MBY DEBBIE PAGE

Wearing costumes and their school T-shirts and carrying props to demonstrate their spirit, Mooresville Graded School District employees entered the Mooresville High Performing Arts Center lobby to the sound of the MHS pep band and the chants of cheerleaders on Thursday morning.

After a short welcome by Superintendent Jason Gardner, the NJROTC presented the colors as members of the MHS chorus led the crowd in the National Anthem, followed by a school and support staff spirit performance competition judged by the MGSD School Board. Selma Burke Middle School was selected as the spirit winner.

Scott Smith recognized support staff selected at individual schools and departments as employees of the year, followed by Michael Royal who honored Mooresville Middle School’s Patrick Kosal as Principal of the Year and East Intermediate and Mooresville Intermediate’s Deborrah Birchett as the Assistant Principal of the Year.

After Chief Communications Officer Tanae McLean thanked the district’s selection committee for its hard work, Mooresville Intermediate teacher Joanna Tan was named as Beginning Teacher of the Year.

Jeff Shoe of Mooresville Ford, who presented Teacher of The Year Honors, praised the excellent teachers and staff in the district and remembered his aunt Martha Smith, a 38-year veteran English teacher at Mooresville High.

Shoe then announced that South Elementary’s Aracelis Perez was chosen as Teacher of the Year, presenting her with the keys to a new Ford Escape to use during the 2024-2025 school year.

A Dominican Republic native, Perez thanked principals, colleagues, students, parents, and her family for their support throughout her career. She especially thanked her parents for encouraging her to be anything she wanted to be but insisting that whatever she chose, she had to be the best at it that she could be.

Perez said that she and her siblings, with her parents guidance and support, became first-generation college students, and Perez went on to earn her master’s degree.

She praised the district for meeting children where they are, regardless of their background, and for helping them to learn and achieve.

Superintendent Gardner then addressed all district employees, highlighting some of MGSD’s accomplishments from the past school year, reminding the crowd of the system’s vision to create “a better community by empowering every individual to grow, thrive, and succeed.”

Strategic plan accomplishments to maximize opportunity and opportunity included reaching the top three in the state in graduation rate, completing K-5 teachers’ LETRS training and earning a SoR Award, student growth increases in EOG and EOC tests, adding school clubs in grades K-8, increasing College and Career Promise enrollment by over 50 percent, and increasing the district’s ACT composite score to higher than pre-COVID years.

Highlights in the safe, happy, and healthy strategic plan category include establishing a K-9 partnership with the Mooresville Police Department, getting grant funds to improve school safety, conducting a safety audit to identify any deficiencies, partnering with Children’s Hope Alliance and Southern Family Medicine to provide mental health services to students, and creating an alternative learning program at NF Woods for grades 6-9.

In the recruit, grow and retain area, the district provided bus driver with incentives, increased classified employees’ salaries, added a supplement for alternative and special education teachers, added professional development opportunities for teachers and staff, and decreased the district’s job vacancy rate.

To build a culture of relationships, the district created a high school advisory group for honest student feedback, hosted the first Longest Table community event in Mooresville, held numerous community and school events, and conducted an equity roundtable.

The district also earned a 97.4 percent rating by MGSD educators reporting that the district is a good place to work and learn in the district’s Teacher Working Conditions Survey. MGSD is also launching a new, user friendly website next week.

Looking ahead to the upcoming school year, Gardner posed a question: “What separates the greatest?” He then went over three characteristics of people, businesses, and organizations that led them to excellence.

The first point was honesty and confronting the facts. “Every organization faces adversity; the best face it head on,” he said.

To do that, Gardner said the district must lead with questions — not answers — and embrace debate. If a mistake occurs, the district must conduct “no blame” autopsies to identify weaknesses and fix them. The system cannot “ignore the unpleasant” if it wants to be the best it can be, he said.

The next characteristic is focus, or “discipline without distraction,” he said. “The most successful organizations allow their goals to drive decision-making.”

To stay on focus areas, the district needs to create systems to check themselves to ensure their goals stay the priority. “Ask ‘how does this advance my goal?’ ”

Even if something is a great idea, Gardner said, if it does not advance the goal, it needs to be discarded.

“Your schedule should reflect your focus,” added Gardner. He also suggested making a “stop doing” list and to be flexible. Just because the district has traditionally done something a certain way in the past does not mean it best serves the current goals and focus areas.

Lastly, Gardner said the most successful organizations are “relentless. The best is the standard. If you focus on being your best daily, the results will come.”

Being relentless means that employees may have to “embrace being uncomfortable. Define the ‘best’ and hold yourself accountable to that standard,” he said. “Never settle.”

Gardner also reminded employees to enjoy the process and celebrate successes along the way in their pursuit of excellence.

To end the convocation, MGSD School Board Chair Greg Whitfield thanked employees for their passion “to make a positive difference in the lives of our children.”

He then grabbed some Selma Burke Middle School pompoms and led the crowd in a series of “WE ARE … MOORESVILLE” cheers as he bounded across the stage.

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