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CHEROKEE —
Southeast USD 247 went back to school Monday, and Southeast High School students and teachers are heading into the 2012-13 school year with a new principal.
Pittsburg native Larry Malle is taking over for the popular Ben Proctor, who was principal of SHS for seven years and resigned at the end of the 2011-12 school year to take over as principal of Hesston Middle School in Hesston, where he got his start in teaching and has family.
Malle moved to Cherokee from Pittsburg in 1978 when he was in eighth grade. A 1982 graduate of SHS, he got bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Pittsburg State University before embarking on a 25-year career teaching in Golden City, Mo., and Lamar, Mo. Malle recalled his time in Golden City and Lamar with fondness, but like Proctor before him, the draw of home called Malle.
“Any time you leave a positive position where you’re being well taken care, it’s not easy, but this was a chance to come home,” Malle said.
Malle said he’s looking forward to the school year and that his assistant principal, Jim Weber, had been instrumental in helping him get up to speed. It will be important, Malle said, to continue the projects being paid for through the $1.4 million federal School Improvement Grant the district received several years ago — there are certain achievements the district must meet, or it could have to pay the money back. The students and teachers also are making the transition from laptop computers to iPads for classroom and homework instruction.
“I think the students will adjust quickly because they’re so tech savvy already,” Malle said.
A challenge will be the distraction of delegations from other districts coming to see firsthand the improvements that Southeast is making.
“People want to come and learn about what we’re doing here that’s successful,” Malle said. “We’ll have to maintain focus, even with all of these distractions coming in.”
Malle praised his teachers and staff for doing a remarkable job of responding to the pressure of cuts to state aid and having to work harder to implement new technology.
“The teachers have been great,” Malle said. “We’re asking a lot of them and they’re responding well.”
He said the students had prepared equally well.
“It’s one of the smoothest first days of school that I’ve been a part of,” he said. “It the rest of the year is like today, we’re going to get a lot accomplished.”
Southeast USD 247 went back to school Monday, and Southeast High School students and teachers are heading into the 2012-13 school year with a new principal.
Pittsburg native Larry Malle is taking over for the popular Ben Proctor, who was principal of SHS for seven years and resigned at the end of the 2011-12 school year to take over as principal of Hesston Middle School in Hesston, where he got his start in teaching and has family.
Malle moved to Cherokee from Pittsburg in 1978 when he was in eighth grade. A 1982 graduate of SHS, he got bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Pittsburg State University before embarking on a 25-year career teaching in Golden City, Mo., and Lamar, Mo. Malle recalled his time in Golden City and Lamar with fondness, but like Proctor before him, the draw of home called Malle.
“Any time you leave a positive position where you’re being well taken care, it’s not easy, but this was a chance to come home,” Malle said.
Malle said he’s looking forward to the school year and that his assistant principal, Jim Weber, had been instrumental in helping him get up to speed. It will be important, Malle said, to continue the projects being paid for through the $1.4 million federal School Improvement Grant the district received several years ago — there are certain achievements the district must meet, or it could have to pay the money back. The students and teachers also are making the transition from laptop computers to iPads for classroom and homework instruction.
“I think the students will adjust quickly because they’re so tech savvy already,” Malle said.
A challenge will be the distraction of delegations from other districts coming to see firsthand the improvements that Southeast is making.
“People want to come and learn about what we’re doing here that’s successful,” Malle said. “We’ll have to maintain focus, even with all of these distractions coming in.”
Malle praised his teachers and staff for doing a remarkable job of responding to the pressure of cuts to state aid and having to work harder to implement new technology.
“The teachers have been great,” Malle said. “We’re asking a lot of them and they’re responding well.”
He said the students had prepared equally well.
“It’s one of the smoothest first days of school that I’ve been a part of,” he said. “It the rest of the year is like today, we’re going to get a lot accomplished.”
