Joy.

A simple and very short word.  Dictionary.com defines it as “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasures; elation”.  As one of Selma City School’s core values, joy clearly defines how I feel about our journey to excellence.

When teachers, leaders and staff get up to go to work each morning, they do so with varied emotions brought on by the fact that life happens.  These emotions span from happiness to perhaps extreme stress.  Knowing this, I made a commitment this year to ensure that all members of Team Selma start their day on a positive note.  I call it Morning Joy or MoJo for short.

Since the day our teachers returned to work, I have crafted an email called MoJo to send to all employees usually before 7 a.m.  Topics range from funny teacher memes to stories about my lovely standard poodles, CoCo and Butterscotch.  Many got a kick out of the picture that I included of my fur babies lying innocently on the floor after they ate nearly my entire veggie pizza!  Yeah, I’m still a little salty about that but it made for a great MoJo tale.

The culture of our school district matters a great deal to me. I have often said that culture is everything.  We have a saying in education that culture eats strategy for breakfast.  This means that we may have the most brilliant, tried and true strategies but if our people are not happy and feeling a sense of support then our efforts are doomed to fail.

I love data.  So before beginning my role as Selma City’s Superintendent, I surveyed all employees to learn more about their needs.  I asked what we should do to stop, start and/or continue in our district.  The results showed a lack of joy.  There was a lack of appreciation.  Employees did not feel valued.  Our culture was toxic.

Research on organizational culture supports that happier employees are more productive.  When culture is strong, teachers are more likely to give their all to their students as well as their peers.  My hope is that the daily MoJo will support this.  I know that a thriving culture cannot be bought.  We have to be intentional as we build it and believe in it.

The daily MoJo is just one small piece of building and transforming our culture.  If it brings a smile to a few faces, then it’s well worth my time and effort.  I believe in our teachers and staff.  I value them.  Showing them this on a daily basis brings me joy. 

If you would like to be included in our daily MoJo, email me at avis.williams@selmacityschools.org.