The Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals this week chose Northbrook Middle School Principal Keith Thompson as the state’s middle school principal of the year.
The association visited Northbrook Middle to surprise Thompson with the news. He laughed, said he didn’t like surprises and told staff members participating on Zoom that the award was theirs.
“What I do is for the kids,” he said. “My mantra is that we want to be high-achieving and nurturing. You can’t get that high-achieving part without the nurturing part.”
Criteria for the award include excellence in educational leadership, ability to resolve complex problems and community service.
Thompson has been an educator for 24 years, first joining Gwinnett in 2009 as an assistant principal at GIVE Center West. He was also an assistant principal at Osborne Middle before becoming Northbrook’s first principal in 2014.
He has a bachelor’s degree in middle grades education from Augusta State University and a master’s in educational leadership from Cambridge College. He has a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction and a specialist’s degree in educational leadership from Argosy University.
Marietta High School Principal Keith Ball was named the state’s overall secondary school principal of the year.
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