Batavia Middle School has the unique opportunity to match current teaching concepts with the brick and mortar technology of the 1990s. The School District will close the old junior high, which dates to 1914, and replace it with a modern school slated for opening in the fall.
According to Principal Harold Wolff, who is also the president-elect of the Association of Illinois Middle Schools, the whole school is being built around the team approach to learning.
”The team concept is integral to the middle school concept,” Wolff said. ”This approach allows teachers and students to be grouped together in a secure and supportive setting. We don`t want any of our students to feel lost or be just a number.”
The result is a staff-designed building divided into 6th-, 7th- and 8th-grade wings creating small communities. Students won`t have to crisscross the building to reach classes. ”Most of the time it will take about 30 seconds to go from locker to classroom,” Wolff said.
Because the students are grouped in corps of academic teams, each wing will have its own team planning area and conference room. There will also be movable classroom walls to allow for interdisciplinary teaching.
”For example, we can show a social studies film to the entire team of students instead of having to use five different class periods,” Wolff said. A fourth wing is designed specifically for stimulating the interests of the adolescent student. This is the exploratory section, where kids may try their talents in a variety of subjects such as languages, music or drafting.
The hub of the school will be the learning center, which is easily accessible from all four wings. The entire card catalog system will be computerized, including checkout procedures.
Unlike the old junior high, which is surrounded by concrete, the new middle school will have lots of green area, including wetlands for outside science projects and landscaping that uses all plants native to Illinois.
To accommodate the different team sports, the school will have three gyms.
”We want lots of activities going on after school,” Wolff said. ”The three gyms will allow many students to get involved.
”We believe in a no-cut policy. We don`t want to say to a kid at this age, `You`re not good enough.`
”Consequently, we have 96 cheerleaders,” Wolff said. ”It makes for a lot of pep” in the enrollment of 577.
