Student Enrollment: 606
Grade configuration of Hutchins Middle School: 6 - 8
Percentage of Hutchins' middle-grades students eligible for free lunch
97.2%
Percent of Hutchins' middle grades students referred to special education
for evaluation and placement during:
1992-93? 5% 1993-1994? 1%
Opened in March, 1922, Hutchins School was named in the honor of Dr. Harry Burns Hutchins, former President of the University of Michigan and whose picture is in the hall on the second floor. Hutchins was a sister school to the Barbour Intermediate School and both were built at the same time.
Hutchins has 26 academic classrooms, two art rooms, one auditorium, two locker and shower rooms, two commercial rooms, one office, two swimming pools, four science laboratories, and physician's and nurse's rooms.
The school draws most of its pupils from the Brady, Sanders, Fairbanks, and Thirkell Elementary Schools. Our graduates enter Northern Central and Northwestern High Schools.
Hutchins Middle School is one of four middle schools in the school district to have successfully fulfilled the requirements for accreditation by the Michigan Department of Education under the provisions of PA 25. The school first participated in the pilot project for middle school accreditation beginning in 1987. Full accreditation was granted to Hutchins in April, 1990.
This year the school has again joined in a pilot project with the Michigan Department of Education to pilot revised accreditation standards based on student outcomes.
Hutchins joined the Detroit Compact in the second round of schools to be admitted to the program. The National Bank of Detroit, N.A. is the business partner of the school. Employees of NBD volunteer to assist students as mentors and tutors.
The Detroit Compact provides an assurance of the opportunity for success for Hutchins' students who meet standards for academic achievement, attendance, and citizenship.
In cooperation with the Henry Ford Health Care Corporation, a Teen Health Center provides a variety of health services for students at Hutchins. Health workers provide physical examinations, medical referrals, social work service, and health information.
The school is a site for programs offered by the Michigan State University Extension Service and the 4-H. These programs provide opportunities to learn about foods and nutrition and about science and technology.
Hutchins has active troops for both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Hutchins is a site for the Detroit Dragons PAL Football team and cheerleaders.
The school had a long history of involvement with the Michigan League of Academic Games. School sponsors are Mrs. Barbara Sturdivant and Mrs. Mary Swift. The school is especially proud of our team which is last year's Michigan State Champion for Word Card in the Elementary Division.
Science and mathematics students at Hutchins participate in the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program. This year students completed more than 50 science projects.
The school is participating in the Accelerating Change in Education programs sponsored by the Detroit Public Schools. The school selected in-service training in strategic reading and teaching provided by the North Central Regional Education Laboratory. A team of Hutchins staff was trained in the principles of strategic reading by NCREL. The team then conducted a series of five workshops for Hutchins academic staff.
A group of Hutchins students and two staff sponsors are trained in the methods of conflict resolution. The program is sponsored by Wayne County and is intended to reduce violence among youth.
The school has also entered into partnership with Central Michigan University for the development of an urban middle school restructuring and teacher training program. Funds for the project have been obtained from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
Students enrolled in this program receive instruction in language arts and social studies entirely in a foreign language. This program is a continuation of foreign language immersion begun in the elementary school.
Hutchins houses the grades six through eight foreign language immersion program for French and Spanish. This program is a continuation of the K-5 foreign language immersion program. Students from the Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School are automatically admitted to the Hutchins Middle School Continuing Immersion Program in French and Spanish. Other students will only be considered for the continuation program at Hutchins if they are fluent in French or Spanish. Hutchins has also added a Japanese class to their foreign language program.
Hutchins Middle School was originally constructed over 70 years ago and was designed as a junior high school to service students in grades 7 through 9. The building has the largest amount of floor space of any middle/junior high school in the Detroit Public Schools District. In 1967, the school's enrollment reached nearly 2,200. Enrollment today is just over 600 students, largely the result of housing abandonment within this area of the city. The school is located in what is described as the inner-city of Detroit. It is located immediately to the north of the major business and commercial center of the city.
The Hutchins Middle School staff organized seven interdisciplinary teams during 1995. Teachers experience an individual planning hour during the week and a team planning hour each school day.