Castro Middle School

Elvira Castro Middle School is a middle school (6th-8th grade) located in San Jose, California, United States. It is part of the Moreland School District, of San Jose.

Often referred to simply as "Castro Middle School", without the inclusion of the "Elvira" name (Elvira Castro was a "beloved" former teacher), the school has been in operation since 1958 and uses a cougar as its official mascot.

Castro Middle School has been designated as a California Distinguished School both in 1996 and 2001. In 1998, the school underwent a major renovation, and a community center adjacent to the school was built in 2000. This facility is currently used both by the community and by Castro students as a gymnasium.

In addition, the Moreland School District's district office, which was previously located across from the school on Campbell Ave., was moved onto the Castro campus and the land it previously occupied sold to a townhome developer. This move permanently took away much of Castro's field and track and left a large "ditch" in the middle of the field.

In April 2006, the Moreland School District announced sweeping new changes in the district, affecting not only the Castro campus but other schools in the district as well. Samuel Curtis Rogers Middle School, the only other middle school in the district, was shut down at the end of the 2005-2006 school year, and its students merged with Castro students. The Rogers campus was closed and all of their students moved to Castro's campus. Latimer Elementary was closed also due to the fact that its location was in the middle of the district and its boundaries were unevenly distributed. In addition, because it will be the only middle school in the district, Castro's name has been changed to "Moreland Middle", despite a petition from Castro's students. The petition was signed by many students who disliked the name "Moreland Middle", but did not change the school board's decisions.

Samuel Curtis Rogers Middle School has long been a "friendly" enemy of Castro. However, it is noted that Castro has rather higher test scores that meet the state of California's hope that all schools reach an API score of 800 or higher. Castro's score of the 2004-2005 school year was 822 in contrast to Roger's score of 797, several points shy of the state's goal.

Castro's feeder schools include Latimer (closed down after the 2005-2006 school year), Baker, and Payne, but several students also hail from Easterbrook-Discovery, Anderson, and Country Lane (though school are traditionally the feeder schools of Rogers). The student population of roughly 670 is significanly smaller than those of a traditional middle school. However, after the merger of Castro and Rogers, the new Moreland Middle School is expected to house 1200 students daily.

Castro's current principal is Tom Kennedy, with Ann Doumanian serving as assistant principal. However, in the 2006-2007 school year, there will be two principals, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Ready. Ms. Ready is the former principal of Rogers.

The school has been in session for quite sometime now. It's been rough for both students and teachers, but they've all adjusted to this new school life. The students are currently in the process of selecting a school mascot and school colors.

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Castro's homepage is at: http://castro.ca.campusgrid.net/home