Mission: Ensure Every student discovers their potential to succeed

Vision: To become a district by design where kids come first. 

Changing to a middle school and K-6 model allows the Florence Unified district to narrow the focus at each of our schools by concentrating our resources to provide developmentally specific and targeted programming for students in the various stages of learning.  

Adolescents and pre-teens have needs that are very different from elementary aged children. As a result, providing efficient systems and educational programs for such a broad span of grade levels is difficult. We believe that by providing middle school students with their own unique experiences and support systems, we can better meet their academic, social and emotional needs. Likewise, we can provide more targeted support at elementary schools with younger and intermediate students. This will be accomplished through staffing, through age and developmentally appropriate programming and professional development. 

FUSD also believes that by creating middle schools, we can lower our total enrollment at each school, which will allow FUSD to be prepared for and anticipate future growth that is coming to the area through many new housing developments without asking the taxpayers for fund through a bond or override to build a school until absolutely necessary. We aim to keep the tax rate as low as possible, and not make requests through elections for bonds or overrides unless we know we can keep the tax rate the same, or see a decrease, and unless we absolutely have grown to the point where we need to fund a building. The school funding formula that currently exists is not designed to fund new schools, which is why it is so important to have the support of the community.

On average, about 75% of FUSD parents and staff preferred a change from the existing K-8 model to either a 6-8 or 7-8 model. While 6-8’s were the first choice, 7-8’s had a significant amount of support. 

The goal of the entire move to the middle school model was to do so within the existing budget, and not ask taxpayers for funding to do so. After receiving approval from the school board to explore the middle school model, as study of the school sites occurred. One of our campuses required extensive amounts of work to be able to house 6-8 grade students. The existing budget can however, sustain improvements to provide the space needed for 7-8 grade students and allow for some future growth. Given that the majority of our staff and parents wanted the change to middle school, we selected the option that we could implement while remaining fiscally responsible.

Parents may want to know how the new middle school model will affect their child's academic experience, including curriculum changes and teaching methods.

Florence Unified utilizes a 24:1 staffing ratio as a guide for staffing middle and K-6 schools.

Schools and programs will be staffed based on the students that will be attending them. The special education team and district leadership has reviewed student rosters to determine areas of need to ensure schools are staffed appropriately for the students that they will be receiving. Specific questions regarding students with special needs should be directed to your students’ current principal.

Students will have the opportunity to participate in: Football, Cheerleading, Wrestling, Baseball, Softball, Soccer and Basketball throughout various sports seasons during the school year. The middle schools will also offer Student Council, Band, possibly Yearbook, National Junior Honor’s Society and other clubs depending on student interest.

Students will be provided transportation to their assigned school as long as they reside more than 1 mile from their school of residence.

Parents may submit a boundary variance through open enrollment. As long as the desired school has capacity, the student can enroll at their desired school. Transportation is not provided to open enrollment students.

High School:  7:10-2:20

Middle School:  9:00 - 3:50

K-6 Elementary:  8:00 - 3:00

The reason many middle schools start and end later than high schools and elementary schools, and why FUSD chose the same option comes down to a combination of logistics, developmental needs, and scheduling considerations:

Transportation Logistics: Our school buses serve multiple schools, and staggered start times allow the same buses to handle different groups of students. With the difficulty that exists around recruiting and retaining highly qualified bus drivers, a tiered system will help tremendously in getting students safely to and from school.

Teen Sleep Patterns: Middle school students are often pre-teens or early teenagers, and research shows that adolescents tend to have later sleep cycles due to biological changes. Their bodies naturally want to stay up later and wake up later, which is why many districts adjust start times to better align with these natural sleep patterns, helping students be more alert and focused during the school day.

Activity Scheduling: Having high school and middle school with different start and end times, the high schools can work with their feeder middle schools in growing sports and extracurricular programs by sharing expertise and resources.