This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Central Middle School To Enhance Its Encore Lineup

At the Tuesday, May 14th Board of Education meeting, Mr. Randy Fortin, principal of the school, presented modifications to the school’s upcoming Core and Encore (class electives) programs.

Mr. Fortin highlighted the positive changes to the program, but more specifically Spanish class.  He said, “An exciting change coming for school year 2013-14 will be merging Spanish class into Encore as an opt-in class.  With this new enhancement to the schedule, students will be empowered with the decision of taking Spanish, or not.”  Mr. Fortin went on to explain that by offering the Encore choices, Central moves another step closer to the middle school philosophy, and by offering students the chance to make decisions about their classes, they prepare for high school and further.

“Our hope”, he continued, “is that by giving the option to take Spanish, those that choose to opt-in (to Spanish) will test into Honors once they hit high school.”

Encore classes are electives at Central, and the classes rotate throughout the year to give students a rich exposure to a diverse set of classes.  The school expects to accommodate approximately 60 students for Spanish class.  The other Encore choices include: Art, Music, Industrial Technology, Family and Consumer Science.  Encore classes next year will be 40 minutes in length.

Mr. Fortin said, “We are going to move forward with the Language Arts/Reading split in the core classes. This will meet the exactitude of the Common Core Standards in the areas of reading and writing.” The schedule enhancements are set to take place starting Fall 2013. 

Central Middle School is in Tinley Park, and receives students from Fierke (Oak Forest), Kruse (Orland Park), Fulton, and Memorial (Tinley Park) Schools.  CMS houses approximately 800 students and the principal, Mr. Fortin, will be completing his first full school year as the head of Central this June.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?