It's been 100 years since the first junior high school was introduced in the United States. That school was Indianola Junior High School which is now Indianola Middle School in Columbus. A centennial celebration will take place at the school tonight.
The junior high school concept was introduced in the Columbus City School system in 1909. Keisha Fletcher-Bates is the current assistant principal at Indianola Middle School. "At that time junior high schools were created to bridge the gap between high school and elementary school."
Students would attend elementary school until they entered high school in the ninth grade. In addition to dealing with an overcrowding issue, the school system's high drop out rate forced them to look at other alternatives for retention. "They had a large number of failing students and students couldn't actually make it in the ninth grade. So they created, so they created the middle school/junior high school concept to help bridge that gap."
When Indianola Junior High School opened its doors in September of 1909, it had 12 teachers and over 300 junior high students.
The Indianola Middle School Centennial Celebration will take place at the school this evening at 6.
Kim Fox, WOSU News.