As Slater prepares for the return of our students and staff, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and welcome you to the new school year. This school year’s theme for our school: We are the best at getting better. It is vital that we all are consistently improving. Every student is at a different place and they all need a different approach. What we value is what we get. At Slater we value you and your child.
We care about our staff and your child. I have decades of experience with teaching and leading schools similar to Slater and its community. I spent eighteen years as a classroom teacher in LAUSD. I have had experience teaching in elementary, middle and high schools. For a number of years, I was an assistant principal and principal and I look forward to leading Samuel Slater Middle School during the 2022-2023 school year. As the principal of SSMS, I believe that it is my responsibility to maintain and to continue to build a supportive and collaborative spirit at our school. Together as a school community, we will build on the traditions of the past and meet the challenges of the future in innovative and exciting ways.
This school year we will follow four important Slater Expectations- Responsible, Respectful, Ready to learn, and Reflective. Those four expectations will guide our positive behavior interventions support system(s). These guiding principles will ensure that students and staff are safe, secure, and healthy on our campus. Please join our Family Success Team and join us because Slater is your school too.
Middle school years are filled with young people taking on many new challenges and experiencing physical, emotional, social and emotional challenges. As a school, we are here to support your family and child’s adaptations to becoming a young adult. We have partnered with many groups to support those efforts but our most important partner is the family. We need you to positively engage with us and provide us with your feedback and ideas throughout the school year. Slater’s mission and vision along with our fundamental belief that every student can learn and every student will be held to high expectations will be our guiding path. Please join us throughout the school year for our parent workshops, re-establishing our PTO, after school conferences, volunteering, participating in our events, and supporting each student and staff member.
I want to extend a huge thanks to custodial staff, construction crews and all those people who have made sure Slater is ready for learning on day one. Our newly remodeled cafeteria looks awesome, we have upgraded some classrooms with desks and chairs, and please be sure to thank the staff for preparing your school.
I look forward to meeting you all on August 31, 2022. Please be on campus by 7:50AM.
Sincerely,
Walter Rich, Principal
Samuel Slater Middle School
281 Mineral Spring Avenue
Pawtucket, RI 02860