Our Philosophy

Mission Statement

We take P.R.I.D.E. in the belief that we must ignite a fire for learning in our students.  In order to ignite that fire, we must create learning experiences that are personal, relevant, growth and improvement based, and allow students to discover and create a culture of empathy.

Middle School Philosophy

Teaming

Students are placed on one of six academic teams for their core classes.  (Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies)  This team of 4 teachers (see our teams pages for the teachers) have the same 135 students for all of these core classes.  This allows this one team of teachers to get to know these students very well, both educationally and personally.  Teams meet on a weekly basis with our counseling and administrative team to discuss supports to students, making sure they are getting exactly what they need for both their educational and social emotional needs.  

The layout of the school supports this same philosophy.  There is one team in each 'pod' of the school, allowing all 4 of these classes to be in the immediate vicinity of each other in the pod.  Students do not travel outside of the pod except for lunch and their elective opportunities.  Each team becomes a very close-knit community, essentially creating a school within a school.  

Counseling and Administrative Support

We have counselors and administrators assigned to each team.  These are adults for both students and parents to reach out to whenever they need anything for their student.  All of these assignments are on the team pages.  This provides great continuity for both the students as well as the parents.