Principal's Message
Welcome to the 2024-2025 school year! We look forward to having your child as a part of our Morton family for their sixth through eighth grade adolescent years—some of their most important and most unique years of life.
At Morton, we strive to be a positive learning environment where all students can experience academic, behavioral, and social growth. The structure used to create this environment is based upon the principles of Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a proactive approach to school discipline based upon research-based practices and data analysis of school-wide behavior. The goal is to maximize academic and social behavior outcomes from students, while supporting the success of ALL students.
Our mission statement reflects the Aviator Expectations that we have put in place for our students to follow at all times-Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Resourceful. These Behavioral Expectations are one of the five principal components that contribute to making our school a positive place for students. Those elements include:
1. Behavior Expectations
2. Teaching Behavior
3. Celebrating Positive Behavior
4. Responding to Behavior
5. Use of Data
As we move into the 2024-2025 school year, we plan to continue to highlight the positives that we see on a daily basis from our students. We will have a ticket system in place which will allow teachers and staff to recognize students who are displaying the Aviator Expectations. Students will be able to turn in their tickets for a raffle for daily, weekly, or monthly incentives at lunchtime. In addition, we will continue to recognize outstanding academics, attendance, and behavior through our semester incentive program, Awards Assemblies, Aviators of the Month, Aviator Ace awards, and membership in the National Junior Honor Society.
In order to support our efforts to enhance students’ opportunities for life-long learning and character development, we will also continue with our Advisory Program. Throughout students’ time at Morton, they will stay with the same Advisory teacher, who will continue to foster positive relationships, create team-building opportunities, and explore important topics for young adults during the Advisory period once a week.
To share a little about myself, this is my 33rd year in education (19th as a middle school principal), all of which have taken place in the Vandalia-Butler School system. I have been a part of the Morton, Smith, and Butler staffs, in the roles of teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal. We live in the community, and my two boys are also been a part of the Vandalia-Butler school system. Therefore, I have also been able to see firsthand, as a parent, the quality education that my own children have received. Finally, my husband, Andy, coaches cross country and track for Vandalia-Butler. As you can see, we are greatly invested in the community and in the schools.
I encourage you to take an active part in your child’s education. Whether you are providing quiet study time, conferencing with a teacher, or attending your child’s sporting event or concert, we greatly appreciate and encourage the partnership between school and home. In addition, we have an excellent PTO here at Morton with many opportunities for you to volunteer. Middle school is still an important time to be involved and aware of your child’s schooling, interests, and activities.
Please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the staff here at Morton with any comments, questions, or concerns. We want your child’s experience at Morton Middle School to be a great one, and if there is anything that we can do to help make that happen, please let us know. You can reach me at (937) 415-6647 or Shannon.white@vbcsd.com.
Sincerely,
Shannon White
Principal
Morton Middle School