From the School Leader;

            I want to welcome back our students, teachers, and staff members for the 2008-2009 school year. I hope that everyone had a fun and relaxing summer. Everyone needs time to relax and have some fun. Hopefully, everyone had time to do both this summer. In between working on class schedules, student handbooks, interviewing teacher candidates, and analyzing test scores, I had time to catch a few fish and pursue a couple of my hobbies. I am excited about several changes that promise to improve Halls Jr. High School.
            This year, we will be able to pinpoint each student’s individual learning style through the use of an instrument that we have purchased from Performance Learning. Our teachers will take the instrument first, and they will become familiar with how it works. The teachers will then administer the learning profile to our students. This promises to help our students not only this year, but in future years, as the learning profile will become part of each student’s permanent record. The best part of this is that there are no right or wrong answers, only the fun of discovering how each person learns best.
            We also have been able to add an extra teaching position. The new position will be a full time Physical Education teacher. This will not only allow our students to have a more structured physical education class, but this will also lower the student/teacher ratio in all of our classes. The new Physical Education teacher will also serve as an assistant football coach at our school. This will provide a much-needed boost to our athletic program.
            Our students will also have their own agenda books this year. The professional agenda books will allow our students to have important dates, assignments, school rules, and schedules at their fingertips. The agenda books will be notebook size with standard size paper. They are bound so as to be durable and hopefully last the entire school year. This is a huge upgrade for our students and teachers. Everyone should take advantage of the agenda books, as they will help everyone stay organized. I promise to use mine as well!
            These are just a few of the changes that promise to make everyone’s school year a successful one. As always, we remain committed to improving our school, and we remain committed to implementing the most current educational practices. Student learning is our first priority. Again, I want to welcome everyone back to school, and I look forward to working with each of you this year. So until next time, let us focus on getting the school year off to a great start!

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                           Ned Lewis