Happy Thanksgiving!

There’s always a higher level of excitement in a school as we approach one of our three major holidays of the year. Henley is certainly abuzz with that excitement today. Our students and teachers have worked hard to get through the first three months of the school year and we should be proud of the work that we have done.

I know that many of you in the community will have family come to town or will hit the road this week to visit loved ones. I wish you all safe travels and hope that you can truly enjoy the time that you spend with your family. I know that this is a time of year when students and teachers alike need a break and need some time to just relax. To help facilitate that, I’ve asked our teachers to not assign homework during our three major breaks (Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring). Two exceptions to this policy would be long term assignments that, with proper planning and a lack of procrastination, students could have completed without working over break, and make-up work that students need to complete due to absences.

This time of year tends to bring out the best in everyone in terms of taking care of those who are less fortunate than others. The commitment Henley teachers and students make to our community this time of year is outstanding. A fine example of this is the annual canned food drive that concluded last Friday. Through our students’ hard work and generosity, we were able to collect 4,445 canned goods to help feed those in need. What really makes the canned food drive at Henley special, I believe, is that the food we collect directly benefits many of the less fortunate members of the Henley community. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, local families in need were invited to come to Henley and take some of those 4,445 cans off of our hands and into their pantries. Too often when we make charitable donations we don’t see the benefits of our philanthropy. In this case, the benefits are clear, and I’ve enjoyed being able to see the joy on the faces of those we are helping out. The remainder of our cans will be delivered to a local food bank to help others in need of assistance.

I hope that everyone has a happy, healthy and safe holiday this week. I know that I’m looking forward to some time off to spend with my family and to a wonderful meal. Enjoy it, everybody.

Go Hornets!

Honor roll

As many of you know, our first marking period came to a close a little over a week ago. Last Friday report cards were sent out, and I can tell you that there must be many parents and students who are very happy with what they received. I was looking at my honor roll list this morning and saw that 58% of our kids had nothing but A's and B's on their report cards. What a great way to begin the year!

Really, though, this doesn't surprise me. I learned very early in my time at Henley that we have an incredibly talented group of students. Many of our highest achievers not only excel academically, but are also involved in multiple activities outside of school including sports, scouting, and music, amoung others. These children should all be commended for the work they have done so far this year.

I would be remiss here if I didn't also give a great deal of the credit for our students' success to the incredibly talented classroom teachers that we have at Henley. The time I value most at school is the time that I spend in the classrooms seeing our teachers at work. They are truly following the new "three r's" by developing positive relationships with the children in their classes through rigorous and relevant instruction. Their job is a difficult one that sometimes goes unnoticed and unappreciated and I encourage all of you to take some time to let our teachers know just how well they are doing and how much you appreciate them. Words can't express how good it feels to open an e-mail message first thing in the morning that has a positive message from a parent.

Way to go, Hornets! Every time I introduce myself as the principal of Henley Middle School each and every one of you make me incredibly proud to hold that position. I look forward to your continued success this year and cannot wait to see what the future brings.

Until next time...Go Hornets!

Way too long

The title of this entry says it all. It's been way too long since my last post. I could give any number of reasons for why this page hasn't been updated in several weeks, but they would all be pretty lame excuses. What it comes down to is the fact that I've put my priorities elsewhere during that time, and for that I apologize.

It's been an incredible few weeks at Henley and I hope that I can give a brief summary here of all of the events that have taken place. Let's start with some of the highlights that have meant the most to me:

• Make a Difference Day--This year's focus was a shoe and belt collection for a Haitian orphanage. Our students came through with around 200 pairs of shoes for these kids who have virtually nothing. Sometimes it's easy for us to forget just how difficult life can be for those who are less fortunate than many of us are in this area. It's great to see that so many of our families took the time to give.
• The annual Henley magazine drive--The drive ended about a week ago and was a great success once again. Our kids worked hard and raised a great deal of money for our PATSO that will be used to benefit all of the students and teachers at HMS in myriad ways.
• Cyber-Safety Forum--This was held at WAHS a few nights ago and really provided some important information to our parents and students. The figures they shared with us about the number of Americans using social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook were staggering. I think that many kids who use these sites don't realize that what happens on the web stays on the web. Literally. Forever. Colleges and employers search these sites to find out what they can about potential students and employees. Posting pictures or information that are inappropriate can have some real long-term repercussions. And of course, while these sites can be very beneficial to our kids, they can also be used as contact points for predators. Please make sure that you are monitoring what your children are doing on these sties.
• The first edition of the "J.T. Journal," our student newspaper has been published. I'm always incredibly impressed with the products that our journalism and yearbook students create.
• And of course, we have marked the end of our first marking period at Henley. Report cards will be coming out at the end of this week. One quarter of the school year is behind us, and as of this Thursday, Thanksgiving is three weeks away. The madness of the winter holiday season will be upon us before we know it.
• Finally, I've made the move into my new house and my transition to Albemarle County is finally complete. It's been a long few months since we first moved into some temporary housing in July, and, although we've still got a few boxes to unpack, it is truly wonderful to have a place to call home. Especially a place like Albemarle County.

