By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Thompson High School’s incoming principal said he plans to do much listening during his first few months on the job, and said he plans to continue the work begun by his predecessors.

Danny Steele, who was approved as the new THS principal by the Shelby County Board of Education April 21, is currently serving as an assistant principal at Vestavia Hills High School.

Steele served as an assistant principal at THS for about a year before moving to VHHS, and he said the THS staff is relatively unchanged from the time he last worked at the school.

“This is something I’ve wanted for a long time,” Steele said. “I will be working with most of the same staff that was there when I was assistant principal at Thompson, so I am looking forward to that.”

Steele will complete his time at VHHS before assuming his role as THS principal in June, and will “hit the ground running” this summer, he said.

“Thompson is a host for summer school this year, so we will have a school full of students,” he said.

His immediate plans are to fill a vacant Junior ROTC position at the school, help formulate the school’s master schedule for the next school year and help implement a new student software management system.

Steele was hired to replace former THS principal Robin Thomas, who was recently promoted to the county school district’s high school coordinator position.

“I’m really excited about working with Robin Thomas, because he was my boss when I was an assistant principal there,” Steele said.

Because Steele is moving from a city school system in Vestavia to the Shelby County School District, he said he will have to make a few adjustments.

“When you have a bigger school system like Shelby County, you have a lot of consistency between the high schools,” Steele said. “With a district like Vestavia, you only have one high school and you can almost make it up as you go along.”

Steele said he plans to begin his tenure as the THS principal by listening to those at the school and in the community.

“My biggest thing is to just do a lot of listening,” Steele said. “I know we’ve got a lot of good people working at the school.

“I can say without a doubt that a great school gets that way because it’s in a great community,” Steele added.