Our School
Meet Our Principal
Welcome to the official site of Doty Middle School!
We are eager to keep you informed, and always looking for better ways to meet the needs of our students, support families, and insure the success of every child. Doty Middle School has created and works hard to sustain a positive and safe learning environment, along with a rigorous and engaging curriculum that insures a strong foundation for success in high school, college, and life. It is our persistent goal that all Doty Knights receive a 21st Century education that ensures they are college and career ready, globally competitive, and citizens of strong character.
Mr. Scott Fleming
Developing Opportunities for Today’s Youth
Our Vision
Developing Opportunities for Today’s Youth through building strong foundations for success in high school, college, and life.
Our Mission
Doty Middle School is dedicated to improvement. Our motto, “Developing Opportunities for Today’s Youth,” illustrates our commitment to refine, enhance, and advance in every area of our school. Doty Middle School staff, students and parents strive to develop and sustain a school and school culture characterized by the following:
- A learning environment that is safe, orderly, clean, and well maintained.
- Facilities, materials, and technology that are up-to-date.
- Collaboration and support from parents and community that is promoted, highly valued, and pervasive.
- Curriculum that is rigorous, aligned with State Standards, and marked by high academic expectations.
- Instruction that is creative, enthusiastic, and student-centered.
- A collegiality among faculty and staff united in their support of student achievement.
- Personal integrity, good character, and upright conduct that is promoted, evidenced, and expected of all.
- Curricular and extra-curricular activities that are comprehensive in focus to develop the “whole child.”
- Administration that is supportive, motivational, consistent, trustworthy, and a role model for others.
- Students that promote from Doty Middle School are well prepared academically and otherwise for high school and life.
Doty Middle School’s Namesake
Doty Middle School is named for Dr. Wendy Doty, a former Downey Unified superintendent.
Dr. Doty made a lasting impact during her time at Downey. Doty introduced Character Counts to our schools and dedicated 31 years to educating Downey children and young adults.
Doty taught at East Middle School and South Middle School (now known as Sussman Middle School) before moving into a teacher specialist role. She continued her education, earning her promotions to vice-principal at Warren High, then principal at Griffiths Middle School, and then director of curriculum and instruction K-12 with the district.
For a few years, Doty left Downey Unified to become assistant superintendent at a Laguna Beach school and then a superintendent at El Segundo. But after five years away, Doty returned to Downey Unified as a superintendent which she refers to as “coming back home.”
When Doty retired in 2013, the Downey Board of Education voted to rename East Middle School in honor of her dedication and all she’s done for Downey Unified students. We are proud to be Doty Knights!
READ CRITICALLY
School-wide Instructional Focus on Critical Reading
Doty Middle School’s instructional focus is a school-wide, collaborative effort to have all DMS students read critically and show growth in their ability to comprehend rigorous text and graphics. Students will use reasoning and evidence collection skills that are essential for success in college, career, and life. Annotation and Citing Evidence will be our first and best instructional practices utilized in all classes to assist in improving our students’ ability to read critically. We will measure student growth through state-wide tests and a variety of site-based assessments school-wide.
What is Critical Reading?
Critical Reading is a form of reading that does not take text at face value, but involves an examination of claims, analysis of the soundness of arguments, and the ability to infer meaning and make assumptions from textual clues, text structure, and organization. The critical reader engages the text directly, reads and re-reads deliberately, examines it thoroughly and methodically (including annotation and note-taking), and can discuss and summarize in a way that demonstrates an accurate and insightful understanding of the text.