Bridgeforth Middle School
The Bridgeforth Middle School family believes that high achievement is the result of high standards and expectations. These expectations begin at the top with Principal, Mr. J. B. Smith, III, and continue with teachers and students. Constant monitoring of a myriad of components creates a feeling of unity among our school community and a desire for every single student to reach his or her potential.
The key to our success is having a strong administrative leader in Mr. Smith. He expects nothing less than total commitment from each teacher and can do so because he exhibits it himself. Good relationships, a motivating atmosphere, and strong communication are three of the vital ingredients crucial to the success of our school.
Good relationships are important. We often hear Mr. Smith say, “We are a family”, which makes each of us want to work harder as we observe his standing up for his faculty and students. He is not afraid to move out of his comfort zone to deal with any situation or pursue anything to help our school raise its achievement. Being constantly visible in the hallways, classrooms, and extra curricular activities gives him leverage with students, teachers, and our community. He is a caring and connected leader and is always encouraging us to strive for more.
A motivating atmosphere and common goals are evident for both students and faculty. We provide regular rewards and commendations for student success in reading achievement, state assessments, and our own school initiated program called BEST (Bridgeforth Excelling and Succeeding Together). Our teachers are motivated by each other’s hard work and successes. That’s an important part of out feeling of one family working for the best for each of its members. We believe that when one succeeds, we all succeed.
Strong communication is the glue that keeps our school on track. Our faculty’s regular professional learning community meetings give us time to share data to locate students who need targeted help. Mr. Smith, without exception, keeps the faculty informed of meetings, new ideas, unique student situations, potential student problems, community changes, and upcoming training sessions. Our classroom teachers’ abilities to communicate in a more current way with students has been raised to new levels by his providing every teacher with the latest teaching technology for our classrooms. Communication with parents and community are ongoing by means of our web calendar, progress reports, and open house.
Any achievement our school may attain is the result of, first, and foremost: a foundation of good relations nurtured by our principal; second, an atmosphere of motivation and high expectations; and third, an environment of strong communication.