Oak Avenue Intermediate School


Oak Avenue Intermediate School is a two-year public intermediate, junior high, or middle school, located in Temple City, California, in the west San Gabriel Valley.

History

The Temple City Unified School District was established on July 1, 1954 and incorporated Oak Avenue Intermediate School, formerly part of the Pasadena Unified School District. Before 1956, Temple City public school students would attend Pasadena High School after Oak Avenue, but in 1956 the first 12th grade class in the district graduated at Oak Avenue.

Electives

Students at Oak Avenue must take Mathematics, English, Social Studies, Science, and Physical Education for the full two years, but may choose an elective class. Typical elective classes include Beginning and Advanced Art, Auxiliaries, Computers and Computer Graphics, Film Studies, Media Literacy, Marching Band, Orchestra, Chorus, Yearbook, and STEAM.

Performing arts

Oak Avenue's music program offers two departments; band, consisting woodwind instruments, such as the flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone, the brass instruments: trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, baritone and percussion instruments starting at the Intermediate level ; while orchestra consists of strings, such as violin, viola, cello, and bass—a symphony orchestra, in contrast, combines winds, percussions, and strings into a single body. The band and orchestra manage to combine once every year to form a symphony orchestra in able to play a specific song to the entire school.
Both departments have three levels of proficiency; beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The advanced band is given the further sobriquet of "Royals Concert Band". Each year the departments participate in different events. The Royals Band, for example, marches in various parades throughout the school's second semester.

Clubs

Distinguished School Award

The Temple City Unified School District is recognized as "A District of Distinguished Schools" as all the public schools have been awarded the Distinguished School Award by the California Department of Education, placing each awarded school in the top five percent of California's public schools in the given year.
Oak Avenue Intermediate School and Temple City High School, received the award in 1996 just a year after
Cloverly Elementary School was the first to receive the award, in 1995. One year later, in 1997, both Emperor Elementary School and La Rosa Elementary School received the award, followed by Longden Elementary School in 2004.

Differentiated Staffing

Differentiated staffing has been successfully implemented at Oak Avenue to such an extent that it has been use as an example in Differentiated Staffing in Schools. A Review of Current Policies and Programs by Joseph Stocker, published by National School Public Relations Assn., 1201 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036

Promotion Requirements

In order to promote to Temple City High School, or any other high school, a student of Oak Avenue must not have more than two failing grades for a class. If they received more than two failing grades in one year, then they will not promote to high school and might have to repeat 8th grade in the Junior Academy.