Urban Mamas

"Is there any reason to be concerned about the littlest kids heading over to the middle school with the older kids?"

I'm not a U.Mama, but a NE PDX daddy with a child at both buildings ~Hollyrood & Fernwood.

I understand your concern (placing the younger with the older) and it was in my mind 2 years ago when Hurricane Vicki hit. How would the two cultures (Elem. & Middle School) merge? Would I be ripping gang-colors off my grade-school son before he went off to school?

Nope. Sweet kids, young and old. The 8th graders are the same kids you'll be asking to baby-sit on Sat. nights - and the whole lot of them are the same neighborhood kids you'll see at the local Sat. Market, waiting in the dentists office and walking in the Rose Festival's Childrens Parade. Our community (as do most/all neighborhoods) has nice kids.

Personally, I think it's the pack-mentality that causes such strife in the middle-school years. A traditional Middle School has 200 8th graders in close-proximity... ugh! But with the k-8 transition, grade sizes are smaller, with more fluidity across the grades, and more parent-eyes watching. The kids are smart, and act age-appropriately.

I'm told that discipline issues plummet in a k-8 - with the younger kids (and parents) watching and older kids paying attention. And of course many of the older kids have siblings, and so they watch out for the younger set. I was also told by a PPS Administrator that middle-school boys often feel threatened & this was the group that acted-out. But in a K-8, the threat (for whatever reason) lessened, and middle-school boys allow themselves to remain, well, not exactly cuddly, but sweet.

But there are trade-offs. (1) My sons vocabulary has 'broadened' ~ (he's listening as well as watching). Yet that's real-life. He's hearing the same language on TV/Movies, and we are now talking about that - and having this conversation in 4th grade seems about right. (2) The K-8 hammered the elective opportunities for the older grades, but you can read a great deal about that in the assorted newspaper/blog articles.

The general mood amongst the parents is: "I'm worried about academics.... but my child is happy." I am not concerned about my younger children attending Hollyrood-Fernwood. ~We've got good kids here.

[Note that next year Hollyrood will be K-1, and Fernwood will hold our 2-8th graders, as PPS is moving the 2nd graders over to Fernwood. Again, I'm not worried about this.]