American Schools Re: June's OT Board Dictionary Launched

[KathyK]

Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon wrote:
 
>In theory, at least, a Junior High and a Middle School are not the 
same thing.  A Junior High is run like a high school: lockers, big 
impersonal gyms, changing classes seven times a day, etc., only for 
slightly younger kids.  A Middle School is run as a transition from 
an elementary school to a high school; kids typically change classes 
less often, they're often in a "pod" of students who all see the 
same teachers, there's usually a counselor or administrator who 
oversees each pod, locker areas are supervised, and so on.<

KathyK:

My junior high seems to have been a little bit of both.  We switched 
classes seven times a day, had lockers lining the hallways, and had 
large gyms.  But we also sort of had those pods.  The school housed 
both 7th and 8th grades, with each grade divided into four different 
teams.  Each team rarely interacted with the others.  Within the 
teams, students were divided into four different groups for the 
basic classes of math, english, social studies, and science.  We 
used colors for ours.  

In seventh grade I was on the "Green" Team and I was an "Army 
Green."  The only times I saw my friends from the Blue, Red, or 
Purple teams were at lunch where we were made to sit with our team 
members anyway, or in classes such as chorus or gym.

Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon about ninth grade centers:
 
>Actually, the usual justification is cost - a new high school is 
*very* expensive to build and staff, while a ninth grade center is 
smaller and cheaper, doesn't require the hiring of nearly as many 
new faculty members, and takes the pressure off the main campus 
almost as well.<

My town did that with the kindergarten classes.  There used to be 
kindergarten classes in the elementary schools when I was that 
young.  But a few years later they moved them all to this school 
building that wasn't currently housing any students to make room for 
more children.  

Also, in an effort to save money that would be spent if the town 
were to build a new high school or second middle school, it keeps 
adding on to the existing buildings.  The high school renovation 
completed a few years ago seems to be doing it's job thus far.  
However, the addition to the middle school, which seems to mark the 
transition in the name from Junior High to Middle School, was not 
sufficient and the town is trying to work out how to fit in and fund 
another add on.  
 
KathyK (who has names for that school she attended other 
than "junior high" and "middle school," like "Evil Pit of Doom."  
Did anyone out there actually *like* junior high?)