Lakelands Park Middle School

Lakelands Park Middle School is a public middle school located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States. Managed by Montgomery County Public Schools, the school educates over 1,000 students in grades 6-8. The school was named after Lakelands Park, which is adjacent to the school. With its premises used regularly for community events, the school has a high local profile.

Lakelands Park Middle School
Location
1200 Main Street
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878
United States
Coordinates39°6′53.8″N 77°13′55.4″W
Information
TypeMiddle school
MottoPurposeful, Measurable, Successful[1]
Established2005
School districtMontgomery County Public Schools
NCES District ID2400480
PrincipalDeborah R. Higdon
Faculty67
Grades6–8
Enrollment1,067 (2016–2017)[2]
Student to teacher ratio16 (2016–2017)[2]
Color(s)          Blue and silver
MascotThe Falcon
RivalRidgeview Middle School
PublicationThe Falcon Times,
The Falcon Flier
Websitemontgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/lakelandsparkms/

Deborah R. Higdon is the school's principal.[3] She took over from the original principal, Joseph M. Sacco, who left on January 1, 2009.[4]

The school

Lakelands Park Middle School was built in 2005 to resolve overcrowding in other schools in the county,[5] as a result of a unique collaborative effort between the Montgomery County Board of Education and superintendent Dr. Jerry Weast,[6] at a cost of $21 million.[7] Lakelands was designed to accommodate up to 1,200 students and is located amongst local housing to enable the students to be able to walk to school.[8] The building is 153,588 square feet (14,268.8 m2), and includes three floors, a full-size gym, auxiliary gyms, three computer labs, and rooms for art, music and technology. The media center has a collection of more than 18,000 print and non-print materials, including books, magazines, videos, DVDs and CD ROMs. The Research Learning Hub includes 32 networked computers.

The school set ambitious academic targets, including 100% of the students reading at or above grade level by the time they leave the school.[9] However, the school was soon placed on the state watch list due to poor results.[10]

Following the decision of the Montgomery County school board to allow cell phones in schools other than high schools, in August 2007 Lakelands was one of four selected to trial this arrangement.[11]

In the 2018 annual assessment for Maryland schools, Lakelands Park received four stars out of a possible five as a measurement of overall effectiveness.[12]

Feeder patterns

After students graduate from 8th grade, the high school they go on to depends on the elementary school they attended. Students move to Quince Orchard High School if they went to Brown Station or Rachel Carson elementary schools, and those who went to Darnestown Elementary School attend Northwest High School. If students went to Diamond Elementary School, they either attend Quince Orchard High School if their home is south of Great Seneca Highway, or Northwest High School if their home is north of Great Seneca Highway.

Autism pilot

Montgomery County Public Schools are pioneering a pilot, in Lakelands Park, for autistic students using the controversial Rapid Prompting Method.[13]

Sports and extracurricular activities

Sport

Lakelands Park has competitive teams in boys' and girls' softball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' soccer, and coeducational cross country.[14]

The city constructed a synthetic turf sports field, at a cost of just under $950,000, in the adjacent Lakelands Park.[15] The field opened in October 2014.[16] Initially there was no public access but, in May 2015, it was announced that the field would be available to the community on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.[17] However, due to on-street parking because of the absence of car parking facilities and litter issues, the use of this facility has caused what residents call "quality of life issues".[18]

Student Sara Mercer was selected to represent the United States in China at the 2016 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships.[19]

Music and theatre

The Lakelands Park Theatre, the school's drama club, wrote and gave a public performance of an original drama, Pirate School!, in February 2008.[20]

The school's Advanced Orchestra received an overall Superior rating at the Maryland State Orchestra Festival in 2010, which is the highest possible rating.

gollark: PotatOS was created in late 2018.
gollark: Impressive.
gollark: It's documented now.
gollark: One of the SCP-001s was that but it's a database entry and not a website.
gollark: We need the concept of bees or we won't have it.

References
  1. "Lakelands Park Middle School". Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  2. "Lakelands Park Middle". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  3. "Staff Directory - Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD". Montgomery County Public Schools. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  4. Beck, Joe (November 19, 2008). "Lakelands Park Middle School principal to retire". The Gazette. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  5. Area's schools cope with additional students, Washington Times, August 28, 2005
  6. "Milestones, Goals and a Request for Residents' Input", The Washington Post, February 2, 2006
  7. "Gaithersburg's New School", The Washington Post, August 25, 2005
  8. "Lakelands Park Middle School". Grimm and Parker. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  9. "New Lakelands Park Middle School plans for excellent year", Parisa Karimi, The Prowler, September 30, 2005
  10. "Elementary schools progress, but not middle schools", Marcus Moore, The Gazette, July 22, 2009.
  11. "Schools Ease Off Cellphone Restraints", Daniel de Vise, Washington Post, August 27, 2007
  12. BYRNE, DEIRDRE (December 11, 2018). "MCPS MIDDLE SCHOOL RANKINGS BASED ON MARYLAND REPORT CARD SCORES". Montgomery Community Media. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  13. Chandler, Michael Alison (February 28, 2017). "Parents want to give their autistic children a voice in schools, but scientists call their technique 'false hope'". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  14. "Athletics". Montgomery County Public Schools. 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  15. Davis, Jenn (20 June 2014). "Construction to begin soon on turf field at Gaithersburg park". Maryland Gazette. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  16. Brick, Krista (6 October 2014). "LAKELANDS PARK TURF FIELD MAY BE LOCKED TO ALL WITHOUT A PERMIT". Montgomery Community Media. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. Burke, Sonya (2 May 2015). "GAITHERSBURG OPENS LAKELANDS SYNTHETIC FIELD FOR PUBLIC PLAY ON WEEKENDS". Montgomery Community Media. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  18. Burke, Sonya (July 5, 2016). "LAKELANDS COMMUNITY RAISES QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH GAITHERSBURG'S TURF FIELD". Montgomery Community Media. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  19. Schipper, Pam (3 February 2016). "LPMS Student to Compete in China". The Town Courier. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  20. Murret, Patricia M. (6 February 2008). "Ahoy there, Lakelands Park Middle School mateys". Maryland Gazette. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
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