Charlotte Feller

BSM expanded its junior high into a middle school with the addition of a sixth grade.

At the far end of the school, students seem shorter than usual as they walk briskly past the office, chatting excitedly with their friends. Instead of a “Junior High Office” at the end of this hallway, there’s a “Middle School Office” sign. This year, 58 sixth graders joined BSM, turning the junior high into a middle school.

“It’s been a great start, and the sixth graders are lovely. They bring a new sense of energy and excitement in the hallway. And for the first time, we had to tell students that they can’t run in the hallway,” junior high principal Rikki Mortl said.

BSM has made changes to accommodate the sixth grade: closing the doors between the high school and middle school because of slightly different bell schedules, shifting teachers’ classroom locations in the middle school, and switching to four-minute passing periods for middle schoolers. Three new middle school teachers were hired to teach the new students, and sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade advisories were combined to encourage kids to connect more. “I feel like they were the missing piece in our middle school, and they really helped create this holistic experience for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, as well as opportunities for leadership in the eighth grade,” BSM president Danielle Hermanny said.

Furthermore, most high school classes were moved out of the North Building, except for band, to separate the middle and high school. To keep sixth graders closer together, sixth-grade choir is in the band room—moved from the basement choir room. Mortl said some sixth-grade parents were concerned about their children walking through the same hallways as much older students, which prompted the decision.

The addition of a sixth grade is also reflected in the BSM library, where “Books for Everyone” and “Books for High Schoolers” sections have been created. School librarian Laura Sylvester said the goal of the new shelves is to make it easier for kids to find books that are right for them. “The middle schoolers are voracious readers, so I will need to keep building that collection,” Sylvester said.

While the sixth grade has a small class now, there is an opportunity for growth in the future, Hermanny said. BSM’s schoolwide enrollment now is 1040, and the school can accommodate up to 1200 students.

The biggest reason BSM added a sixth grade is because the school is at a mismatch with the public schools, Hermanny said. “We were not at a natural entry point for those kids leaving fifth grade when we started in seventh grade,” Hermanny said. “And so adding the sixth grade creates a clear, natural transition for them to come right out of their elementary schools into BSM, and gives them a really nice point of entry if this is their first time in a Catholic school, to learn what it means to be part of a Catholic school community.”

Both the sixth graders and the faculty are excited for the year. “I’m so proud of the middle school faculty and their collegiality to pull this off, and the eighth graders have done a great job helping the sixth graders,” Mortl said.