Until next time, and I hope that next time will be very soon--Go Hornets!

Magazines anyone?

The time of year that every Henley parent has looked forward to in recent years is again upon us. What time is that, you ask? Report cards? Not quite. School dances? Well, yes, but that's not what I'm thinking about. Winter Break? No such luck.

The time of year I'm talking about, of course, is the annual PATSO magazine drive. The magazine drive has been a Henley tradition for many years now and has allowed our PATSO to support both teachers and students in a number of ways. The funds we have raised in previous years have gone toward providing a lunch fund for some students in need, purchasing equipment for our classrooms such as computers, digital cameras, and ELMOS (if you've never seen an ELMO, it's really cool--sort of like an overhead projector on steroids), and supporting our teachers with classroom supplies and the occasional meal or two. We've been squirling away much of the money that we've earned over the past couple of magazine drives for a big ticket item that may finally be close to reality--a replacement for the Henley Hive.

For those of you who don't know the history of the Hive, it was a huge play structure that was incredibly popular with the students of Henley. Unfortunately, the hive had to come down when we did our most recent renovation, and we've been fighting a nightmare of red tape trying to get it replaced. It looks like the pieces of the puzzle are finally beginning to come together, and we hope to have an announcement about a new Hive sometime before the end of the year.

In all seriousness, I know that hawking these magazines isn't always the most appealing activity for our parents, but it does allow Henley to do some things that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Our kids really get some cool prizes and awards from it as well. This year there will be a BMX show one day after school for students reaching a certain benchmark, and the ever-popular limousine rides are also making their return.

I truly appreciate all of the blood, sweat and tears that goes into this drive every year and look forward to your continued support.

Here's what happening at Henley over the next few weeks:

September 25--Tornado and lockdown drills
September 25/26--Interim reports distributed
September 28--Back-to-School Dance 4:00-6:30
October 1--PATSO meeting 7:00
October 4 and 10--Parent conferences 4:30-8:15

I hope to see you at many of these events.

Go Hornets!

Sixth Grade Social

Sorry it's been a while since the last update to this page. The pace is really picking up at Henley with students, teachers and administrators back in full swing! All of us at Henley are being pulled in many different directions every day. My days consist of, among other things, classroom visits, grade level and department meetings with teachers, at least fifty e-mail messages a day, lunch duty in the cafeteria, and meetings with parents. The time commitments placed upon our teachers are demanding as well with lesson preparation, grading papers, teaching classes, and going to meetings of their own.

When I think about how busy we are and in how many different directions we are pulled, I think also of how hectic life has become for our students. At Henley, the vast majority of our students have high levels of intrinsic motivation to succeed in the classroom. They work hard while they are in school and work just as hard when they leave to study and complete their homework assignments. On top of this, most of our kids are involved in some type of extracurricular activities. I know students who travel out of town several days a week for gymnastics, who play on multiple sports teams during the week, who are involved in any number of civic and community service activities. It amazes me how much busier everyone is compared to when I was in middle school, and it makes me wonder sometimes, when do these kids get to be kids?

I like to think that we provide several opportunities throughout the year for kids to be kids at Henley. The first of these took place this past Friday with our sixth grade social. It looked like almost all of the sixth grade turned out for this activity which included dancing, a limbo contest, bingo, an open gymnasium, and an open computer lab. It was one of my first chances to see some of our students in a different light, without many of the restrictions that we place on them during the day. They were truly kids being kids.

There will be many more opportunities for moments such as this as we move on through the year. We have a dance just about every month and I can't wait to interact with our kids at our first school-wide dance on the 28th. We also have activity periods just about every month. The first of these is this Friday, and the activities that are offered for our students to "let loose" a little bit during the school day include an Elvis club, a Harry Potter club, basketball, football, movies, and computer activities just to name a few. Activity period has long been a tradition at Henley and several other middle schools in the county. It really lets us see our students in a different light and allows us to interact with them in a different way. I'm truly looking forward to this Friday, and to seeing how much fun we are going to have.

