Freshmen are not the only new faces that teachers and students will get to meet this year. Meet Mr. Bob Thompson: Pattonville’s new associate principal and sponsor of the senior class.

Mr. Thompson attended Herculaneum High School and then the University of Missouri at St. Louis to get a degree in teaching. He earned a master’s degree from Southwest Baptist University and a specialist degree  from Missouri Baptist University.

He has worked as the athletic director, assistant principal and head football coach at De Soto High School from 2007-2014.

From 2001-2007, Thompson was a health/PE teacher and coached football and track at Hazelwood East High School for three years. In 2004, he was selected to be an assistant principal at Hazelwood East High School.

Thompson has a reason of his own on why he decided to become a principal after just teaching a specific subject.

“I have the opportunity to work with a larger number of staff and students in an educational setting.”

Being a principal might seem to be an easy job to do but there are some challenges that a principal faces each day.

“One of the many challenges I face is keeping students on the cutting edge of implementing technology in the learning environment,” Thompson said.

He said his favorite thing about Pattonville so far is the amount of opportunities the district provides its teachers and students.

“I have happily discovered that there is an abundance of resources for staff and students in the Pattonville School District.”

It’s the beginning of the school year, and like many teachers and students, principals like Thompson create resolutions for what they hope to achieve in the coming school year.

“The goal I hope to achieve as a principal this year is to continue to support staff and students in searching for ways to adapt programs to help our students continue to grow and succeed.”