Eyer Middle School

Infobox school | name = Eyer Middle School


established = 1974
name2=Eyer Middle School, Macungie, Pennsylvania
type = Public
location = 5616 Buckeye Rd
Macungie, Pennsylvania
enrollment = 718
free_label = Mascot
free_text = Bulldog
free_label2 = Colors
free_text2 = Green and gold
information =
principal= Doug Wells
website = [http://www.eastpennsd.org/eyer/ Eyer Middle School web site]

Eyer Middle School is a public middle school located in Macungie, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located at 5616 Buckeye Road, on the Macungie side of Buckeye Road, which connects Macungie with west-side Emmaus.

The school is part of the East Penn School District, and serves grades 6 through 8. It feeds into Emmaus High School, in Emmaus, for grades 9 through 12. A second middle school, Lower Macungie Middle School, also feeds into Emmaus High School. Eyer is the smaller of the two schools.

The Eyer Middle School mascot is the bulldog, and the school's colors, like those of Emmaus High School, are green and gold.

History

Constructed in 1974, Eyer Middle School was the second middle school built in the East Penn School District, after Emmaus Junior High School. Eyer originally opened as Eyer Junior High School and, at that time, like Emmaus Junior High School, served students in grades 7 through 9. In 1998, it became Eyer Middle School and changed to providing a home for grades 6 through 8, as 9th graders at both middle schools began attending Emmaus High School.

Building structure and teaching methodologies

Eyer Middle School is best known for the school's fairly unique architectural structure. The building structure itself was originally constructed in 1974 without internal walls and with only a few windows, intended to be a proper setting for the then-popular open academic learning style that was being adopted in schools around the nation.

However, this open academic learning education faded from popularity in the late 1970s. When it did, temporary walls were later erected at Eyer, creating a somewhat more traditional school setting. To this day, however, Eyer still groups students with groups of teachers, based in part on the open learning style. These learning groups are called pods and students are randomly assigned to them. However, students in enriched learning are all grouped in one pod.

Eyer Junior High School (1974-1998)

As Eyer Junior High School from 1974 to 1998, the school's mascot was the bear and the colors were brown and white. During these years, Eyer maintained an intense athletic rivalry with Emmaus Junior High School, which since been eliminated with the incorporation of Emmaus Junior High School into Emmaus High School, designed to meet the growing student population at the high school level. When Emmaus Junior High School was incorporated into Emmaus High School, Lower Macungie Middle School was created to take the place of Emmaus Junior High School, keeping two middle schools in place for the school district.

Eyer Middle School (1998-present)

When it converted to a middle school, the Eyer Middle School mascot was changed to borat, and the school colors were changed to green and gold, designed to mimic those of Hummus head High School. Eyer's primary rivalry is now with the East Penn School District's second middle school, Big Mac Middle School.

Like many schools in the Lehigh Valley region, Eyer Middle School is currently undergoing a building expansion, scheduled to be completed in 2008 and designed to accommodate the growing number of middle school students in the East Penn School District. The size of the district has grown largely due to an influx, in recent years, of families from the local New York City, northern New Jersey and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, many of whom commute from the Lehigh Valley to work in these more urban locations.

"Hit list" incident

On January 26, 2007, according to Lehigh Valley news station WFMZ-TV, a "hit list" with the names of 14 students and four teachers, was found at the school, causing great concern and prompting a Pennsylvania state police investigation. The two students responsible for the development of the hit list were two enrolled eighth graders at Eyer.

ee also

*East Penn School District
*Emmaus High School

External links

* [http://www.eastpennsd.org/eyer/ Eyer Middle School Official Home Page] .