School to Community Connection
Mar. 2, 2006

Plans for the transition of Healdsburg Jr. High (HJH) from a 7th-8th grade campus to a middle school with 6th-8th grade students has become more defined. Faculty and staff for all three grade levels have a curriculum plan to meet the State Standards for all subjects, the school board has approved the “2-2-2” program model for 6th grade students and we have determined classroom configuration and placement. What’s next — teacher meetings to work out details of curriculum and site logistics will continue through the spring on a twice monthly basis; a panel of students from HJH will visit all the surrounding elementary school 5th and 6th grade classes (Foss Creek, Healdsburg Elementary, Westside and Alexander Valley) to answer incoming student questions (date to be announced); all the 5th and 6th grade students will visit HJH for a tour and brief talk by me (date to be announced); there will be an orientation meeting for parents on April 26 at 6:30 PM in the HJH Multi Purpose Room (enter from Fitch).

On two days of the recent student “ski week” break, approximately 20 teachers from all grades met to plan curriculum and identify the challenges of bringing additional students and faculty onto the campus. HJH teachers Rita Minkin and Arlie Haun report that these meetings were highly collaborative and productive. Although the school district has regular meetings by grade level and school site, the opportunity for teachers at different sites to meet and discuss specifics of curriculum is not often possible. These recent meetings enabled the faculty to address their concerns for the benefit of the students, as well as faculty and staff.

During these meetings, the faculty walked the campus to identify and work on the logistics of having more students on campus. Some challenges “solved” by this process were the P.E. locker room needs and how the additional students will be accommodated at all-school assemblies. There are many other details such as these that we are working on as a team to assure a smooth start this fall for students and staff.
An important decision concerning how a 6th grader will move through classes at the middle school has been made—we are going to use the “2-2-2” model. With this model, a 6th grade student will have 3 to 4 teachers and classroom changes, including P.E. The 6th grade student will have one teacher for the Math and Science Core, another for the English and History Core, another for P.E. and another for Enrichment. For some, the Enrichment class may be taught by a teacher they have for one set of their Core subject classes. The two classes that form a “Core” are taught “back to back” in the same classroom allowing the teacher to focus on the subject area the students need most on any given day. This program model will ease 6th grade students into changing classrooms, reduce the number of subjects the teachers must prepare for allowing them to specialize on their strengths, and give the teachers more time to identify and work on student needs.
Another exciting aspect for incoming 6th graders is that there will be a full complement of enrichment “wheel” courses such as music, keyboarding and art, and daily P.E. for 6th graders. Band students will have daily music class, as well. This year during the six week art enrichment segment, HJH students have had daily art classes based on the California Standards for Visual Arts. In addition, the Plaza Arts Center awarded our art program with $2,000 for materials. Student work from these art classes is on display through March 3 at Plaza Arts Center and Gallery at 130 Plaza Street in Healdsburg.
 
The plans for housing the 6th grade classes are also in place. In June, the warehouse located across College from the main campus will be removed to make way for temporary placement of four new portable classrooms. Two existing portables will be reconfigured to make three more classrooms. The seven total classrooms will be full-size classrooms for the 6th grade students coming to the site this fall.

The transition planning is going well and your input is always welcome. Information is being posted on the school website at http://www.hjh.husd.com/  and includes a “Frequently Asked Questions” section updated as decisions are made. If your question does not appear, please contact me, Principal John Curry, at 431-3410 or by e-mail at john.curry@husd.com.  Go Greypups!

By John Curry, Principal
Healdsburg Junior High School