User:Chuck369/pwc ms

Prince William County currently has 15 middle schools. The next new middle school planned is currently being refered to as Middle School @ Silver Lake or Silver Lake Middle, with a budgit of $44,363,000. The planned location is Silver Lake Road, off of Antioch Road in the western part of Prince William County. This is north of I-66 and west of US-15 It will be in the vicinity of Alvery Elementry School, Gravely Elementry School, and Battlefield High School. The scheduled completion is September 2012.

newspaper quotes
In space-squeezed Prince William County, where population is growing so fast that 35 classroom trailers were added this year, "we just do not have any place to put" additional teachers, Robert Jozwiak, the school system's supervisor of testing and accreditation, said in opposing the requirement for smaller classes.

SCHOOL BOARDS CRITICIZE VA. REQUIREMENTS Washington Post - Thursday, September 10, 1987 Author: D'Vera Cohn, Washington Post Staff Writer

Already, it is used in Prince William County's nine middle schools. Last June, after the Arlington School Board decided to move its sixth graders in with grades 7 and 8 to ease crowding, it announced that those schools would adopt the middle school approach. A citizens task force advising Alexandria school officials on long-range goals recently made a similar recommendation. And in Fairfax, which has "intermediate schools" for grades 7 and 8, several principals have instituted elements of middle school education.

FINDING COMFORT IN 'SEVENTH HEAVEN' - MIDDLE SCHOOL APPROACH EASES TRANSITION FOR VA. STUDENTS Washington Post - Tuesday, February 21, 1989 Author: Caryle Murphy ; Alice Digilio, Washington Post Staff Writers

The change marks the culmination of a shift in educational philosophy that started more than 30 years ago. Across the country, junior high schools -- traditionally structured as seventh through ninth grades -- largely have been replaced by middle schools -- typically, sixth through eighth grades.

Middle school education has recently been the subject of considerable review by school administrators and pointed criticism from some parents who believe the approach may be too touchy-feely. But the sixth- to -eighth configuration remains resoundingly popular with most educators, who believe middle school provides a more nurturing setting for children during a complicated time in their social and academic development.

"The whole premise behind this is to make those students secure and safe where they can succeed academically," said Lynn Wallich, assistant executive director of the National Middle School Association in Columbus, Ohio.

The junior high system that dominated a generation ago evolved almost without design. Years ago, many secondary schools included grades seven through 12, all in one building, said Edward Andrews, a member of the state Board of Education and a professor at the University of Maryland's education school.

"Then, when the sizes and numbers got too big, they simply split off the junior high schools ," he said. "There was no

educational-philosophy reason for it. It was just to get the seventh-graders, who are little kids, away from the 12th-graders, who sure aren't."

The concept of middle school was developed by educators who believed the junior high system was letting too many adolescents fall through the cracks. In junior highs, students were often treated like high school students, with highly regimented schedules that sent them through the classrooms of five or six different teachers a day. It was frequently an intimidating setting for children fresh out of elementary school, and many educators believed they needed an easier transition.

Also, as U.S. children started to show more social and physical maturity at an earlier age, educators believed that sixth-graders would be better off grouped with older children, rather than held back in elementary schools. Ninth-graders, who were already earning class credit to be applied to graduation, were deemed old enough to venture into a high school setting.

There is no hard-and-fast definition of a middle school, although the general philosophy prescribes that teachers spend more individual time with students, gear lessons to the shorter attention spans of youth and place more emphasis on the development of self-esteem and self-reliance.

FORGET JR. HIGH- EDUCATION TREND IS MIDDLE SCHOOL- HOWARD CO. LEADS MD. MOVEMENT Washington Post - Thursday, October 2, 1997 Author: Amy Argetsinger, Washington Post Staff Writer

Benton
Benton Middle School was named for Louise A. Benton, and is the home of a Deaf Awareness Club.

Benton Middle School was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2002-2003, 2003-2004 , 2004-2005.

Beville
Beville Middle School is named for Stuart M. Beville, superintendent of Prince William County Public Schools from 1954-1972.

Beville was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2002-2003, 2003-2004.

Bull Run
Bull Run Middle School is a public middle school in Gainesville in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, United States, and is part of Prince William County Public Schools.

It is named for the prominent nearby geological feature, the Bull Run Mountains, and it serves the communities of Catharpin, Gainesville, and Haymarket. It is the second largest middle school in Prince William County and the student body includes children from over thirty different nations.

The school's motto is "Soaring to Excellence!" and reflects the school-wide program known as S.O.A.R., which stands for Success, Organization, Attitude, and Respect.

Bull Run has been named a Prince William County School of Excellence every year since 2003, and has featured a Virginia Music Educators Association Blue Ribbon Music Program.

The school has a music program and a gifted education program, as well as many others.

In 2009, Dr. L. Edward Stephenson succeeded Mr. William G. Bixby, long-time principal, who was appointed to lead Gar-Field High School.

