Mr. Stephen Batchelder, Director and Co-Founder | James Madison Preparatory School

"Building America's Promising Future, Honoring America's Glorious Past."

5815 S. McClintock Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85283 | map

480-345-2306

Mr. Stephen Batchelder

Co-Founder and Teacher

Years teaching and administrating at JMPS: Since the beginning. (2000-2001, i.e., nine years)

Before JMPS: I owned and ran a retail toy store (The Toy Chest) in Minnesota and concurrently owned and ran a commercial leasing company
(Audax, Inc.). Before that I worked at a hotel in Minneapolis.
Have worked as a bookkeeper, a movie theater cashier, a sales
worker for R.J. Reynolds, a little league baseball coach, a youth
football coach, a youth ice hockey coach, a youth baseball umpire, and a youth baseball league commissioner.

Courses currently teaching: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year Latin, Drama, Economics, and Logic.

Activities currently involved with: Head Baseball Coach, Assistant Football Coach, Director of plays and musicals

Educational History:    B.A. in history from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. 1986.
Courses taken in radio broadcasting at Brown Institute in Minneapolis.
High School diploma - Faribault Senior High School, Faribault, Minnesota. 1982.

Activities involved with in college:    Four Years Intercollegiate Baseball (Captain in Senior Year), One Year Campus Newspaper (Sports Columnist), Three Years Gregorian Chant Group (Schola Cantorum)

Activities involved with in high school:    Baseball, Hockey, Drama, Orchestra, Yearbook, Speech

Educational Philosophy:    JMPS is largely a manifestation of my educational philosophy. I believe in small schools and small classes. I believe in a traditional education with a particular emphasis on American history. I believe in closed campuses, orderly classrooms, dress codes, full school days, and full school years. I believe in a positive, upbeat, and busy school campus. I believe high school is a place where young people should explore a wide variety of traditional subjects and extracurricular opportunities; college is where specialization should begin. And I believe that school should emphasize good character just as much as strong academics. I agree with Teddy Roosevelt, who said, “To educate a person in mind and not morals is to educate a menace to society.”

Hobbies:    Reading nonfiction – particularly history, biography, and philosophy
Lifelong sports fan – particularly baseball, football, basketball, golf, and tennis. Playing the piano. I enjoy a wide variety of music including classical, ragtime, classic rock, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, some jazz, R & B, and, of course, show tunes. I guess I like pretty much everything except country western and rap.

Favorite Movie:    “The Sting” starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw.

Favorite Books:    “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers; “The Road to Serfdom” by Friedrich von Hayek; “Patton. A Genius for War” by Carlo D’Este; “Darwin’s Black Box” by Michael Behe; "The Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell.