This year, Mrs. Karen Mays retired from her position as assistant principal (AP), leaving the position open. The new AP that filled this position is Mr. Robert Bingham, the former H.H. Poole middle school principal. Mr. Bingham came to this school with thirty years of experience under his belt from middle school and decided to try something new.
“I think I will like it better here because unlike middle school, many of the students here are mature and behave themselves,” Mr. Bingham said.
Mr. Bingham decided to transfer to Forge not only because he wanted to gain insight into the high school environment, but also because he had spent many years working in middle schools to understand how students and staff interact with one another.
“I’ve always been at a middle school and never [did] high school. For me, learning what goes on in a high school and all the things that students do is just going to be absolutely phenomenal to learn,” Mr. Bingham said.
Another reason Mr. Bingham decided to make the shift was due to the interactions and relationships he could build with the older students that he might not have been able to create with the younger students.
“Interaction with kids is definitely one of the biggest things for me. I always enjoyed talking to middle schoolers, but I am going to enjoy talking to high schoolers even more and relating to them,” Mr. Bingham said.
Mr. Daniel, the principal, thinks that Mr. Bingham is going to make positive changes to the school and that he is going to help with student engagement and instruction.
“Mr. Bingham is a former principal and assistant principal. In fact, when I was the principal at H.H. Poole, he was one of my assistant principals. So he’s been in administration for some years, and he understands the importance of school culture, student engagement and effective teacher instruction.” Mr. Daniel said.
Mr. Daniel also thinks that Mr. Bingham will bring a new perspective to the school and improve the community in many aspects. He believes he will accomplish this by helping teachers and students with engagement, as well as developing a positive school community.
“I think being a new administrator at Colonial Forge, Mr. Bingham will bring some fresh perspective and ideas to help improve our school environment. Also, I think Mr. Bingham is going to be a huge asset for the development of our teachers and helping them with their instructional practices, and also helping develop initiatives to help the student engagement and school activities for our student community,” Mr. Daniel explained.
Lastly, Mr. Daniel thinks that because Mr. Bingham has been an administrator for a long time, and some time with him, he will be good at keeping things professional.
“Again as a long-term administrator, he’s professional in all of his interactions with students, teachers as well as parents,” Mr. Daniel said.
Overall, Mr. Bingham is excited to be working here and learning about and from the students and staff and is ready to help create a great school community.
