When you receive this edition of The Tabernacle Sun, the Tabernacle School District will be in the midst of our “New Staff Orientation.” This week, 12 new teachers and other professional staff are learning about all the requirements they must attend to in order to successfully serve our students and families. As a community member, you should know the Tabernacle School District is your town’s largest employer. Your schools employ nearly 160 highly trained and dedicated educational professionals. Many of our employees are community members who reside in Tabernacle. Our single mission is to work with you, our community, in order to provide an effective learning environment for leading our students, your children, to productive citizenship and college and career readiness. The town of Tabernacle, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, has nearly 7,000 residents and approximately 2,400 households! You may not have realized this before, but your schools educate nearly 805 students in preschool to eighth grade. When you include parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family members, you can start to see your schools most likely touch your life or the life of a family member in an important way.
We care and we want the work we carry out to be meaningful and effective for the children, so we welcome and invite your help. We want to work together with you so we can maximize student achievement. I am pleased that with the cooperation of The Tabernacle Sun, I can reach out to you in this weekly column to update you on the happenings of your schools, get your opinion on matters affecting you or your children, and ask you to consider getting involved by attending a monthly board meeting. You have dedicated members of your community serving on your school district’s board of education who are committed to preserving the special qualities and excellence which are characteristic of your schools. You can learn more about the schools and the date and time of monthly board meetings by visiting the district’s website at www.tabschools.org.
As the superintendent of the Tabernacle schools, I am honored to serve your community in such an important institution. I know from meeting many of you the level of importance you place on maintaining a quality educational system. As I speak with many residents around town, I hear your stories of growing up and attending the schools and now so do your children. More and more, I hear many accounts from those of you who moved here specifically because you valued the quality of the Tabernacle schools. Some of you tell me Tabernacle is the best kept secret. Although I agree with you, I am so happy to begin to speak to you each week in this column about the importance of your schools. Don’t worry, it will be our little secret.
By GEORGE J. RAFFERTY
Tabernacle Schools Superintendent
