Listen to the children, parents, and community. Get their input, and work together for the betterment of the school and what is best for kids. –Tad Savage, Principal

Dr. Tad Savage, the personable principal of Valley Park Middle School, located about
20 miles southwest of St. Louis, is not a man who is easily flustered. Just a week before the CEP site visitors were slated to arrive, the raging Meramec threatened to flood his school. All sorts of laborious precautions were taken, but the Meramec never did wreak havoc. Still, Savage had to face the onerous task of putting his school back in order in just two days. The good doctor was not worried, however, for he had a very formidable force on his side––the Valley Park Middle School family. “We have had amazing community support that simply blows me away. Not only did we have teachers, guest teachers, students, and nearby residents helping sandbag the building, but they all showed up again to help ‘unwrap’ the building,” says Savage. The media made much of this amazing display of solidarity, but Savage and his staff knew that this unified effort was the result of five years of deliberate and consistent effort, the upshot of carefully planned and implemented character initiatives that changed Valley Park Middle School from “just another school” into a compassionate family whose members care deeply for one another.

Read more about Valley Park in the 2008 NSOC book: “Just Flooded with Character”

SIGNATURE PRACTICES

Featured Lesson Plan: Growing In Character
Once a week for thirteen weeks students are handed a copy of Seedfolks at the beginning of class. Students and teacher read a new chapter about another character who enters the garden and in their own very special way makes it a better place.

Sample Practice: Peer Mediation Referral Form
Trained peer mediators help resolve conflicts between students.

Promising Practices:
Class Meetings in Content Areas
As a crucial step toward granting students a greater degree of autonomy, Valley Park piloted an initiative to expand the concept of class meetings to core curricular classes.

Positive Intervention Center
Students experience intense relationship and character building in an alternative to suspension.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Dr. Tad Savage, Principal
Valley Park Middle School
One Main Street
Valley Park, MO 63088
Telephone: (636) 923-3624
E-mail: tsavage@vp.k12.mo.us
Web site: www.vp.k12.mo.us/ms/index.html