Greetings Highcrest Community,

I am very excited to begin what I know will be a long and prosperous career as I make Wilmette School District 39 my home.  On behalf of Ms. Black and myself, we would like to welcome you to Highcrest Middle School and the 2009-2010 school year. We would like to take this time to embrace our newest Hawks to the “nest” arriving from Central, Harper, McKenzie, and Romona schools, in addition to those new to our community.  The entire HMS Team is looking ahead to the energy and excitement that comes with new students, parents, and staff as we start a new year!

We are very proud of the accomplishments and achievements we foster at HMS.  The entire school team is dedicated to make your child’s experience enriching, positive, and successful.  The hard work and effort displayed by the school team makes HMS the best place for students to discover and grow; academically, emotionally, and socially during this somewhat challenging time of adolescence.  Our goal is to maintain open communication with families, which will provide the foundation for a successful and supportive environment for every student. 

Highcrest already offers a very challenging and rigorous curricular program, which we will continue to support through ongoing analysis.  We plan to offer more academic choices to students and the strategic implementation of technology into all curricular areas.  Our programs will support the needs of each child as an individual to the best of our abilities.  School teams will maintain constant dialogue in an effort to advance and improve our course offerings.

Character development is an important quality for all individuals.  Throughout the year, students will participate in activities, events, and programs that will build and develop strong character traits in six core areas: Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship.  This will be achieved through various strategies from the Character Counts! program.  In addition, the entire school team will be working on fostering a “No Bullying” culture at HMS.  We plan on establishing our very first “peer mediation” program to assist in accomplishing this goal.  We will continue to make HMS a safe place for all students to “explore their individuality” while being accepted by their peers despite individual differences.

We look forward to meeting and working with our families and community.  Together we will continue to move HMS in a positive and successful direction.   Your comments, ideas, and suggestions are always welcome.  Thank you for your ongoing support.  Remember, the Highcrest Hawks will continue to shine in 2009-2010! 

Sincerely,
Luke J. Pavone, Ed.S.                            Cassie Black
Principal                                                 Assistant Principal