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History of Riverglen Junior
High
David Greene, Principal
Anne Ross, Assistant Principal
GENERAL
Riverglen Junior High, home of the
Grizzlies, is located at the base of the foothills in Northwest Boise. The
school was dedicated as the eighth and newest junior high school of the Boise
School District on September 18, 1998. Riverglen opened its doors in August 1998 with 749 students in
attendance. In June of 2001, the first class of Grizzlies,159 in all, to
have completed their 7th, 8th and 9th grades at Riverglen
graduated.
The construction of Riverglen was necessitated by rapid
population growth in Northwest Boise during the early 1990’s. By 1995, over 900 students were enrolled at Hillside Junior High School,
and portable classrooms dotted the land surrounding the
school. Passage of a bond issue in February 1996 allowed for the
construction of Riverglen.
THE FACILITY
The approximately
33 acre site
has North Gary Lane as its eastern boundary and West Gillis Road as its
southern boundary. Except for
trim colors, Riverglen’s 135,000 square foot, two-story facility is
identical to Les Bois Junior High School in the southeast Boise. Both junior high schools were constructed from the plan used
for Eagle Middle School in the Meridian School District.
The 33 acres of grounds at
Riverglen contain an outdoor storage building shared by the custodial and
athletic departments, a cinder track as well as provisions for other track
events, outdoor basketball courts, sand volley ball courts, tennis courts,
football fields, soccer fields, softball and baseball fields.
TECHNOLOGY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION
Riverglen has computer labs in five
rooms. One lab is used exclusively
by the ELL program. The lab in room
211 is a high tech lab furnished by the Albertson Foundation. Two of the labs
are used almost exclusively by Riverglen’s Computer Education and
Technology Departments and are shared when not in use.
Many of Riverglen’s computer labs are used for courses taught to adults
in the afternoons, evenings and summer. Riverglen also is home to some of the district’s neediest special
education students and contains the facilities needed to meet their unique
needs.
POPULATION
In general, one-third of the
Riverglen student body is from former Fairmont Junior High School attendance
areas and two-thirds are from former Hillside Junior High School attendance
areas. Approximately two-fifths of
Riverglen students are from the Shadow Hills Elementary School attendance area;
another two-fifths are from the Pierce Park and Mountain View Elementary School
attendance areas; and one-fifth is from Whittier Elementary, Cynthia Mann
Elementary, and special permission cases. All
of the Shadow Hills and Pierce Park Elementary attendance areas are included in
Riverglen's attendance area. Portions
of Cynthia Mann, Mountain View and Whittier Elementary Schools are included in
the Riverglen attendance area.
ELL
Due to the fact the school currently has a student body smaller than its facility capacity,
Riverglen opened with the English Language Learners Academy housed in its east
downstairs wing. The ELL students
represent a wide cultural variety and receive parent newsletters in several
different languages. The ELL
students represent approximately fifteen per cent of the Riverglen student body
and bring a rich cultural tapestry to the school.
Treasure Valley Math & Science
Center
In 2004, the pilot school known as the
Treasure Valley Math & Science Center (TVMSC), funded largely by Micron, opened
in a vacated wing in Riverglen. In this "school inside a school," students
from grades 6-11 can apply through the school district to take classes in areas
such as Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, as well as a variety of math
classes. The classes are taught by a very experienced group of teachers
who have had much experience in their fields.
Eventually, TVMSC will relocate to a
larger and more permanent facility to be determined. Until then, Riverglen
is honored to serve some of the most gifted and talented students in the
district with TVMSC in this new and revolutionary program.
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