Here's what's happening at Henley over the next few weeks:

September 21--Activity Period
September 25/26--Interim Reports distributed to students
September 26--Magazine Drive Kickoff
September 28--Back-to-School Dance
October 1--PATSO meeting--7:00 p.m.

Go Hornets!

A walk through the halls

I just got done taking a look at my calendar for the past week at Henley. It goes without saying that it was quite full. There were school board meetings, meetings with parents, interviews, conferences with teachers, a meeting with the superintendent, some meetings before school, and many after school hours. This is all part of the job, and all of these activities are helping me to work toward building the best school possible for our Henley Hornets. I’ve never been a big fan of meetings, however, and I’ve found that they can wear on a person. Some people re-energize from these by having a cup of coffee or a Diet Coke, but not me (although I do drink my fair share of Diet Coke). For me the best way to get the juices flowing and to get energized is to walk through the halls of Henley and to pop my head into some classes. I just got back to my office from such a walk, and wanted to share with you some of the absolutely wonderful experiences that I had.

Each seventh grade social studies room that I walked into was alive with students working together in small groups on a US geography lesson. They were using graphic organizers, technology, and cooperative learning to divide the United States into several geographic regions.

In an eighth grade civics/economics class, students were writing their first research papers of the year. They were position papers on topics of their choice. The students I spoke with were forming arguments for or against such diverse and relevant topics as the war in Iraq and the constitutional rights of students. It was refreshing and invigorating to see these kids forming logical arguments for or against their position. When I engaged them with questions from the “other side’s” perspective, they were quick to challenge my way of thinking in favor of theirs.

My next stop was the gym where a vigorous game of “crab soccer” was underway. If you’ve never experienced this game, it is a sight to behold, as students crab-walk around the gym attempting to kick over sized balls over a wall of students who are trying to prevent them from doing such. The noise level alone in a crab soccer game is something I’ll never forget.

Finally, I stopped into a seventh grade math class that really had kids thinking outside of the box. Robert Marzano, in his book Classroom Instruction That Works, identifies nine research-based strategies that have proven to be effective means of raising levels of student achievement. Two of those techniques were in play in this class—identifying similarities and differences, and creating nonlinguistic representations. This teacher was putting a new spin on Venn Diagrams by having students identify similarities and differences between different types of numbers (real, rational, irrational, whole, integers, etc). Instead of the traditional three or four circle diagram, he asked them to get more creative on how they could classify these numbers. One group used a map of North America and broke the numbers into different geographic regions, one used a picture of a pancake breakfast with butter, syrup, and the pancake itself representing different groups, and one group had a girl who was wearing two-foot wide flower on her head. Unfortunately, my time in this class was limited, and I never got to saw exactly what her group had in mind, but she caught me after school and let me know that the results were hilarious.

Needless to say, I returned to my office refreshed, invigorated, and incredibly pleased at the work the teachers at Henley were doing. I know that I could walk through our halls on any given day and relate similar tales of students who are engaged and thinking.

What a year this is going to be!

Here are a few dates to keep in mind over the next couple of weeks:

September 5, 7:00-9:00 Back to school night
September 14, 4:00-5:30 6th grade social
September 25/26—Interim reports distributed
September 26—PATSO magazine drive kickoff
September 28—Back-to-School Dance, 4:00-6:30

Go Hornets!

Off to a great start!

The day I've been waiting for since May finally arrived this past Wednesday--the return of the Henley Hornets! The opening of this school year has truly been wonderful. For the first time in my career as an educator, I got to see what sixth graders looked like as they came to middle school for the first time. I know that, even though they may not admit it, that this week was a stressful one for them. It's the first time they have a locker, the first time they have some control over what they get to order in the cafeteria, the first time they have to scour the halls looking for an elective class. Even through all of these stressors, they made it through with flying colors.

Our seventh grade students also had many new experiences as they returned for the year. For the first time, they are allowed outside of the "sixth grade hall." They're mingling with their eighth grade counterparts and are finding out that they have a little bit more freedom than when they were the newbies to the school. They are out of the sixth grade elective rotation and have a little bit more of a voice in the classes that they are taking with us. I noticed several seventh graders last week who went out of their way to help some of the new students at the school. I know that they remember what those first few days were like last year, and I appreciate the fact that they are willing to lend a hand to those in need.

