Although some faculty and students view the Middle Years Program as a great benefit to the high school, some see it the other way around. 

Although the school has a tight budget, curriculum generalist Paul Gessner said the Middle Years Program will provide a benefit for the high school students down the road.

IB diploma coordinator Mavis Roesch and guidance counselor and IB MYP coordinator Jill Boeck agreed with Gessner. Boeck believes the school’s existence is not in vain. 

Roesch thinks the middle school is laying a path for future students to walk on. Students participating in the Middle Years Program have an earlier introduction to the IB learner profile and the principles and practices.

“The sooner students become acquainted with [IB], when they actually enter the Diploma Program in eleventh grade, the transition will be much smoother. So, I see that as a big benefit,” Roesch said.

Boeck said students now enrolled in the high school often have a hard time making the transition to the IB program. With sixth through tenth graders going through the Middle Years Program, Boeck believes the transition will be much smoother.

“… It’s a better foundation,” Boeck said.

Sophomore Dewayne Tidwell and junior Onika Hartwell oppose the idea of having the Middle Years Program.

“I was never a big fan of the middle school,” Hartwell said.

The high school has many problems that need to be addressed, and having a middle school just gets in the way of that, according to Tidwell and Hartwell.

“I know we have a tight budget, but stretching it to accommodate a middle school is clearly not working. We have a lot of problems at King, and I think the middle school may be part of that cause,” Tidwell said.

Hartwell agreed.

“… We can see those problems through budget cuts and how we lost some teachers and classes from last year,” Hartwell said.

The Middle Years Program was added to the high school at the beginning of the academic school year. The program will run from sixth through tenth grade. Every year, a new grade is added.

Although faculty and students have their own opinions about the middle school, all of them believe the middle school brings challenges that must be faced.

“Starting a new school is always hard, and it will continue to get hard every year, when a new grade is added,” Boeck said.

Boeck has a positive view about the Middle Years Program’s existence in the future.