SAN MARCOS CISD
New principal moves from Hays to San Marcos
Goodnight Middle School has a new principal starting this upcoming school year, and he’s very excited about the opportunity. Joe Mitchell has big plans for GMS, including raising the school rating to an A, which he plans to do by establishing clear expectations and communication as well as working cooperatively with students and parents.
Mitchell knows his new position as the principle of GMS will not be easy, but he is ready for the challenge.
“I'm getting a lot of trust put in me to shape the upbringing of students, of somebody else's child. I'm here to guide teachers,” Mitchell said. “This is the position that I've worked towards ever since I got into education. My goal was to be a principal, to expand my influence. And I'm extremely thankful and honored to be given this opportunity in San Marcos CISD.”
Mitchell said that GMS will be an A-rated campus, and he is emphatic about that goal.
“I want Goodnight Middle School to be the school of choice. Our goal as a campus and the leadership team … we want parents around the area to say, ‘I want my child at Goodnight Middle School,’” Mitchell said. “We're going to be an A rated campus, and we will be the village voice because we're building a campus with a positive culture that's planning on celebrating all of our students, all of our teachers. And we're going to place relationship building and trust at the forefront of everything we do. My goal is to make sure we have great teachers teaching there, making decisions in the best interest of the students [by] looking at the child as a whole, and making the best decisions to educate them and support them.”
Mitchell said that under his supervision, it will be clear that the leadership team is not above anyone else.
“We're here to serve and support,” Mitchell said. “We're going to work in collaboration with the parents and the community, all the stakeholders involved, and set clear expectations and communicate everything to them. I think all that coming together is going to make the goal of making us an A rated campus very achievable.”
Mitchell is no stranger to education. His first teaching position was at Kealing Middle School then Crockett High School — both are in the Austin Independent School District. He taught every course under the history umbrella. He was also a District Instructional Coach in Seguin. He then transitioned to Wallace Middle School in Hays ISD as the Campus Instructional Coach for a year before he became the Assistant Principal there. After that, Mitchell was the Assistant Principal at Hays High School.
“The opportunity to help others learn and grow is what initially drew me into education,” Mitchell said. “Growing up, I was not obviously the best or the brightest kid. I know that's the story for a lot of people. I didn't have a lot of support at home that I needed, but I had a whole bunch of teachers growing up that truly believed in me. They supported me along the way, and they always pushed me to do better than I was doing. … I like to say they always pushed me to take one step more than anyone ever expected me to.”
Because of the teacher support he received growing up, Mitchell decided to “pay it forward” by doing the same for his students.
“I want to be the teacher that I had growing up for students, and that's why I initially got into school and teaching — I wanted to be their supporter, their advocate, and I wanted to push them to achieve their goals of being successful in whatever they wanted to do,” Mitchell said. “It started out small, obviously, as a teacher where I had a classroom of 150 kids total. I love doing that, but I wanted to grow and expand my abilities or my influence on others, and so that's kind of what led me to move up and become a principal where I am now.”
On a personal note, Mitchell was born in San Antonio and was raised in Waco. He is married with two kids, Fox and Jude (a name received due to his love of the Beatles). He considers himself a foodie, particularly a lover of tacos. He likes to watch sports, and his favorite teams are the University of Texas Longhorns, San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Cowboys.
Mitchell said he tries to treat everybody with respect and ensure every student, parent and guardian receives the support that is needed in addition to treating every child in his office as he would like someone to treat his own.