And of course, there's our eighth graders, the Henley Middle School class of 2008. They have finally arrived, are finally able to "rule the school" as so many of them have told me. In my short time here, I've seen that the level of excitement our eighth graders have surpasses all of our other students. In their last year at Henley, they know that I expect great things from them. They know that the world of high school is just 365 days away, and that, before they know it, they will once again be the newcomers. My experience with this class so far has been exceptional, and I know that they will make me proud.

With that said, however, I think it is important that our students understand that one of the most important messages I am trying to send to them this year is that we cannot view ourselves as separate from each other because of our age or our grade level. We are the Henley Hornets, and we rise and we fall together as a team. When we see others who are excelling, we need to learn from their success. When we see those around us who are struggling, we need to take the time to help them up. We are the Henley Hornets, something that we will remember forever, and something that we should not take lightly. Together, great things will happen for us this year.

Week one is over and it was a rousing success. I know that the rest of the year is going to provide us with opportunities to grow together as a team and to reach new heights at Henley Middle School. I can't wait to see what 2007-2008 will bring.

Go Hornets!

The coutdown has begun!

The Henley faculty returned this week to continue preparations for the 2007-2008 school year. The level of energy that I'm feeling from this staff is truly phenomenal! There is no doubt that this week is one of the most hectic, stressful and exciting times for everyone involved in public education. We're all sprinting toward Wednesday morning trying to get our rooms ready, to meet new faculty members and to get our minds out of summer mode and back into school mode. The dedication of the teachers at Henley is clear in every aspect of what they are doing to prepare for a great year.

Our teachers this week have been focusing on a number of different areas. One of the big areas of focus for everyone this year is how we are going to take some of the theories behind the concept of professional learning communities and put them into action. We have had many discussions about the conference I attended with Rick and Becky DuFour and we are quickly developing plans based around what the DuFours believe are the essential questions we must ask ourselves for effective collaboration:

• What do we expect our children to learn?
• How will we know if they have learned it?
• How will we respond if they don't learn?
• How will we respond if they already know it?

In my mind, the third question in this list is the most important. When we have students who don't learn what we expect them to learn, how will we respond? One of the key pieces to the answer to this question at Henley this year will be our STING period. STING is a period that meets at the end of each school day and is designed to provide an opportunity for us to help our students who aren't achieving at the levels we expect. To start the year, students will be placed into STING groups based solely on their grade level. As we gather data on student achievement and identify students who are struggling in different classes, we will be forming specialty STING groups that focus on different core subjects. This will enable us to provide directed remediation, rather than invitational remediation, to some of our students who need it most.

As with all new programs, I'm sure we will experience some growing pains with STING as we take risks to discover what will work best for our kids. I feel confident that this will be a key piece of the puzzle to raising the level of achievement at Henley even higher. More detailed information about STING will be coming to parents through this site and our school website. Students will be learning about STING from their teachers next week.

I can't wait until Wednesday! Here's what's happening at Henley over the next couple of weeks:

• Henley Open House: Monday, August 20, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m.
• First Day of School: Wednesday, August 22
• PATSO Meeting: Monday, August 27, 7:00 p.m.
• Labor Day Holiday--School closed!--Monday, September 3
• Back-to-School night: Wednesday, September 5, 7:00 p.m.-9:00p.m.

I hope to see many of you at these events! Go Hornets!

Focus Group Date Change

I posted last week about some parent focus groups that I am putting together at Henley and needed to let everyone know that I've had to reschedule two of the planned meetings. The meetings that were originally scheduled for August 8 and 9 have been moved to August 22 and 23. The revised schedule for the meetings is as follows:

Wednesday, August 15, 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 16, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 22, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 23, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

All meetings will still be in the conference room at Henley and will be limited to ten participants. Please call Sandy Conley or Alissa Layne in the front office to sign up for one of the meetings. I look forward to seeing many of you then.

Parent Focus Group Meetings

It's been great to have met so many parents this summer and to have had an opportunity to talk with all of you about Henley. Over the next couple of weeks, I would like to put together some parent focus groups that will allow more of you to have some input into where we are going at Henley. I think these groups will work best if we limit the number of participants each night to ten. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Alissa Layne or Sandy Conley in the Henley front office (823-4393) to sign up for a meeting date. The spots will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Dates and times of the meetings will be as follows:

Wednesday, August 8, 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 9, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, August 15, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 16, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.

