Central Middle School of Science

Template:Merge-school Central Middle School of Science is a middle school located in Anchorage, Alaska, belonging to the Anchorage School District. It places a special focus on science in its curriculum. It consists of roughly 530 students and services the downtown and Ship Creek areas. Central has a specialized program from the rest of the district, which includes an emphasis on science in all classes. This allows the school to, in addition to its local service area, admit a certain number of students from other parts of Anchorage by lottery.

Demographics

In terms of race and ethnicity, Central Middle School of Science is racially and ethnically diverse; white students make up 51.0% of the student body, black students make up 18.0%, Hispanic students make up 8.1%, Asian/Pacific Islander students make up 9.8%, and American Indian/Alaska Native students make up 13.0%.

Academics

Central offers standard middle school courses in mathematics, social studies, language arts, and science. However, a special emphasis on science is put throughout the other "core classes", and studies in science tend to play a role in dictating the coursework in other classes. In addition to these classes, the school also offers classes in art, further science electives, foreign languages, and music.

Teams

The school is divided into teaching units called teams. All students on a team share the same teachers for their main classes, and teachers on a team work together to create coordinated curricula. There are two 7th grade teams, and two 8th grade teams, and one 7th and 8th grade team combined. * 7th Grade Teams** Quantum** Velocity** 7th&8th** Acceleration. 8th Grade Teams** Ion** Kinetics.

Sports

Central participates in the Anchorage School District's standard program of interscholastic sports [1]. They are as follows:* Cross country running* Cross country skiing* Track and Field* Volleyball* Wrestling Soccer

Attempted Suicide of T.F

On the 6th of November, 1998, a student of CMSS simply known as 'Tom' or 'T.F.' was found by his mother attempting suicide via hanging in his home. Despite paramedics saving the boy's life, he suffered severe brain-damage due to massive asphyxia. It was found that 'Tom' had suffered an extensive history of bullying from instigators in the form of fellow classmates at CMSS. The bullying had been of both emotional and physical confrontations. It was alleged that this bullying history was known for some time and that the school had failed in its efforts of halting such bullying. The family of Tom, in severe financial distress from having to look after the severely brain-damaged boy sued the school in Court eventually reaching an out-of-court settlement for USD $4.5 million. The school alleged in its defence that T.F had shown no risk of suicide and initiated many of the confrontations with peers himself.^[1]