Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many children attend WJH?
A: There are 116 seventh graders and 118 eighth graders at this time.
Children move into our school district and move out as time progresses
thereby affecting our enrollment.
Q: How many teachers are at the school?
A: We employ 11 regular classroom teachers. We have one resource teacher
with an aide. We share a choir teacher and band teacher with our
neighboring campus of Wallace Elementary School.
Q: What extra activities are available for
student participation?
A: We offer student council, National Junior Honor Society, Student
Store, Choir, Band, Basketball, Volleyball, Football, Junior Bronc
Wrestling, just to name a few.
Q: Why are there Quarterly Tests in Math,
Reading, and Writing?
A: The Quarterly Tests provide the teachers (and students) with an
overview of what the students have learned during the previous 9 week
session. It is like a mini final exam for the course.
Students are expected to not only learn the subject matter during the
time it is taught but to also remember what they have learned for a life
time. The quarterly test scores are averaged into the student's report
card grades and play a very important part in the planning of each
lesson.
Q: What about the AIMS test?
A: The AIMS test is Federally required test that students take. It is
part of the No Child Left Behind laws enacted by Congress. It evaluates
the knowledge each student has obtained during their time in school.
Each child's score is compared to every child's score statewide.
The schools are rated by how well the student body scores on this single
test.
Q: What is the big deal with cell phones?
A: Cell phones have no place at school for several reasons. First it
gives opportunity for cheating. Answers can be texted from one class to
another. Also, they provide interruptions to the learning process.
Students are expected to pay attention to the lesson, not texting
another person. Furthermore, it would be impolite to carry on a
phone conversation during class time with another person. (The same is
true in restaurants, buses, movie theaters, churches, airplanes, etc.)
Q: Why does my child tell me there isn't any
homework?
A: Most teachers at WJH provide daily assignments. Our last hour of the
school day is a time for study hall. Some students do finish their work
at that time. Many do not. If your child tells you they have no
homework, ask them to show you what they did in school that day. Most of
the time the work is not collected until the next day. They should
have a paper, notes, workbook sheets, something to show what the lesson
was about. If not, contact the teacher and make certain your
student is up-to-date. Use the email links on the seventh or eighth
grade page of this web site.
Q: Does my child really have to be at school
every day?
A: Almost every day is something new. Your student needs to be in the
classroom in order to participate and learn about the subject. If they
are not in the classroom, they are not getting what the rest of the
class is learning. Attendance is absolutely necessary.
Q: But my child isn't that bad?
A: School is a corporate, communal environment. What might seem "not
that bad" in a one to one situation is not the same in a room of 30
children. Every child in the classroom has a right to learn. When one of
those children decide to interrupt that right to learn for the other 29,
it is a big deal. Sometimes a child will seek the attention of the
class. When this happens, the teacher must stop the teaching and
re-focus the attention back to the lesson at hand. Usually that takes
time away from the learning that could have happened during those
several minutes.