Duluth Middle School
Principal: Dr. Jimmie McKinley
3200 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, GA 30096
School Highlights
The following school highlights showcase how Duluth Middle School is fulfilling Gwinnett County Public School's four strategic priorities of Empathy, Equity, Effectiveness, and Excellence. Visit the School Profile Dashboard to find more detailed data on our school.
- Duluth Middle School Band students performed at 8th Grade Night with the DHS Marching Band and at an Atlanta Hawks game in November. Over twenty students auditioned for the District Honor Band. Seven of our students were selected for the District 13 Honor Band. 4 of those students advanced to the second round. We had one student chosen for the Georgia All-State Honor Band. Sixteen of our students were selected for and participated in this year's Middle School Honor Band Festival (Midfest) at the University of Georgia. Our 7th and 8th-grade bands earned overall Superior ratings at the District 13 Large Group Performance Evaluation, and 30 students participated in the District 13 Solo and Ensemble Festival. Our students earned Superior and Excellent ratings at Solo and Ensemble, and 7 of our 6th-grade students were selected for and participated in the District 13 First Year Honor Band.
- Duluth Middle School is proud to be recognized as a No Place for Hate school, a testament to our unwavering commitment to inclusivity and respect for all.
- 30% of Duluth Middle School students participate in two Fine Arts programs. In February, the DMS Principal, Cindy Kinchen, received the Administrative Award from the Georgia Music Educators Association.
- Our Orchestra program earned straight Superiors at LGPE and Orchestra Solo and Ensemble, invited the Vega String Quartet to perform an intimate concert for our young musicians, and had students selected for District 13 Honor Orchestra and All-State Orchestra! Students participated in private lessons with the Atlanta Festival Academy, and several were selected for the Kendall Youth Orchestra and Gwinnett County Symphony.
- Duluth Middle School is a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) school. PBIS encourages positive behaviors with recognition for students who exhibit appropriate school conduct. This year, we maximized student voice and access by creating an online PBIS store run exclusively by students!
- Duluth Middle School partnered with Latina Leads to provide unique, targeted mentoring to Latina girls. We also worked with the Office of Federal Programs to provide free English classes to our multilingual learners and their families.
- Three of our students won the Nordson Tech Time Challenge by using Engineering practices to submit innovative ideas for solving real-world problems.
- Our Junior Leadership Corps and Teaching as a Profession students presented their work before a GCPS School Board meeting, which featured the Duluth Cluster as a model of Empathy. The Junior Leadership Corps continued its community service focus by partnering with the Atlanta Community Food Bank and feeding hundreds of families during monthly food giveaways.
- The Duluth Middle School (DMS) presented the only Guitar program at the Cluster Fine Arts Night in the Fall. In December, the Duluth Middle School guitar program performed at the Christmas Tree Lighting on the Duluth Town Green, and the Honors Guitar Program performed at two candlelight luncheons at the local elementary schools. In the Spring, The DMS guitar program participated in the annual GIOCOSO! Large Group Performance Evaluation (LGPE) and received straight Superiors. Several small ensembles and 16 soloists received Superior ratings as well. In late March, the top performing 25% of the 6th-grade class was selected to participate in the first-ever 6th Grade Honors Guitar Day held at Trickum Middle School, and they represented DMS beautifully. Guitar students also traveled to Pigeon Forge and performed at Dollywood!
- Duluth Middle School began a Teaching as a Profession class for 8th grade students and a Play 2 Learn Early Learning class for our community's babies and toddlers. As part of their coursework, the 8th grade Teaching as a Profession. Students worked with the Play 2 Learn toddlers, and this first-of-its-kind model was featured in a CBS National News story filmed at DMS in April.