Cavaliers, as you know - we will be creating a true middle school next year when we bring our 6th grade up to join our 7th and 8th grade at our current JH/HS campus. We are excited - we truly believe this is what is best for the development of our students. Please take a few moments to read this fantastic article written for our Cavalcade by Paige Schmidt, one of our Journalism staff:
MIDDLE SCHOOL, NOT JUNIOR HIGH
Roncalli reorganizes for educational, space benefits
By Paige Schmidt
In an effort to do what’s best for students, better serve their educational needs, and meet the mission statement, ACSS will reconfigure to include a sixth through eighth grade middle school at the high school building.
This upcoming modification will be an adjustment for many people, but there is also a great deal of support and excitement.
Space constraints, due to large numbers of incoming kindergarten students, sparked the original need for change.
“We have been on-boarding kindergarten classes that are 50 or above which has required us to create three sections for those kindergarten classes,” ACSS President Tim Weisz said. “We were looking for the proper space in our buildings, so one of the solutions is that we move the second grade up to the elementary building and the sixth graders up to the high school building.”
Although the initial reason for the plan was the need for space and the desire to grow Roncalli, there has also been significant research that shows it will benefit students, especially the moving grades and those surrounding them. Having a middle school would allow for the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to be eased into the high school level learning more gradually.
“The middle school concept really works to prepare them [6-8 graders] at a slower pace to be ready for high school,” Principal Paula Florey said. “Right now, it’s more like a mini high school, and we expect a lot out of our seventh and eighth graders.”
Because of how monumental this change is, there are a few concerns that have surfaced.
“I think, from what I have heard, the hesitancy with bringing the sixth graders up is that they will be treated like the seventh and eighth graders now, and they don’t think they are mature enough yet for that,” Florey said. “But they have to understand that it is a totally different concept.”
Despite the slight unease, there are many teachers that have expressed their approval and enthusiasm surrounding the middle school.
“I would be excited to have the 6th grade join us,” religion teacher Cherie Shishnia said. “I think it would be good to give the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders more opportunities and to focus on them as a group separate from the high school by focusing specifically on their needs and by providing age-appropriate activities along with a tailored middle school education system.”