All meetings will be held in the Henley conference room. If you will be joining us, please come prepared to talk about specifics attributes of Henley that you view as our strengths, and specific ideas you have for ways in which we can get even better. I will be trying to get this meeting information out through our Henley Matters e-mail distribution list as well. As you read this, please help me to spread the word about these meetings to as many people as possible so that we can hear as many view points as possible when we have our conversations.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say! Go Hornets!

Four key questions

Sorry that it's been over a week since I've been able to update my page. Aside from the mad dash to get everything in place to get the school year started, two things in particular have been taking up a good deal of my time.

The first is a conference I attended last week in Durham hosted by Rick and Becky DuFour, two of the nations most well-known scholars on the topic of professional learning communities. I've been reading a lot of their writing lately and was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear them in person and develop ways to apply their ideas about education and learning to what we do at Henley. The DuFours truly have a mission to take the ways that educators have traditionally developed our lessons, our instructional strategies, and our assessment of children, and challenge us to look at things in a different light.

Teaching is a notoriously isolating profession. When we close the doors to our classrooms it is very easy to slip into our own world where we think that we have all of the answers and that the way in which we do things is the best. When we sit down to reflect and to assess how well we are preforming as educators, we often ask ourselves questions such as, "How well did I teach that lesson?" and "Am I making sure that I have delivered all of the content that the state and the district requires?" The concept of professional learning communities, in a very condensed description, basically tells us that we will only see true gains from our students when we eliminate the isolation that it is easy to slip into as teachers and, perhaps more importantly, when we stop asking ourselves questions like the ones above and begin asking ourselves, "What have my students learned as a result of my teaching?"

Many times in education we do make the time to collaborate, and the DuFours argue that we often find ourselves collaborating on the wrong things: ways to find chaperones for the next school dance, the lunch period that our classes will have next week, this new principal and his crazy ideas. The DuFours propose that when we collaborate we should instead be asking ourselves four key questions:

• What is it that we expect our students to learn?
• How will we know when they have learned it?
• How will we respond when they don't learn?
• How will we respond when they already know it?

By using these four questions to guide our work together as educators, we develop clear expectations for our students, we work together to see who is learning and who is not, and we are able to develop clear plans of intervention for those who need more assistance and clear plans for those who are excelling. I would say that by doing this, we will be able to leave no child behind, but that phrase seems to be a little bit too divisive today.

I'm excited to be able to try to bring some of the DuFours' ideas to Henley next year.

At the start of this entry I mentioned two things that have been occupying my time and keeping me away from posting. So what's the second? Bringing a close to the saga of Harry Potter. As I write, I've got about 50 pages to go to finally see what happens to the boy wizard and the rest of the gang. How wonderful it is that these books have gotten so many children excited about reading. The fact that many of our Henley Hornets were chomping at the bit to pick up a book this summer that is over 700 pages long and not put it down until they are finished warms my heart. Thank you, J. K. Rowling.

So, I'm off, muggles, to end the saga. I've made it a week without hearing a spoiler and can't wait to see how it all ends. Until next time...Go Hornets!

A new face in Hornet Country

It is my pleasure to announce that Jason Crutchfield will be joining the Henley team as our new assistant principal. Jason comes to us from Stuart's Draft Middle School in Augusta County where he served as an assistant principal for the past two years. Prior to that he worked for nine years as a classroom teacher at both the middle school and high school level. We are very excited to have Jason on board and look forward to what he will bring to Henley. If you would like to introduce yourself to Jason, his e-mail account is up and running at jcrutchfield@k12albemarle.org. I'm sure he would love to hear from you about what a great place Henley Middle School is for students, teachers and parents.

On another note, blogger.com has just added a feature to its site that allows me to post poll questions and collect data from users. I'm interested in getting some feedback about how this tool could be used to allow for input from parents, students and community groups about the happenings at Henley. I've posted a sample poll to try and gauge just how many of you in the blogosphere would be interested in using a tool such as this. Please think about whether or not this would be something that you would like to see used on occasion by responding to the poll that you see on the right side of this page. Unfortunately, this tool does not provide for free response answers, which would likely give me much better feedback. However, you can always reach me via the e-mail link on the top right of the page to let me know how you feel.

