Building The Middle School Our Community Needs and Deserves. Marin Scope -By Dr. Shirley Thornton

Building The Middle School Our Community Needs and Deserves.
By Dr. Shirley Thornton

In 2001, the Sausalito Marin City School District took the first step to create an independent middle school for the sixth, seventh and eighth grade students of our communities. Up until this time, these grades were housed together at the Bayside Campus, just off of Nevada Street.

Today, our middle school, Martin Luther King Academy, is housed in the old North Bay School facility: a three room school building in Marin City.

The need to build an actual middle school is acute. Middle schools are specifically designed to guide adolescents through the often difficult transition from elementary school to high school. The middle school years span sixth, seventh and eighth grades, and represent the passage from childhood into young adulthood: a time of rapid physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth. Sixth grade resembles elementary school in that it is self-contained, but provides a transitional phase during which sixth grade students interact with older students through common activities and experiences. The seventh and eighth grades look more like high school in that single subject credentialed teachers provide instruction in their area of expertise.

It follows naturally, that there is a need to provide facilities that enable teachers to deliver instruction that prepare our students for high school. For example science labs, where children can engage in hands-on learning which greatly enhances their educational experience. A media learning center that supports individual research and preparation of portfolios that is a requisite for high school entry. The media center will also support full participation in the Bay Model’s Jason Project preparing our youth to understand and respect that delicate ecology that is so important to their community.

Equally critical is the physical development of our students. Studies indicate that obesity is an increasing threat to the health of our youth. The construction of a gymnasium and the creation of an outdoor track and obstacle course will allow us to expand our fitness programs in a variety of important ways. These outdoor facilities would be available to the community, as well.

Our current facility provides none of these benefits or environments, most of which are mandated by the state as standard to a middle school. A driving tour of our county will reveal various facilities from Tam High, to Mill Valley Middle, Reed and other schools that are in the midst of, or have recently completed similar improvements.

The middle school years are recognized as an important time when students develop their self-image, and hone their attitudes towards learning. Relationship building can play a large role in this process. We aim to create learning experiences that will further students' social and moral development while providing academic excellence.

We envision a school that will be able to capitalize on the unique businesses and cultural environment that exist in our community. For instance, we should have a music studio on campus, where engineers and staff from the Plant, for example, can work with our children to show them the world of music from inside the profession. In our own neighborhood there are opportunities to work with computer companies, restaurants, retailers, bank and investment officers, to learn first hand about the sport boating and fishing industry, and many other diverse activities that happen in Sausalito and Marin City everyday of the year.

Successful middle schools capitalize on the innate curiosity of young adolescents, and expose them to a range of academic, vocational, and recreational subjects for career options, community service, enrichment, and enjoyment. Focus areas usually include foreign languages, intramural sports, health, clubs, student government, home economics, technological arts, independent study projects, music, art, speech, drama, careers, consumer education, and creative writing emphasizing the development of good organizational and study skills, a respect for diverse learning styles and experiences in cooperative learning.

Perhaps most importantly, a successful middle school prepares our students for high school and, sets the stage for college and their adult lives. As a community, we expect a middle school that can provide for the needs and aspirations of our children as other middle schools do today in communities such at Mill Valley, Tiburon, Larkspur, Kentfield, and beyond.

Five years ago, we began the process of setting new goals and new directions for the public schools of Sausalito and Marin City. We have accomplished much, but there is still much to do. At the very top of that list is the construction of a middle school that puts the children of our district on an equal footing with the children of every other district in our county. There is no wiser investment we can make than to invest in the future of our children, and in the quality of our public schools.



Dr. Shirley Thorton, former Deputy Superintendent, State of California , colonel, retired, USAR; is an associate professor at CSU Sacramento; and the Vice-President of the Sausalito Marin City School District’s Board of Trustees


(775 words)