take in 7th grade. Students may switch languages year to year. There are two levels for each language, designated with numbers. French 1, for example, is generally taken in 7th grade, and is easier than the 8th grade course of French, French 2. Some students opt to switch out of their language class between 7th and 8th grade to choose another of the 3 languages. If the switch out they will be placed int a part one class, with 7th grades. In the high school, 3 additional languages are offered, Italian, Chinese and Latin.

Elective/Cycle Classes

Besides the 5 core classes each student must take, they must also take elective and cycle classes. Elective classes are student-chosen, while cycle classes are mandatory, and based around the A-B day schedule. Electives include: Art, Digital Media Production, Television Design, Family Consumer Sciences, Industrial Technology, Drama, Band, Orchestra,and Chorus. Cycle classes are in the students A-B schedule. Depending on what day it is, the student will either go to Physical Education/Health, or their cycle class. Electives are not on the A-B cycle and with the exception of taking Band and Orchestra students may take 2 of these classes, one for each half of the school year. Also, during the whole school year, students must take 20 minutes of "flex" during their lunch period. Most Wednesdays the students participate in an Advisory schedule which has a period set aside for teachers to participate in an activity with students.

Schedule

Each day has 8 periods, each of which is 47 minutes long. Students are allowed 3 minutes between periods. School begins at 8:25 until dismissal at 3:13. 5 Periods are taken up by the students 5 core classes. One period is lunch and flex. One other period is the students elective. The remaining period is based around the A-B day schedule, called the cycle period.

A-B Day

Every school day is assigned either A or B. This letter indicates which class to go to for the students cycle period. When it is an A day, for example, a student may go to his/her cycle class. When it is a B day, the student will go to his/her Physical Education/Health class. The days go on an alternating bases. If yesterday was an A day, then today is a B day, and tomorrow is another A day. If school is closed because of inclement weather, then the day count continues. For example, if yesterday was an A day, then today should be a B day. However, we did not have school today because of snow. The following day, the day is another A day. The snow day counted as the B day, even though no one was in school. Holidays and breaks do not count, so in the above scenario (replacing snow day with a holiday), the following day would be a B day.

2007 GEPA (Grade Eight Proficiency Test) Results

% at or above proficient

Science: 97% (State average was 79% for 2007)
Language Arts: 94% (State average was 74% in 2007)
Math: 91% (State average was 68% in 2007)

References

  1. ↑ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  2. ↑ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  3. ↑ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), accessed May 11, 2006.
  4. ↑ National Center for Educational Statistics' page for MUMS.

Coordinates: 40°25′19″N 74°40′33″W / 40.422032°N 74.675773°W / 40.422032; -74.675773

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