Scott Woods

It’s always a great day in Husky Country! I would like to welcome the students, families, and friends of Herget Middle School to the 2009-2010 school year. It is a pleasure to continue to serve as Herget’s principal. As this is the “Meet the Principal” page, I would like to give you an overview of my educational and professional history.

I was born and raised in Moline, Illinois where I graduated from Moline High School. I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I graduated with a degree in Social Studies Education and a minor in Spanish. During my time there I had the opportunity to study abroad in Cuenca, Ecuador. My first teaching position was as a high school Spanish teacher in Rantoul, Illinois. While teaching in Rantoul, I received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to attend the University of Birmingham, England where I earned a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies. Upon my return I accepted a position as Spanish teacher at Jewel Middle School. Later I moved to a position teaching high school Social Studies at St. Charles North High School. During that time, I earned a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the area of Educational Organization and Leadership. In 2004 I had the exciting opportunity to return to West Aurora to serve as assistant principal for Jewel Middle School and help in the planning and opening of Herget where I would become assistant principal during its inaugural year. I am currently in my fourth year as principal.

One of the many ways we are looking to improve student learning is through parent and community volunteers working directly with students. If you have a regular time during the school day that you can volunteer, we can put you to work to help students be successful. Primarily, we will be focusing on adult-student mentoring during lunches and in-class reading volunteers. Adults interested in working as mentors would need to be able to commit to a minimum of thirty minutes per week to work one-on-one with a student. Reading class volunteers would need to be able to commit to a regular time slot during the day ranging from forty-five minutes to a full day.

This year Herget Middle School will also continue with PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support). PBIS is a systematic approach to preventing and responding to classroom and school discipline problems. PBIS creates and maintains safe, positive learning environments where teachers can teach and students can learn. This year we will focus on teaching students appropriate hallway, cafeteria, and classroom behaviors. PBIS is currently used in all of Herget’s five elementary feeder schools. Ask your student about the Husky B.A.R.K.

As principal of Herget, I look forward to continuing to make this school a great school! Herget Middle School will continue to focus on improving student learning and understanding in all subject areas. This year you will see many changes to the overall program of study including:

• Lengthening the school day and class periods. The new school day will extend from 8:45 a.m. to 3:38 p.m. Class periods will be 49 minutes long.
  
  
• Replacing the REACH class with a 16-minute Small Learning Community (SLC) aligned with student lunch periods.
  
  
• Adding an extra period of seventh- and eighth-grade Language Arts.
  
  
• Adding an improved Writing text and curriculum at all grade levels.
  
  
• Leveling Language Arts classes in order to better meet the needs of all students and to provide more effective instruction. This will allow teachers to better meet the individual needs of all students.
  
  
• Offering World Languages at eighth-grade only.
  
  
• Students enrolled in French as eighth-graders will be eligible to receive high school credit for successful completion of full-year French. Beginning in 2010-2011, students electing full-year Spanish also will be eligible to receive high school credit for successful completion of the course.
  
  
• Redefining and revising the exploratory cycle. It consists of Fine Arts (music and art) and World of Work (technology and life skills).

Eighth-grade students may select one of the following full-year options for their one elective: Art, Vocal Music, Fine Arts (music/art), World of Work (technology/life skills), or Band.

If you have any questions or concerns about your student’s experience at Herget Middle School, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Have a great day, in Husky Country!

Scott Woods, Principal
Herget Middle School
swoods@sd129.org