South Side Middle School is a public school that serves nearly 900 students in grades 6-8. It is part of the Rockville Centre Union Free School District and is one of few middle schools in New York state to get a distinguished GreatSchools rating of 8 out of 10. The school is led by Principal Shelagh McGinn and has more than 80 full-time teachers. The core subjects are taught at South Side, along with music, art, Strategies for Life, Strategies for Research, computer education and Exploratory 6, a program that exposes students to real life tasks that require them to apply critical thinking and processing skills. South Side also has junior varsity and varsity football, lacrosse, tennis, track, baseball and softball teams, as well as a variety of clubs.