About Us

School Description and Mission Statement

Mesa Verde Middle School, located in Rancho Penasquitos, a suburb of northern San Diego, California, exemplifies the educational heights that can be attained when a solid partnership exists between school and community. Built in 1994 and situated on over 30 acres, the campus has 59 permanent classrooms clustered into three main villages, a number of conference rooms, an office complex, a performing arts center, band and orchestra rooms, four computer labs, a fitness lab, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, large playing fields, athletic facilities, and several specially designed rooms for meeting the needs of students who have severe handicaps. The library, in addition to housing the student circulation collection, also provides technological media access. Each classroom has at least two computers; an installed LCD Projector system, document camera, and all are networked to the site file server. From the network, informational software, as well as access to the Internet is provided school-wide.
Mesa Verde is one of six middle schools in the Poway Unified School District. The school serves a culturally and ethnically diverse middle class population of students who live in single-family homes and apartments west of Interstate 15 and clustered near Route 56. There are fifteen different ethnic groups represented within our student body of just over 1300 students. 54% of our student population is Caucasian, 24% is Asian, 8% is Filipino, 7% is Hispanic, and 2% is African American. The number of students who receive free and reduced lunches has remained fairly constant at 6% of the total student population. Special needs populations include RSP, ELL, SDC, SDCCS and GATE. Each special needs population is served according to state law and individual requirements. In addition to the aforementioned, there are a number of other support and intervention efforts for those students struggling or requiring extra attention: AVID, Before and After School Programs, Student Success Clubs, Tutorials, and Student Support Groups.

The staff of 82 certificated and classified employees strives to provide the very best educational experience possible for the 1,300 students who call Mesa Verde home. MVMS employs 43 full time teachers and 4 part-time teachers, plus 6 additional certificated specialists, 3 full time administrators, 1 part-time Librarian, 2 full time counselors, one school psychologist, and one speech therapist. Mesa Verde also benefits from the assistance of 36 additional classified staff members who serve in a variety of capacities: instructional assistants, office staff, custodians, and cafeteria workers.

Mesa Verde Middle School enjoys an excellent reputation within the immediate and outer lying communities of San Diego and Poway. MVMS became the first school at the secondary level within the Poway Unified School District to achieve an API score over 900. Mesa Verde currently has an API score of 933. MVMS is a California Distinguished School and a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Students and teachers from MVMS are routinely honored for excellence each year from outside agencies like the San Diego County Fair, the California Association of Directors of Activities, the California Association of Student Leaders, the Science Olympiad, and from various service clubs (e.g.: Lions Club, Rotary Club, etc.) and Regional and State Band and Orchestra organizations.

MVMS parents are actively involved members of decision and policy-making committees. The PTSA and School Site Council place parents in decision-making roles within the school. Our PTSA boasts a membership of 785 families and our parent volunteers log an average of 428 volunteer hours each month. In addition, the MV Foundation’s membership has grown exponentially, and in the last two-and-a-half years, this parent-group has tripled its annual operating budget allowing it to support the Library, Art, Drama, Robotics, and Band programs, and the Math, Physical Education and Science Departments.

Thanks to the strong support of the parents, a weekly Professional Time Day has been established. MVMS students commence school an hour later than normal each Wednesday (which allows us to coincide our schedule with WHS). This time allows teachers to pursue staff development opportunities and to collaborate within and between content areas as well as grade levels. Professional time has improved communication between teachers and helped to foster a more cohesive and thoughtful school-wide instructional program.

Finally, the staff at Mesa Verde continues to be committed to pursuing three main goals: 1) Improvement of Writing and Math Instruction, 2) Using Data to Inform Instructional Priorities, and 3) Increasing Parental Participation (Parents as Partners). Specific information pertaining to each of these goals is detailed in the Literacy Plan of the SPSA published on our school's website.