Retirement Wishes: Success Coach Ruth Thompson
It is not often that Communities In Schools is able to wish a staff member farewell as they head into retirement. These days, many employees change jobs frequently, staying in a position for just a few years before moving on to the next opportunity. Ruth Thompson is one of our exceptions. Ruth has worked for Communities In Schools for over 15 years. She has been a Success Coach at Leland Middle School working with thousands of students during her tenure, providing academic tutoring, behavior interventions, truancy interventions, life skill lessons, basic needs, recruiting community mentors to support her students, and coordinating community resources to support both students and their families’ needs.
Many things have changed for our organization, and for Ruth, during the past 15 years. We have expanded our use of computer-based management of student data and progress monitoring; we have moved from a Peer Court model as a juvenile court diversion program to a restorative practices model, both of which Ruth has learned to implement to benefit her students; other staff have come and gone; organizational leadership and structure has changed; the community has changed with the county’s rapid growth and school overcrowding affecting Leland Middle along with other schools and requiring Ruth to shift office and work space locations between the school building and the trailers used to expand learning space; federal and state laws governing school operations and what can be taught and how it can be taught has continued to shift; there have been several Superintendent changes, along with Principal changes at Leland Middle; and then there was the COVID 19 pandemic and the shift to remote learning and student interventions; school closures due to Hurricane Florence; and a host of other changes and challenges.
As with any Success Coach who works hard every day to help their students build resiliency skills, Ruth has had to build her own. Through it all she has remained steadfast in her commitment to the students of Leland Middle, in the community where she works and lives. She has provided steady, consistent support to a myriad of students who have faced their own challenges and changes, while having to seamlessly make her own adjustments along the way. There is something to be said for someone who holds the history of an organization, a deep understanding of their community, and the wisdom that is gained only over time and shaped by the many experiences that teach us how to shift our sails to meet the headwinds or lower the sails during times of calm. Ruth has been a steady presence through it all.
We thank Ruth for her many years of service to Communities In Schools and Leland Middle School and wish her all the best in her retirement. She has exemplified what it means when we say that our staff strive every day to always be #AllinforKids. Ruth, you will be greatly missed! Enjoy every second of your well-earned retirement!