Fred M. Lynn
The school was named for Fred M. Lynn (no relation to Fred Lynn the baseball player). Mr. Lynn was a community leader and a member of the Prince William County School Board for thirty-seven years.

On April 6, 1974, a fire damaged two wings of the school building.

Fred M. Lynn was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school year: 2003-2004.

Gainesville
Gainesville Middle School is the 15 and latest (as of 2010) middle school to be built in  Prince William County. It was built to serve the growing Gainesville area.

Gainesville Middle School was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school year: 2008-2009.

Gainesville's 2009-2010 drama club received a second place Silver trophy for their presentation of "The Gift of the Magi" in the Virginia Theatre Association’s Young People’s Festival.

Godwin
Godwin opened in 1970 as the first Middle School built in Dale City. Godwin Middle School was named for Governor  Mills Godwin, the "Father of  Virginia's Community College System."

Graham Park
Graham Park Middle School, affectionately known as The Park, is located in the oldest continuously chartered town in Virginia. Graham Park is situated on land which was once part of the John Graham plantation, 60 acres of land at the head of the harbor of Quantico Creek.

Graham Park participates in the site-based SIGNET (gifted education) program. It has an ESOL Center that provides services for students who speak different native languages. The Park also has an Accelerated Learning Lab (ALL), offering individually designed programs to assist student achievement.

Graham Park was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2002-2003, 2003-2004 , 2004-2005.

Lake Ridge
Lake Ridge Middle School was named for Lake Ridge, the community it primarally serves, and participates in the SIGNET (gifted education) program.

Lake Ridge was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2003-2004, 2004-2005.

Marsteller
Marsteller Middle School is named for Dr. Emlyn Harrison Marsteller. Dr. Marsteller was a physician and country doctor who served the Manassas area from 1920 to 1960, and served on the County School Board for many years.

The original school building, located at 8730 Sudley Road, Manassas, was opened in 1963, and dedicated to Dr. Marsteller's memory in 1964. Marsteller moved to its present site in 2002. The old school building was purchased by the Manassas Baptist Church and is now known as The Rock Worship Center.

Marsteller was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2002-2003, 2003-2004 , 2004-2005.

Parkside
"ABOUT PARKSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Parkside Middle School opened its doors in 1963 as a combination elementary and junior high school housing 1500 students in grades K-9. A 3-year renovation was completed when Signal Hill Elementary opened and Parkside became strictly a middle school." prof

Rippon
"ABOUT RIPPON MIDDLE SCHOOL

Rippon Middle School occupies a tract of land that was once a part of an historical estate established in 1725 by Richard Blackburn of Rippon, Yorkshire, England. The school was built in 1963 and until 1996 it was both an elementary and a middle school."

quote school site

The building of the Rippon school was completed in August, 1966, and included an elementary school adjacent to and integral with the facilities occupied by the middle school. In 1996, the entire facility became Rippon Middle School as Rippon Elementary School was moved to a new elementary school in the Leeslyvania area. The school has the capacity for over one thousand middle school students and draws from five elementary schools - Henderson, Featherstone, Marumsco Hills, River Oaks, Leeslyvania (formerly Rippon Elementary). From Rippon Middle School, students graduate to Potomac Senior High School.

Built along conservatively modern lines, the building exterior is brick with concrete block. Two past exterior features of the school were ceramic tile mosaics depicting the historical past of Rippon Lodge. One scene portrayed Colonel Richard Blackburn on horseback, bidding farewell to his wife as he began his journey to Williamsburg as a delegate to the House of Burgesses. The second scene showed tobacco being taken by ox cart to Rippon Landing for shipment to England. Though these scenes are now covered, they emphasize the pride the school feels for its rich historical heritage.

Saunders
Date Opened: 1981. Moved to its present location in 1988.

ABOUT SAUNDERS MIDDLE SCHOOL

Herbert J. Saunders Middle School was named for the former Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent. The school opened in 1981 at the old Ferlazzo building on Donald Curtis Drive in Woodbridge. Saunders moved to its current location in 1988.

Stonewall
ABOUT STONEWALL MIDDLE SCHOOL

Stonewall is named for Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The school opened as a middle school in 1974, after serving as the original Stonewall Jackson High School. The building was converted to a middle school upon the completion of a new high school building. At that time, sixth grade students were transferred from the elementary school to the middle school, and the ninth grade moved from what had been the junior high school to the high school.

Woodbridge
The school building was built in 1964 as the original home to Woodbridge High School. The building was converted to a middle school in the fall of 1973 when Woodbridge High School moved to its current location.

Woodbridge Middle School is the only school in Prince William County to offer an optional same-gender education in the academic areas of  math, language arts, science, and social studies.

Woodbridge Middle School was named a Prince William County  "School of Excellence" for the following school years: 2001-2002, 2002-2003 , 2003-2004 , 2004-2005.