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!