On May 26, 1998, a student brought a kitchen knife to school and stabbed and seriously injured another boy during an eighth-grade “Fun Day” event. In 2017 the school received budget cuts since the percentage of non-Hispanic/Latino white students reached 30%; this occurred because of a state law established in the 1970s stating that schools with populations of white students below 30% get extra funding. Parents at Reed opposed the funding decrease.
Academies and electives
The school offers a variety of special academic programs: the Individualized Honors Program, the School for Advanced Studies, the Humanities Academy, the Media Arts and Technology Academy, the S.T.E.A.M. Academy, the Environmental Sciences Academy, and the Global Leadership Academy. IHP was described by Time magazine as "perhaps the most successful junior-high curriculum in the U.S.". Founded in 1971 by William Fitz-Gibbon, the IHP's purpose is to serve the needs of highly gifted children. IHP students are usually one or two levels above average grade math classes. Pre-algebra and algebra are taught in 6th grade, algebra and geometry in 7th grade, and geometry and algebra 2 in 8th grade. The school has a very active parent body organized under its PTSA.
Gifted program
In 1971, the school established the Individualized Honors Program co-founded by William Fitz-Gibbon. The parents who place their children in the program want them to be social peers; the students would otherwise be able to skip middle school and enroll directly in high school or in some cases tertiary education.
Filming
Television shows filmed there include Head of the Class, Growing Pains, 7th Heaven, Joe Dirt, Parks and Recreation, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, , Malcolm in the Middle, Parenthood, The West Wing and Tell Me You Love Me. Scenes from movies including Transformers, Joe Dirt, License to Drive, The Shaggy Dog, Role Models, Accepted and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster were also filmed there. In 2006, the fee for one day of filming at an LAUSD school was $2,500.
In the news
At the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the façade of Walter Reed Middle School was displayed behind the GOP nominee John McCain as a backdrop to his acceptance speech, raising questions as to why, starting in the blogosphere. Blog posts referring to "Walter Reed Middle School" jumped from roughly 0% in the previous six months to.0325% on the night of the convention, according to the BlogPulse search engine. Although the campaign did not release an official statement, many have speculated that the campaign had intended to display a picture of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army's leading medical institution and a facility widely associated with care for Iraq war veterans. The then principal of Walter Reed Middle School, Donna Tobin, placed a statement on the school's website saying that the school had not given permission for the footage to be used, "nor is the use of our school’s picture an endorsement of any political party or view."
