Sultan Middle School principal eyeing another banner year: School adding extra period to broaden access to more electives

Plummer is looking forward to building on the successes of the last two years, and he'll have newly promoted Assistant Principal Keith Buechler to help him do it this year.

Buechler taught social studies at the middle school for eight years before his promotion to dean of students in 2014, and is looking forward to taking things up a notch.

Through an expanded curriculum and programs like Be Respectful, Engaged, Safe and Trustworthy (BEST) and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), Plummer and Buechler hope to continue using evidence-based strategies to facilitate greater student achievement.

One of the most significant changes of the new school year will be the transition from a class schedule of six periods to seven. This is to provide students with more opportunities to pursue electives like band, choir, AVID or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses.

New elective curriculum this year includes art, home economics, yearbook, student publishing and choir.

The school is minimizing the impact of the change by reducing class periods from 54 minutes to 50.

The problem with the six-period schedule is that students have five core classes they are required to take, which meant students who wanted to take AVID as their elective were unable to also take band, and vice versa.

The AVID curriculum helps low- to mid-performing students build organizational skills, teaches students to collaborate, develops critical thinking and helps to prepare students for academic success.

"Our AVID program is really strong and it's going really well, and a lot of those kids want to play in band,GÇ¥ Plummer said. "You don't want to have to make that choice. The AVID program would lose kids to band, and the band program would lose kids to AVID.GÇ¥

This will be the school's fourth year of utilizing the AVID program, and its second year being AVID certified.

The BEST program is based on the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support method, which provides a proactive framework to reduce problematic student behaviors.

"It's just about teaching the expectations that we want to see, instead of saying what we don't want to see,GÇ¥ Plummer said. "Keith oversees that and he's done a great job.GÇ¥

The goal of PBIS and BEST is to incentivize positive behaviors, so students are recognized when they do something good, rather than just punished when they do something wrong.

Students are rewarded via the distribution of BEST Bucks, which can be cashed in for an immediate reward, or saved up and accumulated, and used to "purchaseGÇ¥ something more significant.

There are also monthly BEST assemblies, during which 12 students are recognized and honored for engaging in positive behaviors.

Since taking over as the principal, Plummer has actively worked to change the perception of the middle school. He worked with Sultan School District Superintendent Dan Chaplik and Director of Operations Charlie Weaver to give the school a facelift last summer. The outside of the building was decorated with red and black paint to match the school's mascot, a soaring "SkyhawkGÇ¥ with red and black wings.

The paint job was extended to the inside of the building this year, and features fresh Skyhawk colors in the hallways and commons.

Another goal for the upcoming school year is to begin using AVID methods on a school-wide level through the program's Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading to Learn (WICOR) foundation. WICOR implementation should allow all students to benefit from AVID, not just the students taking the AVID class.

"It's just solid instructional strategies, and strategies that embrace kids,GÇ¥ Plummer said.

Sultan Middle School starts for sixth-grade students on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to help them get acclimated to their new surroundings. Once they arrive at school, the new students will be mentored by seventh- and eighth-grade students, who will show them how to navigate their schedules. -á -á

"The feedback we've gotten on that is there's a lot of anxiety coming in and there's little anxiety going out,GÇ¥ Plummer said.

The first day of school for all students, will be Thursday, Sept. 10.

Fall sports include football, cross country and volleyball. Buechler, who helps to oversee the school's athletics program, said that they really try to maximize athletic opportunities for students, so they can discover what they enjoy.

After becoming principal in 2013, Plummer quickly became known for his spirited and creative tactics. In the spring of 2014, he volunteered to shave his head into a Mohawk, eat spicy peppers and sing the National Anthem, if students achieved a certain level of book sales during the school's book fair. The students rose to the challenge, and Plummer kept his word.

In the fall of 2014 he took a pie in the face during a football game, after Sultan Middle School students successfully collected a record-breaking 964 pounds of food during a school food drive.

"It's been really positive and the community is great,GÇ¥ Plummer said of his move to Sultan with his wife and two kids when he became principal. "It's just really exciting. It's exciting to be consistent and it's exciting to stop being new. It's exciting to just kind of hit the ground running.GÇ¥

For more information on Sultan Middle School or to see a school supply list, visit the website or the SMS Facebook page.