Eyer serves approximately 850 students in grades six through eight. There are two building administrators, over 70 teachers, and over 30 support personnel on the staff. The building houses 70 classrooms for instruction. In addition, Eyer utilizes a full gymnasium, a cafeteria, a learning lab, an auditorium with balconies, and a commons area which connects them all. There is also a courtyard (off of the cafeteria) and a Library with a second floor mezzanine. Eyer’s facilities offer an innovative, and student friendly environment which allows the staff to provide for the social, emotional, and academic development of our middle school population.
Perhaps, along with solid academic achievement from our students, we are most proud of the culture of our school. The culture at Eyer has its roots sprouting early in the 70’s when teachers were hired to work in an open space, requiring collaboration, cooperation, and an ability to involve students in learning-enhanced projects and activities. Over the years, traditions such as our permanent student art collection (the first picture hanging took place in June 1975) have been started. Now the halls are filled with student art, which is student-donated to the permanent Eyer collection. Eyer’s art collection was carefully preserved during the school’s renovation and remounted within our new facility. New art pieces are added every year. The Howard A Eyer Award, started back in 1976, is awarded to the Eyer student who best exemplifies academic success coupled with school involvement. We have hosted programs including author visits, artist-in-residence programs, spelling bees, geography bees, trivia contests, junior scholastic scrimmage teams, science fair, and history day award winner recognitions, just to name a few other traditional events. Students also engage in helping charitable causes including National MS Society, American Cancer Society, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and supporting Seeing Eye companion and therapy dogs.
Eyer offers over thirty different after-school clubs and activities, musical groups, and PIAA sports teams for 7th and 8th graders. Clubs are sponsored by staff members with efforts made to create a diversity of offerings so there is something of interest available to every student. In fact, when students sometimes offer ideas for a new club, the staff will make every effort to provide someone who can sponsor that club. There is also a student reinforcement initiative known as PAWS (Positive Attitudes Will Succeed) which recognizes positive contributions by students and provides incentive activities throughout the school year to those students we “catch doing the right things”.
Generally, this school culture breeds respect of students for staff, staff for students, and overall care for the school and the school/ home partnership. Also contributing to our school culture is our parent group called Eyer Connections. This group of parents helps in providing community information to families new to the area, runs fundraisers to provide each student with an assignment book, provides Eyer attire for student purchase, provides cookies for students wearing school colors on Spirit Days, helps to decorate the commons area of the school, and provides volunteers to help with a wide variety of school activities as well as the all-school Field Day, usually held at Macungie Park, at the end of the year.