Junior High Could Change Formats

By Steve Zalusky Daily Herald Staff Writer

Lincoln Junior High School could be changing its name to Lincoln Middle School.

Donald Angelaccio, principal of the school at 700 W. Lincoln St. in Mount Prospect, said a presentation will be given to the Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 school board.

“We’re going to go to the board this summer with a request to take a more formal step to become Lincoln Middle School,” he said. “It’s not really changing what we have done, but it changes why we do it a little bit, in terms of (being) more centered on student concerns (and) student needs.”

Angelaccio said Lincoln has been a middle school in practice for many years. He said, “It’s sort of a more symbolic gesture than anything, but it’s representative of what we have become over time and the ways that we have changed how we have been operating here.”

He said a junior high school and a middle school differ in structure. Middle schools are student structured, he said, as opposed to being structured around content or curriculum. “The primary focus is on students, student needs and building student relationships.

“A junior high is more content-focused. All the science teachers meet to talk about the science curriculum, whereas our teachers do meet in curriculum departments, but more often they meet as teams to talk about the students and how they are learning and growing.”

szalusky@@dailyherald.com

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