Montgomery Public Schools

Contact Superintendent Thompson by email: superintendent@mps.k12.al.us 

Barbara W. Thompson has a passion for educating students ─ particularly those with learning challenges. Her years of service to the teaching profession are marked by a commitment to excellence, creative teaching strategies, and an unwavering belief that all students can learn. She brought those ideals to Montgomery Public Schools when she was named superintendent on August 1, 2009.

Superintendent Thompson began her teaching career as a special education teacher for Madison Public Schools in Wisconsin, where she spent many summers teaching students with behavioral disturbances and learning disabilities. She also taught students who were incarcerated in Dane County Detention Center.

During her years in Madison─ a large urban district with 25,000 students─ she was recognized for her aptitude for curriculum, assessment and research. She was promoted to positions as curriculum leader, elementary principal, and supervisor of secondary alternative and at-risk programs. She wrote the district’s Homeless Program, which is still in place today. Along with her administrative team, she wrote a $500,000 Even Start Grant. At the time, it was the largest grant ever awarded to a single school district in the Madison Metropolitan School District. She has also taught on the higher education level and devoted countless hours helping technical college students master the necessary skills to enter the workforce or pursue a four-year college program.

In 2003, she became the superintendent of the New Glarus School District in New Glarus, Wisconsin. During her tenure, New Glarus was recognized nationally by Hewlett Packard in the area of technology for three years. She is also credited with helping to pass a recurring referendum, balancing a budget deficit, expanding technology, successfully writing grants to fund innovative projects, and greatly improving student achievement in the district. In addition, she piloted several innovative math, science, and biology programs in corporation with University of Wisconsin-Madison, which increased educational options for students.

Superintendent Thompson’s skill as an educator has garnered her several professional honors, including being named a Fulbright Teacher Intern to Kanazawa, Japan. She currently serves on the Governing Board of the American Association of School Administrators – a national board of school superintendents who are dedicated to developing effective school system leaders and the highest quality public education for all children. She also served on the Wisconsin State Testing Board (WESA), and the University of Madison’s diversity board.

Her service to children has not been limited to her work in K-12 schools. Superintendent Thompson has served on numerous boards including the Urban League, the Monroe Clinic Board and the Green County Community Foundation. She also served on the Governor’s Committee for People with Disabilities, and worked with the Boys & Girls Club of America, as a fundraising chair for the Chapter of the Links. She was also a foster parent with Dane County’s Treatment Foster Home.

Superintendent Thompson graduated cum laude from Spelman College with bachelor’s degrees in psychology and education. She holds a master’s of science in behavioral and learning disabilities from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and is a doctoral candidate for a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.