Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School (JGEMS) is a public

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

serving grades

six 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

through

eight 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

that focuses on environmental science and

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. It is housed in the same building as the Oregon School for the Deaf in

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and is named after English primatologist

Jane Goodall Dame Jane Morris Goodall (; born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall; 3 April 1934), formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, Primatology, primatologist and Anthropology, anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremo ...

. It is part of the

Salem-Keizer School District Salem-Keizer School District (24J) is a school district in the U.S. state of Oregon that serves the cities of Salem and Keizer. It is the second-largest school district in the state with approximately 40,000 students and nearly 4,000 full-tim ...

History

Background

In the 1990s, Waldo Middle School in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, w ...

, began offering the

Roots & Shoots Roots & Shoots was founded by Jane Goodall, DBE in 1991, to bring together youth from preschool to university age to work on environmental, conservation, and humanitarian issues. The organization has local chapters in over 140 countries with over ...

program as an after-school activity. The program was founded by

in 1991 as a way of teaching young people how to get involved in

environmental issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

. In 1997, Waldo Middle School and science teacher Mike Weddle were awarded the Dr. Jane Goodall/Roots and Shoots Gold Award and recognised as one of the top four groups in the programme. Later that year, members of the group travelled to a summit of the

Jane Goodall Institute The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global non-profit wildlife and environment conservation organization headquartered in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1977 by English primatologist Jane Goodall and Genevieve di San Faustino (1919-2011). Th ...

Brewster, New York Brewster is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and the principal settlement within the town (New York), town of Southeast, New York, Southeast in Putnam County, New York, Putnam County, New York (state), New York, United Sta ...

Founding the school

In 2000, Weddle founded the Jane Goodall Environmental Magnet School (JGEMS) at Waldo Middle School. While intended as a

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

, it was originally only open to students attending Waldo.

Curriculum

The curriculum at JGEMS is aligned to current Oregon curriculum content standards and all courses taught in other Salem/Keizer middle schools are also taught at JGEMS. The curriculum at JGEMS consists of

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an i ...

language arts English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distin ...

social studies In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

integrated science Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

health education Health education is a profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health, as well as sexual and r ...

, and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

. If any student receives a F in any class before a field trip, they are not invited on that field trip. It is also very focused on science.

School projects

JGEMS takes on environmental restoration projects and involves students in a variety of field studies. Projects are

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

project,

Oregon silverspot butterfly ''Speyeria zerene hippolyta'', the Oregon silverspot, is a threatened butterfly that is found in the U.S. states of California and Oregon. It is a subspecies of ''Speyeria zerene''. Taxonomy ''Speyeria zerene hippolyta'' was described by Amer ...

reed canary grass ''Phalaris arundinacea'', or reed canary grass, is a tall, perennial bunchgrass that commonly forms extensive single-species stands along the margins of lakes and streams and in wet open areas, with a wide distribution in Europe, Asia, northern ...

suppression, frog deformities,

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

monitoring, indefinite maintenance at Pringle Creek,

macroinvertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum V ...

s census, Aumsville pond restoration, Little Pudding River restoration,

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia), dese ...

severity, monitoring the movement of the heavy wood debris by tides and high water events at

Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on Oregon's coast. It is one of six National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) comprising the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The refuge consists of several discontin ...

forest ecology Forest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna, funga, and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management. A forest ecosystem is a natural wo ...

at Opal Creek Education Center, and research on the

snowy plover The snowy plover (''Anarhynchus nivosus'') is a small shorebird found in the Americas. It is a member of the bird family Charadriidae, which includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. The snowy plover was originally described by John Cassin ...

. As of the 2011–12 school year, all the endangered species are at the

Oregon Zoo The Oregon Zoo, originally the Portland Zoo and later the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is located in Washington Park, approximately southwest of downtown Portland. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest zoo ...

References

External links

Official website
Education in Salem, Oregon Public middle schools in Oregon Jane Goodall Charter schools in Oregon {{Oregon-school-stub