I've enjoyed hearing from many of you this week and hope that I have been effective in addressing this issues that you've brought to my attention. We're spending a great deal of time at Henley finishing up our staffing and working on the master schedule. We're also beginning to set some of the major dates for the 2007-2008 calendar. Right now, there are two dates that I would like everyone to be aware of:

• Monday, August 20 from 10:00-12:00 will be our Henley open house. Students should have received their schedules by this time and can come to the school to make sure they know where they are going on the first day of school.
• Wednesday, September 5 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. will be the Henley Back-to-School Night. This is a night where you can come to the school to spend an evening going through your child's schedule and hear about the types of things that they will be studying for the coming year.

We hope to see all of you at these informative events. Until then......Go Hornets!

Some welcome suggestions

It's been a busy week and a half so far in my new position. Summer school is well under way and, from what I've seen, has been very successful so far. I've been meeting many new faculty members, staff members, students, and parents, from whom I've been trying to gather as much information as I can about Henley and where we can go this year. Everyone I've spoken with has had some good insights and ideas for the future.

One of the highlights of my short time here, and one of my best sources for suggestions for next year, came across my desk just the other day. Two of Mrs. Harder's classes took the time to write letters to me that told me what is was they loved about Henley and what they would like to see next year. I wanted to share some of their ideas here. Reid wanted to bring lacrosse to Henley, Arthur suggested some new basketball hoops to replace the old ones behind the school, Kaitlyn thought eighth graders should be able to eat lunch outside, Ignacio wanted to see more seventh grade students represented on the field trip to Wallops Island, Emma thought we needed more air conditioning in the gym, Peter was concerned about bullying, Bryce was adamant that we should erect a statue to honor his favorite drag racer, and many other students from Mrs. Harder's class had more fine ideas for Henley.

I wanted to make sure that these students were aware of two things. The first is that their voice has been heard. While some of the ideas had more sound reasoning than others, I will take all of them into consideration. The second is that I was incredibly impressed with the quality of their writing and their ability to justify the reasons they felt that their ideas were ones that should be considered. Solid communication skills are the backbone of a strong academic career and of success in the global economy. These students are well on their way to both achievements.

Great work kids, and great work Mrs. Harder. I can't wait to meet you all in the fall and discuss some of the ideas that you had.

Until next time--Go Hornets!

Okay, Let's Get Started!

Now it's official. I have become the principal of Henley Middle School. I still haven't gotten used to hearing that, or to telling that to people I've been meeting around town. I feel very blessed to be in this position and I know that there will be many long days in the years ahead as I get to know the culture of Henley and the community we serve. I can truly say that there is nowhere else I'd rather be right now than right here, and I'm looking forward to the challenges and triumphs that my time here will bring.

Summer vacation, for me at least, is now just a fond memory. My family had a wonderful time, and we were able to relax and rejuvenate, and now it's time to get down to business. I spent a good deal of my time at the beach thinking about what these first few weeks would be like and of everything I needed to learn as I begin my career at Henley. As I've said before, it's all a little overwhelming, and at the same time incredibly exciting.

While I was away, a major change took place for the Henley team when Clare Keiser was named the new principal of Hollymead Elementary. Clare had been an assistant principal at Henley for the past three years and had a well deserved reputation as a strong school leader. In fact, I knew from the first day I met Clare that she was bound for a principalship in the very near future. Personally, I just hoped it wouldn't have been quite so soon. Our loss will certainly be Hollymead's gain. I certainly looked forward to working with Clare, and I know that she will be missed by many members of the Henley Team. We all wish her the best.

The search for a new assistant principal has begun, and we hope to be able to make an announcement in the next few weeks about who will be coming on board.

I hope you will notice that my e-mail address has been updated to reflect the activation of my Albemarle account. I can easily be reached through that link and will do my best to respond to all of your requests and questions within one working day. Albemarle has a pretty intensive training program for new administrators that will require me to be out of the building for several days over the next couple of weeks, and I'll be bringing my laptop with me each day and will be checking e-mail as often as I can. I look forward to meeting all of you in person, and will be sending out some communication soon with some dates, times and locations when we can all sit down together and come up with some strategies to make Henley better than ever.

As of this posting, there are fifty days until the start of the 2007-2008 school year. That may seem like a great deal of time now, but we all know that summer days slip by much faster than any other days of the year. One thing I've noticed about Henley in the few days that I've been here this week is that it is too quiet. A school just doesn't seem complete without the chorus of young, excited voices echoing through the hallways. That joyous sound can't return to Henley soon enough.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Fourth of July. Go Hornets!

