TPS Principal's Page

A note from our awesome Art Teacher, Mrs. Finkler:  "Dear Families, Your talented child has been creating artwork for you that you will see in their personalized catalog coming home! Celebrate your child's artistic achievement! Money from this fundraiser goes directly back into the art room to buy more awesome supplies that are above and beyond what the district buys and the students have loved all the extras this has provided in the past. You'll be able to order timeless keepsakes to cherish for years to come. Check out www.square1art.com/shop for gift ideas!  Also, I love having family volunteers in the art room. Please let me know if you are ever interested in volunteering during your child's class. You need to have a CORI on file in the office and then we can find a time that works."  We've been getting requests for Cruiser (the Princeton Police Therapy Dog) gear. While the school does not sell these, the students have seen a good amount of staff walking ...

It was a fun-filled week of learning here at TPS! Of special note was the opportunity for our students and staff to show off all they are doing and learning. As a district, we started the practice of Administrative Learning Walks. Thursday was our turn to host and I couldn't have been prouder touring my fellow principals and the central office staff through our school. If your child came home talking about all the principals in their room at some point they were not exaggerating. The feedback we received was very positive. The group was focused on learning environments and clearly showed everyone our staff's love and care for our students.  A reminder that we have our Open House scheduled for next Thursday with the schedule below.  Our focus is to get parents into the building and show you where your students spend many of their waking hours.  To this end, teachers may provide you a handout or information about the curriculum, but our goal is really to give families a cha...

The beginning of the year has been dominated by new curricula. This past year, the district committed to investing in High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) across content areas and grade levels. I've spent much of the last two weeks getting into classrooms to see specifically how our new elementary reading program is going. Into Reading  is a literacy program steeped in research and best practices. It is a robust program and all the classes have allocated 90 minutes daily for this instruction. Teachers have been trained and have begun the implementation. A new program like this is not an easy lift but I have been impressed by all our teachers as they work through it. The kids have been doing great with the adjustment and I can't wait to see what it looks like as everyone gets into the flow. It's a strong commitment by our district and our teachers to make sure we are giving all our students the best materials and instruction for success!  An update on our beautiful ga...

The news this week coming out of Georgia has been somber. Hearing of this type of event always makes me reflect on our practices and whether we are doing enough to keep our building and our students safe. For those of you who are new to TPS, we have made several upgrades over the past few years. The town has graciously updated many of our classroom doors and also set aside enough money that we have new security (access control and cameras) throughout the building. Internally, we have updated our security practices and annually complete ALICE drills in conjunction with the Princeton Police and Fire Departments. This includes our School Resource Officer Doyle (AKA, Cruiser's handler). We are fortunate to have a strong working relationship with both groups and today we completed an onsite review with members of Homeland Security to address potential weaknesses in our systems. This was scheduled long before the most recent event. Safety is our top priority and we are constantly looking...