A look inside Lake Zurich Middle School South
Lake Zurich Middle School South
Address: 435 W. Cuba Road
Phone: (847) 540-7070
Web site: www.lz95.org/mss
District's name and Web site: Lake Zurich Unit District 95, www.lz95.org
Number of students/grade levels offered: 733 students, grades 6, 7 and 8
Number of staff: 65 full-time
School mascot: Eagles
When was school built: 1993
An interesting tidbit: In its 15-year history, the school has had two outstanding female athletes who became All-American basketball players in high school and went on to play college basketball. They were Alicia Ratay, who played for Notre Dame, and Johanna Solverson, who played at the University of Iowa.
Principal: David R. Gardner
He has been at the school for 10 years as principal and was assistant principal 13 years ago for one year.
What is your favorite memory from Middle School South? "Every spring at graduation having seen all the kids mature so much over the three years."
What do you think is an unique aspect of your school? "We have been on a roller-coaster ride over the past 10 years in enrollment, beginning at about 500 students, peaking at over 900 and now back to our current enrollment of just over 700 kids."
What are you most proud of? "The ability of our staff to make changes in our program and take risks with the curriculum to do what is best for kids. Examples would be the block schedule we implemented a few years ago, and the consistent innovative teaching I see every day in our classrooms."
If all school enrollments were determined by choice, what would you say to potential parents to convince them to choose Middle School South for their children? "If determined by choice I would tell prospective parents to send their children to South because we operate from the standpoint of what is best for kids in everything we do, and of the innovative and challenging instructional methods our teachers incorporate into their lessons on a daily basis."
How has technology changed the way students learn over the past five years? Has that been a good change? "Technology is changing education in that learning is becoming much more the responsibility of the individual. Learning is not a passive thing. Students in this day and age have to learn the skills of finding credible information, and then being able to make sense of this information and shape it into meaningful material they can use to understand the concepts being taught."