J. Douglas Adams Middle School Increasing the Size and Improving the Quality of Local Education August 2006

by Jacqueline Irwin
Photos by Russell Byrne

The Brentwood Union School District is continually scrambling in an effort to keep up with the local explosion in the numbers of school age children. August will mark the beginning of operation for the brand new J. Douglas Adams Middle School. The school will join Brentwood’s other two middle schools – Edna Hill, which opened its doors in 1955 and William B. Bristow Middle School, which opened in 1989. The enrollment in those two schools has been exceeding classroom limits so Adams Middle School will be a welcome addition.

Finding the Right People
In May 2005, the district opened the position of principal of the newest middle school to all interested principals in the district. After going through the interview processes, the district selected Adam Clark, who was then principal at Krey Elementary. They gave him the task of getting the new school up and running. Clark is excited about working with middle school kids and understands what a crucial force these formative years often exert – in many instances the experience can define for teenagers who they are.

Clark’s middle school experience goes back to his days as vice principal at Edna Hill when it was a fifth and sixth grade campus and then when it was switched to a sixth, seventh, eighth grade campus. Stephanie Wassenberg, who shares Clark’s excitement for working with middle school students, was hired to take the position of Vice Principal. Clark had already worked with Wassenberg when she served as Vice Principal with him at Krey Elementary where he says she did a phenomenal job.

Clark contacted Wassenberg in April and asked her to consider filling the position. He liked her leadership style and knew that when he and Wassenberg put their heads together they were able to figure out what is best for kids. Clark is confident that Wassenberg will be able to do a great job and that it will be a good professional opportunity for her.

The structure of the new school was coming together before Wassenberg was asked to come on board, however she advised in the area of special education and the direction that would take. She taught several special needs students in her role as Instructional Support Program Provider. Additionally, she was in charge of the special education program at Krey Elementary.

Wassenberg said the position at Adams Middle School was too valuable an opportunity to pass up. During her time at Krey she enjoyed observing the impact she had as a role model by the things the kids said and did. A group of ten girl students, for example, wanted to become vice principals because of her influence so Wassenberg started a club for these girls to learn the ins and outs of becoming a vice principal. Every day these girls would report to yard duty, wearing lanyards and serving as campus supervisors. Wassenberg was astonished that the other kids would listen to these apprentice vice principals, but by the end of the year there were 25 additional students on the waiting list to join the club.

Wassenberg is planning to continue her role model activities for middle school students. Pre-teens are going through a period of time when they could get lost and she wants to help them find their niche and focus in life. She believes that middle school is a springboard into the world of academics where students form habits for success for the future.

She recalls when she worked as a special education teacher at Bristow Middle School and a student who was constantly in trouble would be sent to her room. She listened to his woes and reacted in a positive way. Years later she saw him at Barnes & Noble. He rushed over to her and said, “Mrs. Wassenberg, look at me. Look where I am. I’m in a bookstore and it’s all because of your teaching that I love to read!”

Adam Clark is no stranger to hard work. Ideally, in his new role he would have been working solely on the new middle school, but before he could get started on that job his duties required him to finish his position at Krey and bring the new principal, Brian Jones, up to speed. He also had the additional tasks of setting-up and training all the secretaries in the district to be CPR compliant, setting up staff development for the next school year, coordinating district emergency plans, setting up and coordinating district shelter-in-place drills, and helping Edna Hill with after school supervision.

A Rigorous Pathway to Improvement
Along with everything else, Clark is conducting, on a grant from the Schools to Watch program, a project identifying criteria that high performing schools all share in common. The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform developed the Schools to Watch Initiative in 1997. It is an alliance of over 60 educators, researchers, national associations, and officers of professional organizations and foundations working together to promote the academic performance and healthy development of young adolescents. The Forum grew out of a sense that middle-grades school improvement had stalled, as witnessed by a flurry of diminishing test scores, increasing reports of school violence, and heated but unproductive debates concerning the nature and purpose of middle-grades education. The Forum stakeholders all agreed that collective and concerted action was needed to spur middle grade students into becoming high-performers.

The Forum looks for a balance between a healthy school climate and a strong academic program. To accomplish these goals the Forum identifies and disseminates best practices, articulates and promotes effective policies, recognizes and develops enlightened leadership, and informs and engages the public in the process.

Clark used the insights from the Forum in planning for the new middle school, plus he took a careful look at innovative programs that were working at Edna Hill and Bristow. He researched high performing middle schools with the help of Dr. Sue Galletti, an outside educational consultant. Dr. Galletti, shares Clark’s philosophy of improving middle schools education. Sue, herself, is an ex-middle school administrator with experience in opening new schools as well as working in districts where schools are being split (i.e., creating two schools out of one).

As a result of all the planning and research, Adam’s Middle School will adopt three main educational focuses including an advisory period at the beginning of each school year, block scheduling, and shared planning periods for teachers.

Designing for Educational Improvement
The advisory period fosters period personal connections between staff and students. Each day will begin with a 15-minute period during which every student meets with an advisor. The required reading is Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which is designed to teach students about setting goals, dealing with peer pressure, organization, and other ways to be successful in middle school.

Advisors serve as student advocates and act as guides for students through the 7 Habits. The advisors aid in such things as collecting progress reports and serving as the middleman between the teacher and student on the one hand, and between the teacher and parents on the other. The advisor’s job is to help the students attain success.

The process of forming communities is pushed forward by breaking schools into “families” in order to encourage a sense of community on the part of the students and teachers. The day will be set up in blocks that will cover Language Arts and Social Studies in a weekly rotation. On Monday and Thursday, for example, students will attend two periods of Social Studies and on Tuesday and Friday they will have two periods of Language Arts. This format allows for an extended learning period so that rather than having 47 minutes of class time four days per week, teachers will have 94 minute segments two times a week to cover those subjects. Besides these longer periods, students will attend smaller sessions covering math, science, physical education, and their elective. Wednesdays are all adjusted days throughout the district and students will attend every class for a shortened length of time.

This design fosters the development of community within the school. Students who traditionally had six or seven teachers, each for relatively brief periods of time, will have fewer teachers for an extended time. The layout of the classrooms was also taken into consideration for promoting a sense of community. “Families” of students will be attending classes together for their core subjects. As often as possible, teachers will loop classes so students will have the same teachers for two years. Assemblies will also be conducted within these smaller communities. Students will be allowed to venture away for physical education, science, and electives. Each community, or family, will choose a distinctive name that students will use for at least a couple of years.

Clark has spent time preparing parents for the opening of the new middle school. Going into the unknown is scary for parents as well as students and at community meetings he has explained boundary changes, the transfer process, leadership opportunities, etcetera.

The opening of the district’s newest middle school is sure to be a challenge, but Clark and Wassenberg, two proven and dedicated leaders, have taken all the steps they can in order to prepare their students for a successful middle school experience.°