John Glenn Middle School of International Studies 

During this time of national health concerns and school closures, Desert Sands Unified School District is taking this time to reintroduce you to our schools. The articles that will appear in this column over the next several weeks have been taken from the archives and updated. For the next several weeks, we will reintroduce you to the middle schools of Desert Sands Unified School District. They all provide an outstanding education and offer many extra-curricular activities.

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John Glenn Middle School of International Studies is a unique school, where culture, community, and rigorous academics are revered. Having an International Baccalaureate program, JGMS students are afforded an opportunity to receive learning with a global perspective, with a focus on community service. Our 8th grade students develop a community project, as the culmination of three years of challenging content and activities within the structure of our International Baccalaureate program

JGMS is also an AVID School Site of Distinction. AVID provides our students with a focus on the prerequisite skills needed to be successful in high school, to ultimately be prepared for college. JGMS supports the concept of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) with an amazing robotics and Botball program and the integration of science into other core subject areas. The choir, orchestra, theatre, dance, and visual arts programs are well beyond the quality and standards of a middle school. Both French and Spanish are offered as three-year programs. The programs for special needs students include push-in opportunities with the electives and core content areas. At Glenn, we pride ourselves on creating an organized, thoughtful, nurturing and rigorous learning environment.

JGMS has a modern state of the art facility that is well maintained and is in the midst of continual technological upgrade. The school has a 1:1 device-to-student ratio for technology and each student takes home a Chromebook with access to lessons and instruction in both the Google Classroom and the at-school conventional classroom.

John Glenn Middle School has been honored as a School To Watch school by the California Department of Education. We received our latest recertification in 2019, and are the first middle school in California to have received a fifth recertification.  Schools To Watch looks at the school through the lens of having quality educational programs with good academic outcomes. Becoming or being recertified requires an extensive application along with a site visit to verify that the school is doing the work that was claimed.

Located in Indio, the staff and students of John Glenn Middle School take great pride in our academic success via IB and AVID, our quality arts and technology programs, and our role as global citizens of the world.

Information on student meal service and supplemental learning during school closures can be found by clicking here.