Welcome to Seoul American Middle School (SAMS)! It is a great honor to be your principal. I am looking forward to meeting all of our stakeholders.
As you are aware, DoDEA is a tremendous success story and is often positively recognized in the national media. This is something that we as educators, parents, and students should be proud of because this success has been earned by working together. Our goal is to continue this collaborative effort toward academic and social excellence. My focus in this effort begins with understanding how well SAMS is performing and using that information to promote appropriate data-driven decisions.
Just recently the Pacific Theater Education Council (PTEC), the Advisory Council on Dependents’ Education (ACDE visited SAMS. The teams were tasked with evaluating the total educational environment. These groups of varied professionals asked tough questions. Some of these questions were: a) Are DoDEA standards used to plan and deliver instruction? b) Does the school ensure that students have varied opportunities for success? c) Does the school leadership collaborate and communicate effectively with the community to promote high student achievement? d) Does the school provide a supportive climate that is conducive to learning?
The briefs prepared by these teams praised the quality of the educational environment, as well as the professionalism of the faculty and staff. Glowing words of praise were spoken on behalf of the school personnel by the teams as they reviewed the exceptional learning environment. Student-centered and standards-based instruction were phrases that were used to describe instructional practices.
My pledge is to make SAMS an even more impressive learning environment. For school year 2008-2009 our students will have an extensive selection of courses. We will also be the only middle school in DoDEA with algebra, geometry, French, German, Korean, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish all for high school credit on campus. A robust fine arts department includes our own string ensemble as well as art, band, chorus and drama. Finally, students may also select combative sports, a unique feature of SAMS, which focuses on the traditional Korean martial arts Hapkido and Taekwondo. We also feature a distinguished AVID program.
My sincere thanks to all stakeholders involved with making SAMS a great place to learn! The PTO, SAC, command, parent and community volunteers, staff, faculty and our students make SAMS a powerful learning environment. I am honored to be a part of this military community, which supports high expectations and a safe learning environment.
Darrell Mood
Principal, Seoul American Middle School
