da vinci arts middle school, portland oregon

da Vinci Arts Middle School, also known as da Vinci Middle School, is a

public middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

in the

Kerns Kerns may refer to: * Plural of Kern * Kerns (surname) * Kerns, Ontario, Canada * Kerns, Portland, Oregon, United States * Kerns, Switzerland, a village and municipality See also * * Kernstown, Virginia, United States ** Battle of Kernsto ...

neighborhood of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, in the United States. It is an arts focus school in the

Portland Public School District Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. The building was originally used as a high school, Girls Polytechnic High School, which was renamed James Monroe High School in 1967 and closed in fall 1978, when its student body was merged with, and moved to, Washington High School.

History

The building that now houses da Vinci Arts Middle School was designed in the

classical revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

style of architecture by the architect George Howell Jones, who designed almost all of the schools in the Portland public school district between 1908 and 1932, along with

Floyd Naramore Floyd Archibald Naramore (July 21, 1879 in Warren, Illinois – October 29, 1970 in Seattle) was a Seattle architect. He was Seattle Schools Architect from 1919 to 1932, and he was a founding partner, in 1943, of the firm that today is known ...

. This school opened in 1928 as Girls Polytechnic High School. Before the construction of this building, the Girls Polytechnic program had been held at the Portland High School, which was deemed unfit in 1928. It remained the Girls Polytechnic until 1967, when it was renamed James Monroe High School, for president

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...

, and was opened to boys. In 1993, parents of students at Buckman Arts Magnet Elementary School formed a proposal for an arts focused middle school. The district finally accepted the proposal, and the school opened in 1996 with 140 students and a very small staff. It was not until 1998 that the school had a full-time principal, and there was no counselor until 2000. So far, da Vinci had been a program and had shared the building with other programs, but in July 2003 the school board changed da Vinci's status into a school, and it has remained a school since then. Due to concerns about mathematics and science test scores being too low, da Vinci's schedule was changed in fall 2016 to allow for increased class time in the those classes. Students protested against these changes, because it would mean students would no longer have the same teacher for language arts and social studies for all three years at middle school. Also, sixth graders would be in separate classes from the rest of the school in all subjects except art. By doing that, the new schedule might disrupt the sense of community that the core classes had. The schedule change went into effect in September 2015.

Curriculum

Portland OR - da vinci arts middle school art gallery

Da Vinci Arts Middle School is an arts

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...

. It offers students two electives of 2D art, 3D art, creative writing, dance, music or drama.

Extracurricular activities

The school has many after school programs, such the Destino dance team, a rock band known as Trogdor, a Black Student Union, a Queer-Straight Alliance, a ukulele choir, a jazz ensemble and a chess club. The school has put on numerous plays, as well as three student-written

rock operas A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been ad ...

. There is also a coding club.

References

{{Coord, 45.52467, N, 122.64024, W, type:landmark_region:US-OR, display=title 1928 establishments in Oregon 1996 establishments in Oregon Kerns, Portland, Oregon Northeast Portland, Oregon Public middle schools in Oregon Schools in Portland, Oregon