Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, or SASA, is a public, magnet high school and middle school in Saginaw, Michigan. From its founding in the early 1980s until 1999, it was known as the Center for the Arts & Sciences (CAS). During this period, it was a half-day school utilizing a concentration, or major, program to allow students to focus on specialized areas of study, while spending the other half of the day at their home school. In 1999, the name was changed, and SASA became a full day school, allowing students to take other required classes in addition to their concentration.

Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Address
1903 North Niagara Street

Saginaw
,
Michigan
48602

United States
Coordinates43°25′58″N 83°56′41″W
Information
School typePublic, magnet middle school and high school
Motto"Moving Futures Forward."
Established1981 (1981)[1]
School district School District of the City of Saginaw
SuperintendentRamont M. Roberts[2]
CEEB code233282
NCES School ID263039001171[3]
PrincipalRachel Reid [4]
Teaching staff27 (2017-18)[3]
Grades6 to 12
GenderCo-ed
Enrollment530 (2017-18)[5]
Student to teacher ratio19.63 (2017-18)[3]
Color(s)   
Burgundy and Navy[6]
Athletics conferenceMichigan Summit League[6]
NicknameDragons
PublicationSASA Perspectives
Websitewww.spsd.net/sasa/
Student assessments
2021–22 school
year[7]
Change vs.
prior year[7]
M-STEP 11th grade proficiency rates
(Science / Social Studies)
Advanced %66.7 / 45.2
Proficient %16.7 / 35.7
PR. Proficient %– / –
Not Proficient %≤10 / ≤10
Average test scores
SAT Total1199.5
(Increase +21.4)

History

The Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy is located in a building that originally housed a Montgomery Ward department store.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the CAS shared its building with the Ruben Daniels Center for Lifelong Education, an adult and alternative high school also run by the Saginaw School district. The CAS met with surprising success, and began drawing students from throughout the Saginaw-valley area, including Saginaw, Bay, and Midland counties.

In the late 1990s, a committee of students, parents, and teachers, began a campaign to expand the school to include a full-day option. This committee took on the name "The River School Project", owing to the school's location on the banks of the Saginaw River near downtown Saginaw. Although the committee met with much doubt and resistance, support gradually built, and after several meetings the Saginaw School Board eventually unanimously approved plans to expand the school and change the name to the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy. In 1999, full-day programs were added for the 9th and 10th grade, with the 11th grade following in 2000, and the 12th grade in 2001.

The school building was renovated to include three new full science labs, an atrium, gymnasium, and a new performing arts center that opened at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

In March 2021, a proposal by current superintendent Dr. Ramont M. Roberts was issued, indicating plans to demolish most of the current SASA building, replace it with a brand new high school intended to gather a much larger student base than presently, and move the staff, students, and organizations of current SASA to the Arthur Hill campus, along with demolishing an additional elementary school known as Handley and placing it on the same campus as the new SASA.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "About Us". sasa-academy.org. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  2. "Superintendent". spsd.net. Saginaw Public School District. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  3. "Search for Public Schools - Saginaw Arts And Sciences Academy (263039001171)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  4. "Staff". sasa-academy.org. Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy. Retrieved 2015-03-28.
  5. "Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  6. "MHSAA - Schools". Michigan High School Athletic Association. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  7. "MI School Data Annual Education Report". MI School Data. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  8. "About".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.