GIVE West Middle School
Principal: Dr. Kelly Walter
5550 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Norcross, GA 30071
School Highlights
The following school highlights showcase how GIVE West Middle School is fulfilling Gwinnett County Public School's four strategic priorities of Empathy, Equity, Effectiveness, and Excellence. Visit the School Profile Dashboard to find more detailed data on our school.
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Starting in 2022, GIVE West has added three fine arts programs, including art, music technology, and dramatic writing. These classes offer a variety of different forms of self-expression and often connect with our social and emotional curriculum.
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GIVE Center West's Shared Leadership Team, which includes administrators, department leads, and other school leaders. They meet monthly to discuss academic initiatives, challenges, school culture, and communication.
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All students at GIVE West participate in tier 1, 2, and 3 Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which involves explicit teaching of positive behaviors and rewarding students with points that can be used to purchase items from the PBIS store. The PBIS committee meets monthly to discuss data, which is also shared during monthly faculty meetings.
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GIVE Center West offers a unique graded class that incorporates effective skills for students on an Early Return Contract or who need daily support with behavioral challenges. In this class, students and teachers seek to challenge misconceptions about themselves and their behaviors through drug education, cultural sensitivity, and conflict resolution techniques.
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GIVE West has three peer leadership classes for students in different grade levels. In that class, students explore how leadership can be demonstrated throughout the school. In addition to workshops on academic and behavioral leadership, students support the PBIS program and food drives to connect with the school and community.
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GIVE West's Achieve Program is a self-contained environment for students who have had a discipline incident and need more intensive behavioral intervention and academic assistance. The program is limited to five students who stay with one teacher throughout the day while receiving online support from other teachers.
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Viewpoint Counseling is an independent organization that offers students and families counseling services on GIVE West's campus. These counseling services are available twice weekly and offer another level of support to families.
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Early Return Contracts are a new intervention, allowing students found in violation at a tribunal to return to their home school before their original return date if certain academic and behavioral goals are achieved, such as community service, grade expectations, and time without a discipline referral.
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Community mentors lead the GIVE West Lyles mentoring program. Each mentor meets with their mentoring group once weekly during lunch and has conversations that expand beyond the school building and into the real world.
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Each month, GIVE West's staff gathers for an open house where any parent or student can come and talk about grades, behavioral growth, or other issues they are experiencing. This monthly check-in allows parents, students, and staff to partner together to support the growth of the student.