Principal Greg Hood stepped in during the fall of 2015 bringing new ideas, philosophies and enthusiasm to the school following the retirement of former Principal Mark Merrell. Working through challenges and gaining achievements along with the rest of administration, Hood continues to seek improvements for the school and its students.

“Mr. Hood is very easygoing, so he fit right in. It was an easy transition,” Assistant Principal Steve Plunkett said.

With the help of Hood, administration has come up with a new vision for the school: to shape students into creative and resilient global citizens. This fits with the school’s slogan of “One school. One community. One world.” as well as Hood’s belief in the school’s responsibility to prepare students for their future, as stated in his principal’s message.

Hood describes one of his biggest accomplishments of his first year as working with Madison’s Leadership Council in order to help establish the school’s new vision. Through this council, the school department chairs provide feedback to administration in order to better shape Madison into the ideal school.

In addition to the input he received from the staff, Hood makes an effort to attend a little bit of everything in order to stay up to date on the prides and passions of the student body. This helps both to identify the skills Madison hopes to teach students and to support students who, according to Hood, put so much time and energy and effort into what they do.

Hood did come across a few challenges going into his first year. Originally, he felt that he would need to catch-up on the school’s culture. However, he found that coming to Madison was a friends and family reunion because he recognized many students whom he had known from his time as principal at Thoreau.

“A big stepping stone for me was getting to know people. I feel like now, coming into this year, it is a lot easier,” Hood said.

Like many Madison students, Hood also attempts to find a balance between personal time and school.

“It is exciting to be a part of all those different things [that take place at the school] and seeing them,” Hood said, “But also there’s recognizing that, outside of work, I do have kids, and I do have that and trying to balance the time between here and there.”

For this coming year, Hood and the rest of administration are working on shaping Madison students to be global and resilient citizens. Currently, they are reducing the number of traditional multiple-choice tests and reevaluating the other ways by which students are assessed to promote a deeper understanding of the curriculum.

“I think [Mr. Hood is] a really great principle. He’s super friendly and always stops to talk when he comes to the library. He’s really involved in the school activities, and I think he’s made Madison a more fun place to be,” Liv Wisnewski (’17) said.