By:Jacky Gerzema
The recently enlarged Baldwin Middle School will be showing additional improvements by the time school starts Sept. 4.
Deputy Superintendent of Administration Dr. Lee Chapman announced at the Board of Education's August meeting that the improvements should be finished by opening day.
The improvements include an upgraded main office and main entrance to the school.
The Baldwin Middle School went from a junior high format to a middle school format back in 1995-96, said Trish Hughes, spokesperson for the Baldwin Union Free School District. This was in response to studies that had been conducted for years about middle school feasibility.
The difference between the middle school format and the junior high format, Hughes said, is that in a junior high, students are prepared for high school by attending different classes in different classrooms with different teachers for each subject. In a middle school format, students are divided up into teams and are taught all subjects by the same teacher.
"The team concept allows teachers and students to do more interdisciplinary work," Hughes said. "Teachers can work together and with students, and are able to better assist those with problems and learning disabilities and better help kids that need enrichment."
Hughes said the original middle school format includes grades 6-8 but that the school had kept grades 7-8 until the 2000-2001 school year when the sixth grade was added.
In preparation for the new sixth grade class, a complete overhaul was done to the school building. A new sixth grade wing and gymnasium were built and other improvements included an expanded music-education wing and cafeteria.
With the addition of the sixth grade class, there was also a need for improvements to the school's main office. The new office is in the process of being remodeled and restructured to make more efficient use of the space, Hughes said.
Incoming sixth graders will also be able to better find their way to class on the first day of school with the school's new entrance.
"With the old entrance, you really had to look at the building to find out which door to go into," Hughes said. "Now the entrance is clear; there is a whole covered area that makes it much easier to find."
