Contextual Factors: Description of School

Description of School:

Located in south of Salem, BMS draws from a wide spectrum of socio-economic groups.  According to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), BMS has 40.3% of its students eligible for free and reduced lunch.  In comparison, the school district has 58.0% of its students eligible for free and reduced lunch.  While BMS would appear to have less of its students impoverished based on these numbers compared to the rest of the district, these numbers do imply that many of the students will be dealing with the factors that accompany issues of poverty and homelessness.  These factors include, but are not limited to, hunger, the lack of resources for supplies, and the lack of resources for use at home such as access to the internet.  For my classroom, I have been thinking about what I can expect students to be able to do at home or bring in to use because of the lack of resources. 

            According to the Oregon Department of Education, as of the 2009-2010 school year, of the 804 students at BMS, 20.7% minority students.  This is a significantly lower percentage than the 46.6% for the district and 31.6% for the state.  12.9% of the minority students are Hispanic, 2.8%Asian-Pacific Islander, 0.4% Black, 1.7% American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 2.8% Multi-ethnic.  Its student population was made up of According to the 2009-2010 School Report Card only 2.5% of BMS students were in ESL programs compared to 16.1% for the district and 10.3% for the state.  This is a significantly lower number than for the rest of the district but I think that makes it even more important, as a teacher, to look for the ESL students in my classroom.  It could be very easy to assume that there are not any of these students in my classroom and I want to make sure that I provide the best education that I can for all of my students.  I also want to be aware of the minority students and the assets they bring to the classroom.

The BMS staff consists of 48 teachers, 16 instructional assistants, 5 deaf and hard of hearing interpreters, 2 counselors, 1 principal and 1 assistant principal, a librarian and an assistant, and 16 support staff.  The demographics of the staff is predominantly White and about an even mixture of male and female.  The only three non-White members of the staff that I can recall observing are the custodian, one of the Spanish teachers, and one of the counselors.  The principal is male and the assistant principal is female.  The office staff is entirely female.  Even with the student demographics being weighted more toward White than the district in general, the staff of BMS is not representative of the students.  The image that having the only three Hispanic, and non-white, staff members playing the roles that they play in the school may leave a significant impact on the multi-cultural students.  I think it would be good for the students of color to have representatives of other races among the teaching staff.

The school has, under the rules set down by the No Child Left Behind Act, become a school of choice.  Because of this, BMS has experienced a rise in enrollment of approximately 100 students over last year.  The approximately 14% increase in enrollment has had a noticeable effect on school culture and class size.  That means that every class of 30 students suddenly has 34-35 students in it.  From discussions with teachers it is clear that it is taking some time for these students to make friends and to begin to identify with the school as a whole.