Community Corner

Mystic Middle Principal Thomas Takes Trumbull Post

Last Day In District Slated For Early August

It’s appropriate that Stafford W. Thomas Jr. is moving on to a community declared the ‘seventh best town in America for families’ by a national magazine. In his four year tenure as principal, he has consistently referred to the school community as a family.

“Mystic has been great. We have been like family,” he said. Thomas has been named principal of Hillcrest Middle School in Trumbull.

Trumbull was just ranked seventh in Family Circle magazine’s 2011 "10 Best Towns For Families."

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“They have been very friendly and welcoming," Thomas said. "This is very exciting for me, and, a little closer to home, said the native New Yorker.

Thomas was hired as Mystic principal four years ago. A Georgetown graduate, Thomas earned a MA in education from Brown University and a Ed.D. and J.D. degree from the Boston College School of Education and the Boston College Law School. He served as an assistant principal in Barrington, RI before coming to Mystic.

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During his time at the school he received high marks and praise from parents, faculty and students.

“I have had such great support. Mystic has been a good fit. I will miss the students. I’ve had a very student-friendly office and it’s going to be tough …leaving in the summer, I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye.”

Thomas is slated to transition out in early August and begin work in Trumbull mid-month. A new hire for Mystic has not been identified.

Thomas said he was happy to have been able to see his “first
graduating class” as the students he met four years ago recently had their eighth grade completion ceremony.  

When Thomas told Stonington Schools Superintendent Leanne Masterjoseph he was leaving, “it was a sad moment.”

“She has been a great, great support,” he said.

But he also spoke about the faculty and support staff at Mystic Middle that he will miss.

“We’re forged relationships that have been so meaningful,” he said. “For me, I always try to have had face to face meetings when there are big announcements …a personal touch, not through an email (announcement that he’s leaving.) So I’m going to try and hopefully see faculty and families over the summer.” And he heaped much praise on the support staff to include the staff that run the school's main office: “They’re so good and mean so much to the school. That’s
going to be a big loss for me.”

And Thomas said he will be not unlike the new kid in school come September.

“The first day absolutely there will be anticipation. But I am excited and ready.”

At Hillcrest Middle, where Thomas will serve, nearly 90 percent of students are meeting the academic goals across all subject areas, according to the ConnCan school report card study–a ranking of 37th of all 299 Connecticut middle schools.

“I’m grateful,” he said. “In your career, if you’re able to have many good moments and good memories, you’re lucky. I am.”


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