Thompson Middle School
Principal’s
Reprinted from the Parent Faculty Association Gazette.
Thompson continues to be a very, very busy child-centered middle school with just so many opportunities for all of our 900+ students. I have highlighted just a few below:
•Over 300 student-athletes participated in our Fall Athletics program. This is about 1/3 of the entire school. Sixty-eight pizzas were enjoyed in a sports award assembly.
•All of our eighth grade students spent a complete recent morning at either High School North or South. Many of our students expressed to me how informative and fun that morning was.
•Our student Peer Mediators and seventh grade guidance counselor, Mrs. Nagy spent an entire day training with our sister schools Bayshore and Thorne.
•Mr. Anderson, head guidance counselor spoke at our recent PFA meeting on the advantages of our own district high schools.
•Our Environmental Club supervised by Mr. Jacoves has started making the outside courtyards a new outdoor science lab. It is a work in progress.
•Mr. Rinella, math teacher gave a “Smart Board” presentation on our consistent high test scores on the most recent state assessments. Check us out by visiting our district’s website and check our School Report Card. Thompson continues to out perform our similar district factor group schools across the state.
•A representative group of student athletes in September spent the morning at Neptune Senior High on the theme of Athletic Sportsmanship. All schools in our conference attended this.
•Mrs. Richards, our Student Assistance Counselor, continues to speak with all students on harassment, bullying and substance abuse.
•All of our sixth graders will have had a very good presentation by the Middletown Township police department on the dangers of the Internet. This presentation could be the best one I have ever attended!
Finally, you are always invited to find out for yourself just how good Thompson is by having a conference with any of our professional staff. One of my most important responsibilities, if not the most important, is to hire the very best people I can, to give your child the very best education. This is always a very competitive and intense process that I am passionate about. We usually have over 60 applicants for each position and this is reduced to about 12 who are given interviews. Each candidate is interviewed for an hour. After many years as an educator, I always and passionately keep a very successful profile of an outstanding educator every time I interview a prospective Thompson teacher. Obviously, this is not an infallible process but I try to make it one. I have made mistakes but I will take the necessary steps to resolve this when I have to. Thompson continues to be a great place for teachers to teach and students to learn and our academic success is only because of your support and cooperation with an outstanding staff.
Have
a great Thanksgiving! Hopefully you will be attending our world famous
“Granny’s Attic…this year on Saturday, November 22, 2008 (always the
Saturday before Thanksgiving).