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Principal's Welcome
It is an honor and privilege to serve as Fort Atkinson Middle School’s principal. I am a middle-school educator through and through. I have fifteen years of experience teaching at the middle school level, four years of experience serving as the associate principal at our middle school, and am now starting my fourth year as the principal of FAMS. What an amazing start to the year it has been! I am truly honored to be part of such a caring, compassionate, and hard-working school community.
Our middle school staff were very excited about returning to school this year! They have been spending time over the summer working on their own professional development in order to make the learning experience the very best it can be for all of our students.
In July, a team of teachers, coupled with our building and district administration, closely examined our academic data along with the data from our student and staff culture and climate surveys in order to develop a plan with detailed goals for the year ahead.
FAMS has earned a reputation for academic excellence through the hard work of our students, teachers, parents, and staff, and we were recognized as a school that "Exceeds Expectations" on the last DPI school report card. FAMS is a place where exceptional teaching and learning are the norm. We are proud of these accomplishments, but we also know that we have room to grow.
This year we set an achievement goal with an academic focus in the areas of literacy and math and a growth goal that we will have more students feeling connected to our school and feeling like a valued member of our learning community. We have a schoolwide focus on building relationships, and promoting positivity and kindness, as we feel this, along with handwork, are the important foundation blocks that we will need to build upon to achieve our goals.
We strive to have our students attending school each day. Our hope is that, as parents and families, you will join us in working to regain the sense of routine that comes from attending school every day and being in school all day. Of course, we do not want students to come to school when they are ill, but we recognize that some absences may be due to students feeling somewhat anxious about school. If that is thecase, our staff can help find strategies to address those concerns, and we understand that some anxiousness at the beginning of the year is normal and anticipated. We know the benefits of regular attendance include strong academic learning, improved social interactions with peers, and a sense of belonging and accomplishment for students.
As your principal, I promise to keep students at the forefront of every decision we make as a school. We will strive to teach and provide students with the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to have a successful future.
I look forward to another amazing year!
Matt Wolf, FAMS Principal
