About Us

Kalles is a Welcoming School

All things at Kalles Junior High related to diversity and creating a
welcoming school environment for students, parents, community, and staff.

Building Representative for Kalles Junior High: Karle Pitts

Each school building has a representative for the Puyallup School District Diversity Committee. These representatives are responsible for:

• Advising students, parents, and staff that they are there to listen, help, and document incidents of harassment, intimidation, bullying, or discrimination. This information is forwarded to the building administrator, who then takes the appropriate response.
• Participating in monthly meetings with the Office of Equity and Achievement.    
• Meeting weekly with their building administrators to share information.    
• Having access to information, resources, and materials that may assist their colleagues.

PSD and KJH History

Kalles Junior High School opened as East Junior High in 1956. The school was later renamed Kalles, after Eileen B. Kalles. Eileen B. Kalles was a local activist and strong supporter of public education. She was the Director of the district's School Board from 1952-1967. She eventually served as the president for the Washington State School Directors Association and also served on the National School Board Association Policies Committee. The 2004 Bond brought upgrades to the learning community when the school was rebuilt on the site of the old fields. Today, Kalles houses approximately 900 students, two self-contained Special Services programs, the PSD PAGE program for highly capable and gifted students, and successfully functions as a comprehensive school offering opportunities in the Arts, Activities/Clubs, and Athletics, along with a strong tradition in student achievement.

Our charge is simple - create the best learning environment possible! It's that simple & we work tenaciously to make that happen!

While staff members have come and gone over the years, and Mr. Kovacs and Mrs. Lee are the current administrators to the building, our focus remains the same.

Our number one focus at Kalles is student learning. Our mission/charge helps guide our work towards improving student achievement on a regular basis.

Our Motto Is: LEAD

• L-eadership: we want to develop leadership skills in each student.
• E-mpowerment: we want to empower students to take control of their learning.
• A-ccountability: we are accountable for every student and whether they are reaching their full potential.
• D-evelopment: we work to develop the whole-child and give them the best possible experiences while at KJH.

Our mission remains focused on what is best for our students.

The Puyallup School District

The Puyallup School District was organized in 1854, and was the third school district formed in the state of Washington. Fort Maloney, also known as the "Blockhouse," was built on the south bank of the Puyallup River. It was used by U.S. soldiers as a storehouse and was occupied by the John Carson family. Emma Carson was the first teacher in Puyallup and had four students in the Blockhouse School in 1861. Fort Maloney also served as the first post office.

Several one-room log schools were built in the area to serve the children of the pioneer families moving to the west. Also, Puyallup's hop crop was booming. This and a stave (strips of wood that make a barrel) factory attracted many families to Puyallup.

In February 1885, a vote was taken calling for the building of a school. According to the "Puyallup Notes" section of the Tacoma Ledger, "The children suffered very much in the old log schoolhouse during the recent cold weather. People hesitate to settle here because of the poor condition of our school buildings. Something ought to be done at once." The result was the building of Central School, which cost the town $3,035. The Karshner Museum stands today where Central School was built. About 305 first- through eighth-grade students were the first to attend.

By 1891, settlers were flocking to Puyallup, having heard that it was a thriving agricultural center, and that it had a new "state-of-the-art" school. Central School began the 1889-90 school year with four classrooms:

First grade taught by Miss Ankrom had 82 pupils. Second grade taught by Miss Lacey had 69 pupils. Third and fourth grades taught by Miss Addie Hubbard had 67 pupils. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades were together taught by Professor Dresbach and his wife, and had 87 pupils.

With such overcrowded classrooms, two new schools were planned: Maplewood and Spinning elementary schools.

Since then, the Puyallup School District has continued to grow. More than 150 years later, the district is home to 21 elementary schools, seven junior high schools, three high schools, and one alternative high school.

Additional Information

Here at Kalles, student learning is our number one priority.  Thus, we are continually working on new strategies to improve student achievement.  In order to best serve our students, we have focused our attention toward the following areas: curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development for teachers.

Curriculum: We offer a wide variety of course work in the core areas (Math, Social Studies, English, Science), as well as our electives.  Our curriculum is aligned to the state standards and blends key concepts and skills.  Curriculum Maps, which align the course content, are available for your review. This is what we teach.

Instruction: Our teachers utilize a wide variety of instructional strategies. Students will work independently, cooperatively in small groups and as integrated large groups.  Through differentiated instruction  we strive to use the best teaching practices and strategies to create different pathways that respond to the needs of diverse learners.  We feel that effective instruction is key to improving student achievement. This is how we teach.

Assessment: We believe students should demonstrate their learning through a variety of assessments.  Therefore, students will work on teacher created classroom-based assessments, departmental pre/post test, district assessments and state mandated assessments. We use both formative and summative assessments to tell us how students and teachers are doing, and we use the data from those assessments to adjust our instruction.

Professional Development: Highly qualified teachers are essential to student achievement; therefore, it is our goal to continuously provide training opportunities to our teachers so that they remain current in their subject area and are utilizing the newest research-based strategies in their instruction. Our late-start Mondays are committed to bettering the skills of all KJH staff members. Our current efforts are in understanding best practices in our field, digging deeper into the Danielson framework, how to keep students highly engaged, and implementing the demands of the Common Core Standards.

Professional Learning Community: Our administration, teachers, and support staff are united in our commitment to student learning.  We share a vision, work and learn collaboratively, use data regularly, and participate in shared decision-making.  The PLC gives the framework for powerful staff-development and a strategy for school change and improvement.