East Penn School District
Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year at Jefferson Elementary School! It is an honor and a privilege to be your new principal. I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and to thank you for welcoming me so warmly into this special community.
While I am new to Jefferson, the upcoming school year will mark my tenth year in the East Penn School District. I began my teaching career in sixth grade in the Bangor Area School District before joining East Penn as a third grade teacher at Wescosville Elementary School. After seven years in third grade, I taught fifth grade at Wescosville for a year before moving to Shoemaker Elementary School last fall as the instructional specialist. Now, I’m excited to serve as the instructional leader at Jefferson!
I’ve quickly learned that Jefferson is unique in so many ways. My priority this year is to listen and learn from those of you who are already an integral part of the Jefferson family and understand what makes this such a distinctly remarkable school. In the coming days, weeks, and months, I look forward to meeting you and your families and working together to build upon the incredible foundation that every member of our school community solidifies at Jefferson day in and day out.
We’re confident that you’ll find Jefferson Elementary School to be a positive learning environment where students, families, faculty, staff, and community members feel safe and supported, love spending their time, and have the ability to maximize their potential. We’ll form genuine and strong relationships, foster collaboration, focus on character education, emphasize academic rigor and relevance, use data to drive our instruction, and implement differentiated learning strategies to best engage and meet the needs of all students. Overall, our goal this year will be to make every day better than the last and to do so with kindness and respect.
We hope that you’ll visit us between North and Elm Streets in Emmaus, and we encourage you to follow @EPSDJefferson on Twitter. In an effort to be as accessible as possible, we’ll be celebrating our students’ successes and live tweeting all of our school events using the hashtag #JeffersonSOARS.
On behalf of my wife and our two children, we are so excited to join the Jefferson family and look forward to getting to know you and your families! If I can be of any assistance, my door is always open. Please feel free to stop in, call me at 610.965.1645, or email me at dhinkel@eastpennsd.org. Your feedback is always welcomed and allows us to grow personally and professionally. This is such a special place, and I’m honored to join you on your Jefferson journey!
Sincerely,
Drew Hinkel
Principal
Jefferson Elementary School