North Hills Considers Renaming Junior High School

First it was known as North Hills High School, then it as known the Senior High School, now the current North Hills Junior High School may be in for yet another name change.

With the approval of new start and dismissal times next year, all of the 9th graders will be moving to the senior high building.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Johannah Vanatta is excited about the change, particularly for the 7th and 8th graders.

"We can really embrace the whole cultural aspect of a middle school," she said. "Those kids are not elementary kids, those kids are not high school kids, they're in the middle and they have very specific social needs. They have very specific emotional needs. They have very specific learning needs. This is the perfect time to build those programs to the meet the learning styles of those 7th and 8th graders. There are so many opportunities for those kids."

Vanatta says declining enrollment allows for the change.

"Because of declining enrollment, the population that will be held in the high school will be the same population now with four grades, as it was with three grades several years ago," she said.

And there will still be students traveling between the two buildings.

"We are going to utilize parts of the middle school for various high school programs, so there will still be students traveling between the buildings." 

For all of those reasons,  Vanatta thinks it's time to rename the building, a proposal which the board tabled for the time being at its meeting Monday.

"If it's a chair, why not call it a chair?" she said. "We are a middle school, why not call it a middle school?" 

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