Middle School Welcomes New Assistant Principal

Community members can expect to see a new face at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School this year as it welcomes Jeffrey Heaney as its new assistant principal. 

Heaney comes to Summit with more than 10 years’ experience at Branchburg Central Middle School in Somerset County where he taught Earth and Physical Science, worked for 8 years as a team leader, and for 3 years as the school’s athletic director.

So, the role of assistant principal is a new one for this veteran teacher.

“I am at a point in my career where I was ready to make this move," he said. "And I’m looking forward to helping teachers and students in a different capacity. But I’m not going to lose sight of what it means to be a teacher.”

Heaney earned his undergraduate degree in Biology at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and his master’s degree in educational administration from Centenary College in Hackettstown in 2008.

As assistant principal, Heaney’s new responsibilities at the middle school, which spans grade levels 6 through 8, include student discipline, providing support to classroom teachers, ensuring the safety of all school members, maintaining that students are comfortable in the their surroundings, and upholding the school’s previously established standards and philosophies.

Heaney succeeds Emile George who served as assistant principal for more than 40 years. George’s replacement acknowledges that it will be a challenge to take the place of someone who has been a part of the school community for so many years, but it is a challenge he looks forward to.

As the new assistant principal looks ahead toward the 2009-2010 school year, one of Heaney’s main goals is to get to know Summit Middle School’s staff and students and to establish new relationships, he said. One way he hopes to do this is by encouraging an “open door policy” to promote communication with students and teachers where they can be comfortable both airing their concerns and sharing their successes.

Heaney, who officially joined the staff on July 1, said he is looking forward to working in Summit.

“It’s a great place to grow as an educator, a great place to learn, and a community supported by its Board of Education," he said. "It has a great community feel. You walk into town and get a sense of what it means to be in Summit.”

Heaney, who resides in Branchburg with his wife, also a middle school science teacher, and his two children, ages 5 and 2, likes spending his time in the great outdoors, participating in recreational activities such as hiking, kayaking, and golfing. He also said he shares a love of sports with his whole family and is a big college basketball fan.

After having been actively teaching at the middle school level for more than a decade, Heaney admits that there are aspects of the classroom he will miss, but said that his current position is where he wants to be.

“I would like everybody to know how honored and excited I am to be a part of the Summit community," he said. "It’s a job that I am very proud to be at and I intend to fulfill it with every possible bit of energy I have. I look forward to everything that’s going to come here at Summit. I am very, very proud to be here.”