Going off the radar screen for a while...

Today is my final day with Henrico County Public Schools. I'm packing up my office, and packing up my house and family for the big move to Albemarle County. Certainly I'm excited to be moving to Albemarle and to get started at Henley, but it's hard to let go of a place that played a major role in my development as both a teacher, a school leader, and as a person. There are many, many people who helped to shape and influence my ideas about education and doing the right things for kids, and I will deeply miss them and their guidance.

Let's think for a minute about the experiences and emotions that we feel when we are going into something new. We ask questions like, "Will I fit in?" "Will I be able to meet the expectations I have set for myself?" "Will I be able to build relationships in my new surroundings the way I built them in my previous environment?" "How long will it be until my comfort zone returns?" There are so many unknowns that we face as we try something new, but the rewards that we reap from taking that risk and by getting out of our comfort zone can be tremendous.

I guess there are really two thoughts that can sum up how I'm feeling today. The first is directed to the eighth graders who have just left us and to the sixth graders who will be arriving in August: "I feel your pain." But really, it's not pain, it's excitement, I hope. We're going to experience a great journey together next year, and I'm determined to quell my trepidation, to try something new and, most importantly, I think, to have fun. The second thought is probably the much more important one for many of us at this time of the year, and it brings me back to the reason for the title of this post: "I need a vacation."

And I'm going to take one. My family and I will be heading to what I believe is one of the most relaxing places in the world, Brewster, Massachusetts on the shores of Cape Cod Bay. It will be a week of Cape Cod League Baseball, trips to Emack and Bolio's for the world's greatest ice cream, lazy days on the beach, and maybe even a couple of lobsters or a bowl of chowdah. We're all going to relax, rejuvenate and have some of that much needed family time that we all know is so important, but seems harder and harder to come by each year.

I hope that all of you are following my example and taking some time to connect with your families in some way this summer. So, until July 4 I will truly be off the radar screen, and then on July 5 it's full speed ahead.

I'll talk to you again in a couple of weeks, and, as always, Go Hornets!

A few questions answered

I received an e-mail from a rising eighth grader last week who had a few questions about some things that are going to be taking place at Henley next year. Unfortunately, since I'm just beginning the process of learning about Henley Middle School and its programs and traditions, I couldn't answer her questions right away. I enlisted the help of one of our assistant principals, Dr. Clare Keiser, who filled me in on the answers so that I could get back to this young lady. As I was e-mailing my reply, it occurred to me that many of you may have the same questions, and I wanted to post the questions and answers here for all to see, so here they are:

What exactly is STING?

STING stands for study, teach, improve, nurture, grow. It is a 30 minute remediation/enrichment/study hall period that will meet Monday through Thursday next year. On Fridays we will have mentor groups meet during STING. We are following a plan in which some students are involved with assigned remediation or enrichment activities with specific teachers. Students who are not involved in those assigned activities are expected to work in a study hall. We're still working on the details and expectations, and will have much more information about this program at the beginning of the year.

My personal vision for a program such as this, particularly the mentor group aspect of it, is that all students will find an adult in the building with whom they can connect. I have worked with many programs in other schools that are similar to this and have often asked participating students what they felt helped them the most after they had completed the program. While many mentioned that they appreciated the extra academic help, the overwhelming majority said that the greatest benefit they reaped from the program was that they knew at least one person in the school who really got to know them on a personal level. Hopefully, STING will help us to strengthen that atmosphere at Henley.

Is it true that next year the students will take social studies one semester and science the next?

While other schools in the county are doing this, we are not planning on implementing this at Henley next year. We will continue to collect data from other schools and from educational research studies to see if this will be something that will benefit Henley students in the future.

Is the eighth grade still going to go to Busch Gardens at the end of next year?

This has been a tradition for our middle school students for many years, and, as far as I know, there are no plans to change it. I feel that a trip such as this is a great way to celebrate our success as middle school students and to have one last time together as Henley Hornets before we move on to high school. Personally, I can't wait to be a chaperone on this trip, and to ride the Griffon!

So, I hope this had provided some insight into some happenings at Henley next year. As always, please feel free to contact me via my e-mail link if there are any questions that I can answer.

Have a great summer break! Go Hornets!

Learning at its best

I just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Boston where my family traveled to attend the christening of my nephew. We began with a trip to the airport at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday and got back to our house around 2:00 a.m. last night after our return flight was delayed by the weather. Needless to say, we all need a vacation from our vacation.

