Greetings and welcome to Bloomington High School South . . . Home of the Panthers.

It is my honor and privilege to be the principal of Bloomington High School South.  We take great pride at South in doing everything we can to help every student succeed.  We celebrate the successes of all of our students and we are fortunate to have student success based on a number of metrics.  One example includes earning an “A” school grade by the Indiana Department of Education for the last three years (highlighting high graduation rate and ISTEP/ECA scores).  While these traditional accolades are important, we are most proud of the community we have at South with students, parents, and faculty.  Our teachers regularly recognize students who consistently perform at high levels in the areas of leadership, effort, improvement and attitude, which we formally celebrate three times a year in our Panther Plus Awards celebration and additionally at our Honor Night celebrations. 

At South we have worked hard and committed resources to guaranteeing a very strong and diverse curriculum which includes a high assortment of college prep, dual college credit, and AP courses along with a wide array of elective classes that cover everything from music and art to technology.   This diverse curriculum is visible in the high levels of SAT and AP success that our students achieve.  We outperform schools similar in size both in scores and, more importantly, in the number of students we have taking the SAT and AP courses.  Simply put, we want our students to be able to challenge themselves academically and experience an assortment of classes, and it is our job to support them in their efforts.

One of our supports is Plus Time.  Through our work in becoming a nationally recognized PLC at Work Model School, we implemented a system to provide timely, direct and systemic support and enrichment to every student in the school three times a week.   These supports are in addition to traditional class time, so no student ever misses direct instruction to get help.  These supports and others have led to over 95% of our students graduating every year, which is far above the state and national average.

We offer a wide variety of clubs to engage students as well.  Our options include clubs that focus on science competitions (robotics, JETS, sea-perch, science Olympiad and solar bike to name a few), clubs that focus on recreation (Harry Potter Club, knitting club, Rock School), and clubs that focus on student government and philanthropy (Student Council, NHS, Dance Marathon).  Regardless of what a student finds interesting, we’ll have an option for them at South.   We also have 20 athletic teams for students to participate in and make friends and memories along the way.  Our student-athletes perform excellently in the classroom as demonstrated in having the highest number of Mental Attitude Award winners in the state.   These students also are quite successful on their fields, floors winning tournaments, championships, and regularly participating in state finals.

We believe that completing high school is key piece to moving on to whatever students want to do next.  In following up with our graduates, they assure us that they have been well-prepared for both college and career opportunities after high school.   I could go on and on about our school, but instead, I’ll invite you to join us.  We look forward to meeting you, and encourage you to always. . .

Have Pride in Yourself, and the Panthers!

Mark A. Fletcher