Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, Hercules Middle High School has officially split into two schools: Hercules Middle School and Hercules High School.
After the firing of former principal Jen Bender, the school was on the hunt for a replacement, or in this case, two replacements.
In deciding future plans for Hercules Middle High School, the school board came across issues regarding coherence between the school’s two halves. This prompted the decision to separate the school into two.
"The decision from the board was to split the two schools because of conflicts in the student day, conflicts in the schedule, conflicts in the ability for the staff to follow the same day—[we were] two totally different structures trying to operate as one," new High School principal Paul Mansingh said.
The two, now separate, schools each have their own respective principals, the high school with Mr. Mansingh and the middle school with Ms. Lama, who was formerly an assistant principal at Kennedy High School.
Now, with different schools come different age groups, different focuses and priorities and different teaching practices.
In making sure all these issues are addressed, the middle and high school administrations hold monthly meetings to discuss overall campus safety, as well as climate and transportation arrangements.
The primary focus of Hercules High is graduation—academic—whereas the primary focus of Hercules Middle is behavioral. Rather than having to account for kids ranging from ages 11 to 18, each school now has a designated age group to look after.
Although the two schools are officially separate now, in reality, “We’re still one campus, but with instruction, teaching and learning separate,” Mansingh said.