The trip included a birthday party for my mother, the aforementioned christening, a Yankee/Red Sox game at Fenway Park (one more item crossed off the must do before I die list), and a rather spontaneous trip with my wife, Erica, and children, Maggie, age 3, and Colin, 13 months, to the Boston Children's Museum, which turned out to be an incredible educational experience for the whole family. When yesterday's dismal Boston weather forced us to cancel a day trip to the beach, Erica suggested the Children's Museum, and we piled into the car and headed downtown.

The miserable conditions outside, and the fact that the closest parking space was three blocks away in a driving rainstorm, had us wondering if we should have just stayed home. The kids were wet, tired and grumpy and I saw tantrums on the horizon, but when we finally got to the museum, something magical happened. The minute we walked through the door, you could feel the energy of the place. The entire building was filled with the raucous voices of children playing, learning and discovering. My kids' faces lit up and they were off. They were climbing on a two story jungle gym, they were experimenting with boats and currents, they were discovering new artistic talents and forms of expression, and they were interacting with other children who, moments before, they never knew. This was truly learning at its finest, when it was not a burden, but an adventure.

As educators, creating an environment that fosters this type of learning needs to be our goal every day. The magic that I saw at the museum, the genuine interest and engagement, the curiosity, the willingness to take on a challenge and to solve a problem are the same things I see when I walk into great teachers' classrooms. True, not every day at school is going to be a day at the museum, but every day can be engaging, every day can be challenging, and every day can stretch us as individuals to do something that we haven't been able to do before.

So...field trip, anyone?

On another note, thanks to all of you who have taken the time to introduce yourself to me via e-mail over the past couple of weeks. On all levels, Albemarle County has been a truly welcoming place, and I am excited to be coming home to raise my family in this wonderful community.

Ahhhhh, Summertime!

So, Memorial Day Weekend 2007 is upon us and it looks to be a beautiful one. The pools are open, the grills are uncovered and I'm sure a few of us will soon be experiencing our first sunburns of the season.

I always love to go by our neighborhood pool on the first day it opens to see the excitement in the faces of the kids who have made it through another long winter and are ready to enjoy summer's bounty. There's no doubt that this is one of the most magical times of year to be a child. It's also one of the most exciting times of year to be a teacher. This is when we are able to look back and celebrate the many successes that we have enjoyed with our students. As we all know, these achievements come in many forms--a high score on an SOL test, a championship season on the playing field, a rewarding community service project, or a shy student whose teacher created an environment that allowed him to come out of his shell, become a part of the class and excel both academically and socially. I'm sure that all of our teachers at Henley are celebrating many outstanding accomplishments.

This weekend as we all reflect on the year, plan for some much needed downtime, and begin to chart our course for next year, let's also remember why we have this three-day weekend that kicks off the summer and take a moment to be thankful to all of those who have sacrificed to make this country what it is today. I am sure there will be many wonderful teachable moments for our children this weekend that can help them to understand what Memorial Day is all about.

With that said, let's fire up the barbecues, lather on the suntan lotion and get this summer started right! Enjoy the break this weekend, we all have worked hard to deserve it. And of course, remember that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer--we've still got a couple of weeks of school to go:)

Hello Henley Hornets!

Welcome to Dr. McLaughlin's blog page! I am incredibly excited and honored to have been named the new principal of Henley Middle School! My wife and I both grew up in Albemarle and matriculated through Albemarle County Schools. We are excited to be moving back home and are quickly making arrangements to get our house in Richmond on the market and to find a place in Albemarle to raise our family.

Over the next few weeks I will be coming to the county as often as possible to begin planning for next year and to get to know the faculty, students and community members whom I will be serving. One of my first orders of business is to listen to all stake holders at Henley to find out what you love about the school and to gather ideas about where you think we can go from here. I hope that you will soon realize that my door is always open and that I'm usually just a phone call or an e-mail away if there is anything that you need.

I plan for this site to serve as a strong communication tool as I make the transition to Henley and after I arrive at the school. Please check back here often for updates and announcements about what is happening at Henley. Until I arrive in July, the best way for you to reach me with your questions, your concerns or just to say hello will be through my Henrico County e-mail account pjmclaug@henrico.k12.va.us.

It's certainly going to be a busy couple of months as we get ready for 2007-2008, and I know that great things are going to happen this year at Henley. Please feel free to get in touch!