SOMETIMES CHANGE IS GOOD.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

For at least some of the students at Eugene's Kelly Middle School, the most tangible change on campus this year has to do with lunch.

In an attempt to reduce crowding and ease tensions between the three grades, the school has staggered lunch breaks so each grade takes it at a different time - beginning at 10:40 in the morning.

"The lunches are too early," groused eighth-grader Vivek Patel, whose class got stuck with first lunch.

Nonetheless, Vivek has been happy at Kelly. "The teachers are wonderful - they help you out a lot," he said. "There aren't fights. It's just a good environment."

For the staff, remarks like that underscore the fact that substantive and beneficial changes are under way at Kelly.

In September, the school implemented a sweeping schedule change that created core teams for teachers and "small learning communities" for students, with the aim of strengthening bonds among students and staff.

The restructuring accelerated changes that were already taking root. The number of disciplinary referrals has plunged to about one-fourth of what it was five years ago, and enrollment is climbing as more neighborhood kids opt to stay at Kelly and while other students seek to transfer in from area middle schools.

Scores on the state reading, writing and math tests have stayed flat and comparatively low over the past five years, but Principal Tim Rochholz believes they'll soon begin reflecting the better climate and targeted academics. The school doesn't yet have results for the current year.

In spite of that, the school's successes prompted district Superintendent George Russell to nominate Kelly for a National School Change Award, a prestigious honor awarded to six schools in the United States each year. Russell wrote a letter of recommendation, as did state Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo, longtime Kelly teacher Martha Montgomery and former district administrator and Kelly volunteer David Mortimore. The winners will be announced this month.

"If we don't get it, that won't change anything that the staff has accomplished," said Rochholz, now finishing his third year at the school. "I just consider it a real honor that the superintendent thought we should apply for this."

And still more change lies ahead for Kelly: This September, the school will introduce all sixth-graders to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, a curriculum focused on communications, internationalism and integrated learning that ties in with the International High School program offered at the district's four high schools.

Kelly, the only middle school in the area to take up the program, will extend it to seventh grade and then eighth as the first class moves up. After an implementation period, typically five years or more, Kelly hopes to earn an official "IB" designation from the International Baccalaureate Organization.

Kelly veterans say the school Site Council's decision to go ahead with the IB program is symptomatic of a can-do spirit that wasn't there until recently. With the highest poverty rate, the largest percentage of non-English speakers and some of the lowest test scores in the district, Kelly has fought to dispel a long-held reputation for academic mediocrity and student misbehavior.

In her nomination letter for the School Change Award, teacher Martha Montgomery recalled a "dismal and defeating" atmosphere that left her drained at the end of day. A building remodel in the early 1990s helped considerably, she said, but the deeper changes began with Rochholz's arrival three years ago.

"Within the limits of reality in education today - underfunding, overcrowded classrooms and societal pressures - the feeling at Kelly today is one of possibility, support, growth and change," wrote Montgomery, who started teaching at the school in 1988.

Newer staff, too, say the sense of dedication and excitement is palpable.

"The talk around the copier is always energized, even at this time of the year," said eighth-grade teacher Jenny Mora, in her first year at Kelly.

Under the new structure, teachers work in teams, sharing 90 minutes of planning time every day to better integrate curriculum. Students stay with the same language arts, social studies, math and science teachers in small learning communities at each grade level, leaving them only for noncore subjects such as P.E., foreign language and band.

Kelly already had a partial framework in place with its Japanese Immersion and Da Vinci technology programs, in which students spend part of their day with the same teachers and classmates. But for the most part, Kelly's previous model resembled a traditional high school, with students taking multiple classes in multiple locations, from multiple teachers each day.

During the eighth- and sixth-grade lunch periods on Monday, students said they like the new schedule just fine, although none elaborated much beyond that. They had much to say, though, when asked how they like Kelly in general - and all of them sounded a lot like Vivek Patel.

"I think it's one of the coolest schools you can ever go to," said sixth-grader Courtney Delaplain, who transfers in from the Madison attendance area. She and her four friends said Rochholz and their teachers are "cool" and "nice," and they love the climbing wall in the gymnasium and the after-school programs.

At-risk coordinator Candy Elliott, with the school 11 years, said students know Kelly is a place where all the adults care about them.

"The kids feel like they belong," said Elliott, who's found that she's spending less time on discipline referrals as behavioral problems get nipped in the bud. "Everyone here knows they're part of the big picture."

CAPTION(S):

Tim Rochholz, Kelly Middle School principal, plays "Duck, Duck, Goose" with students. Staff and students alike praise schedule reforms and other changes under way intended to strengthen bonds between teachers and their classes. "I think it's one of the coolest schools you can ever go to." COURTNEY DELAPLAIN SIXTH-GRADER AT KELLY