Hollenbeck Middle School
Encyclopedia
Hollenbeck Middle School (HMS) is located in East Los Angeles
, California, in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights. This section with an estimated 35 to 50 percent high school drop-out rate is in the country’s second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School District
. HMS has earned status as a School for Advanced Studies. The school maintains its rating after LAUSD's recent re-evaluation. The percentage of teachers with a Ph.D.
s is 84 compared to only 3.7 in the district. It serves grades 6 to 8. HMS has been serving the community since 1914.
Educators are giving more recognition to the value of middle schools such as Hollenbeck. Among eighth-graders statewide, about 4,200 dropped out during the school year; more than 13,000 finished eighth grade but never showed up for ninth grade, the traditional beginning of high school. "That transition from middle school to high school is crucial," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction
Tom Torlakson
. "Those years are vulnerable years for many students, especially if a student loses hope, gets off track or falls behind."
ended their journey around the country renovating America’s schools for their first season of the reality hit show School Pride
at Hollenbeck Middle School. The 7-episode series follows the renovation of a different public school each week, following teachers, students and community members as they perform repairs and restore a needy, aging school.
Hollenbeck was selected because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
"really wanted us to work with" one of the 21 schools in the "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools," founded by the mayor, and because the students entered the competition with a video with "a great plea," and parents and teachers "were very passionate in assisting with the makeover,"
The historically Hispanic public Magnet school
had broken asphalt and concrete, outdated technology, trash everywhere, and a dangerously unsafe athletic field, and many other problems. These problems were so severe that they asked the Mayor of Los Angeles to help in the project. The School Pride team, volunteers and NBA Lakers star Derek Fisher
participated in the makeover of the school's soccer field and the resurfacing of its outdoor basketball courts and installation of new backboards, hoops and nets. They also renovated the entrance, the classrooms, the hallways, the outdoor cafeteria space, the athletic department, and re-painted all of Hollenbeck. The ecletic team also planted "an organic, healthy garden for the teachers and students to literally learn and grow, a teaching garden where kids can grow their own fruits and vegetables and grow plants that they follow in their science class.".
When the episode was aired on NBC in 2010, Villaraigosa appeared in the episode, visiting the school while work was underway and answered questions from the mother of a Hollenbeck student about "the partnership's commitment, what to expect from it and responding to her concerns."
and,
as a teaching method to his eighth-grade students at Hollenbeck Middle School, he discovered that only one of them had ever used Twitter. But like most teens, they "live on their phones", he said. During history lessons, Legaspi's students are encouraged to use their cell phones and laptops to tweet their answers during class. Legaspi found the Twitter method to be beneficial to students and generally a powerful tool. Legaspi says that implementing social networking in the classroom has made him a more effective teacher, and it has been well received by the students.
East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles can refer to:* East Los Angeles, California * East Los Angeles...
, California, in one of the poorest sections of Los Angeles, Boyle Heights. This section with an estimated 35 to 50 percent high school drop-out rate is in the country’s second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...
. HMS has earned status as a School for Advanced Studies. The school maintains its rating after LAUSD's recent re-evaluation. The percentage of teachers with a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
s is 84 compared to only 3.7 in the district. It serves grades 6 to 8. HMS has been serving the community since 1914.
Educators are giving more recognition to the value of middle schools such as Hollenbeck. Among eighth-graders statewide, about 4,200 dropped out during the school year; more than 13,000 finished eighth grade but never showed up for ninth grade, the traditional beginning of high school. "That transition from middle school to high school is crucial," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction
State education agency
A state education agency , or state department of education, is a formal governmental label for the state-level government agencies within each U.S...
Tom Torlakson
Tom Torlakson
Thomas A. "Tom" Torlakson is an American politician from California. In 2010, he was elected to the position of California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the highest education post in California...
. "Those years are vulnerable years for many students, especially if a student loses hope, gets off track or falls behind."
Restoration project
NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
ended their journey around the country renovating America’s schools for their first season of the reality hit show School Pride
School Pride
School Pride is an American reality television series which airs on NBC, from executive producers Cheryl Hines and Denise Cramsey. The 7-episode series follows the renovation of a different public school each week. The aired from October 15, 2010 to November 26, 2010...
at Hollenbeck Middle School. The 7-episode series follows the renovation of a different public school each week, following teachers, students and community members as they perform repairs and restore a needy, aging school.
Hollenbeck was selected because Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current Mayor of Los Angeles, California, the third Mexican American to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the United States Conference of...
"really wanted us to work with" one of the 21 schools in the "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools," founded by the mayor, and because the students entered the competition with a video with "a great plea," and parents and teachers "were very passionate in assisting with the makeover,"
The historically Hispanic public Magnet school
Magnet school
In education in the United States, 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 as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
had broken asphalt and concrete, outdated technology, trash everywhere, and a dangerously unsafe athletic field, and many other problems. These problems were so severe that they asked the Mayor of Los Angeles to help in the project. The School Pride team, volunteers and NBA Lakers star Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher
Derek Lamar Fisher is an American professional basketball point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . His NBA career has spanned more than 14 years, during which he has won five NBA Championships...
participated in the makeover of the school's soccer field and the resurfacing of its outdoor basketball courts and installation of new backboards, hoops and nets. They also renovated the entrance, the classrooms, the hallways, the outdoor cafeteria space, the athletic department, and re-painted all of Hollenbeck. The ecletic team also planted "an organic, healthy garden for the teachers and students to literally learn and grow, a teaching garden where kids can grow their own fruits and vegetables and grow plants that they follow in their science class.".
When the episode was aired on NBC in 2010, Villaraigosa appeared in the episode, visiting the school while work was underway and answered questions from the mother of a Hollenbeck student about "the partnership's commitment, what to expect from it and responding to her concerns."
Disadvantaged students
One third of Boyle Heights Families live below the federal poverty line. Teacher Sophie Rokicki, City Year Los Angeles Corps Member, says she noticed her first week there that "A few students, some in my classes and some not, who seemed to walk, eat, and operate alone. I had a flashback to when I was in middle school. I know how it feels to sit alone at lunch and to walk through the hallways, to face rude remarks and wads of paper being launched your way. I felt I had the ability to make an impact in these students’ lives and attempted to form a group so that they wouldn’t have to go through the pain that I did. Since September, I have been mentoring five students each day at lunch and providing all of the academic and emotional support that I can for them."Demographics
- Student Enrollment Distribution by Race / Ethnicity is
- American Indian: 0.1%,
- Black :0.6%,
- Asian: 0.3%,
- Hispanic: 98.4%,
- White: 0.3%
- Students eligible for Free Lunch: 1,588, 92.2% of the student population
Classes
During 2010-2011, the following courses were offered:- Robotics
- Advanced Robotics
- AVID
- Algebra
- Algebra 2
- Geometry,
- Music Instrumentation
- Music Appreciation
- Art
- Advanced Art
- Computers
- Advanced Computers
and,
- Honors classes in all content areas.
Introduction of Twitter
When history teacher Enrique Legaspi described his plan to use TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
as a teaching method to his eighth-grade students at Hollenbeck Middle School, he discovered that only one of them had ever used Twitter. But like most teens, they "live on their phones", he said. During history lessons, Legaspi's students are encouraged to use their cell phones and laptops to tweet their answers during class. Legaspi found the Twitter method to be beneficial to students and generally a powerful tool. Legaspi says that implementing social networking in the classroom has made him a more effective teacher, and it has been well received by the students.