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School leaders should reconsider middle school for Jackson County
The old adage, “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” might work well with regard to machinery, but is that hands-off approach really the best one to take with regard to our children’s futures?
Jackson County is still clinging to its outdated K-8 schools decades after surrounding counties chose middle schools as the best choice for educating what may be any educational unit’s most challenging population. Caught in the throes of raging hormones and rapid growth, sixth- through eighth-graders are a world away from the younger students but nowhere near mature enough to be placed in a high school setting.
They need their own space, and they need teachers and administrators who are familiar with their particular strengths and weaknesses. Academically, many of them qualify for more challenging courses than can be offered in the smaller elementary schools.
Recent concern over the dropout rate in county schools as well as several students caught with marijuana at Smokey Mountain Elementary School could serve as catalysts to bring the issue back to the table.
School board member Mark Brooks pointed out that middle schools qualify for state-funded resource officers while our K-8 elementary schools do not. Having a deputy at the school might help deter drug activity and, at the very least, stop it before it gets out of hand.
Not only have all other area school districts adopted the middle school format, but only a handful of districts statewide still favor the K-8 concept. If we’re right and others are wrong, Jackson County should be knocking the top out of test scores and have one of the lowest dropout rates around. That’s not the case.
Any change to a middle school should be based on what’s best for academics, and we feel the middle school organization meets that criteria.
As for its effect on other areas, adopting the middle school concept is a no-brainer. We’ve discussed many times how high school athletics are hampered because local students haven’t been exposed to the same level of middle school competition as their opponents.
The same applies to band and other extracurricular activities, which could be provided at a middle school at a higher skill level than we currently have.
For those who are concerned that fewer students would have the chance to play basketball or other sports, we say additional sports and activities could be added that would more than make up the difference.
We hope our school board has the courage to tackle this issue and get Jackson County students on a better path for the future.
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