At just 4 years old, Monte Ewing knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.
With a double-sided chalkboard her mother gifted to Ewing, she thoughtfully set up her make-believe classroom, where her students – colorful books stacked neatly in piles – waited for a lesson.
Ewing spent the time perfecting her teaching skills, always pushing herself to learn a little bit more to be a little bit better.
“I am the type of person where I am extremely intrinsically motivated,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what is said or done, it’s just what I believe.”
Today, Ewing applies that motivation to her job as principal of Fairview Elementary School.
When Ewing arrived at Fairview in 2022, the school had spent a decade with a D accountability rating. The school broke the slump that year, earning a C. In September, Fairview became the first school in Columbus Municipal School District’s history to receive an A rating – a feat Ewing credits entirely to the students.
“People talk about, what did you do? What did the teachers do?” she said. “The children did the work. We showed up, and we did our best, but the children did the big work.”
But Ewing’s commitment to the school is at least partly responsible for its improvement the last two years. Guided by a love for learning, she works daily to ensure students, faculty and staff are supported and successful.
Originally from Aberdeen, Ewing moved to Columbus in 1994 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education at the Mississippi University for Women. Her first student-teaching job was at Hunt Intermediate Academy, where she was offered a job before the term had even finished.
She spent the next 25 years teaching at CMSD. After Hunt, she moved to Columbus High School, where she taught everything from geology to ACT preparation and was eventually named lead teacher.
The whole time, she continued to further her own education, earning both a master’s degree and an educational specialist degree in technology and workforce development. Ewing is working on a PhD in urban higher education at Jackson State University.
Ewing had two goals when she started at Fairview in 2022. The first, she said, was to create a school that everybody loves. To do that, she had to learn from everyone who was already there.
“I really stepped back and I watched and I learned and I listened,” she said. “The staff had so much to say. … I read books on top of books about school culture and elementary curriculum. I just had to teach myself the language because I honestly did not know.”
Ewing began to shift the school’s culture to one of teamwork and dedication. Leading by example, she’d take on any job that needed to be done, from teaching a lesson to serving lunch.
Fourth-grade teacher Britnee Anthony said the atmosphere Ewing creates at Fairview makes it fun to come to work.
“When things are kind of heavy, she finds a positive to make us laugh,” Anthony said. “She has pushed me into areas that I thought I couldn’t go as far as leadership and the capacity of what I can do. Even when I didn’t believe in myself, she said I could. And guess what? I did.”
Ewing’s second goal was to ensure each Fairview student was proficient in reading, writing and math, not only for their own success, she said, but for the success of their community too.
“One of the things that I said to (the teachers) when I arrived is, ‘If we don’t educate them well, we keep them poor,’” she said. “We’re 100% free lunch in a Title I district (a federal designation for districts with a large number of low-income students), so the best thing that we can do for their children and their families is to teach them to read and write and do arithmetic.”
The change is evident, Ewing said, and the proof is in the data. Fairview boasts the highest teacher and student attendance in the district.
The recent accountability rating, which was calculated based on student growth rates in math and English Language Arts, was just icing on the cake.
While it’s phenomenal to be a principal of an A-rated school, Ewing said, that wasn’t the goal.
“A lot of people think getting the A or earning the grade is the ambition,” she said. “The ambition is to pour into kids so they meet their maximum potential.”
The remaining challenge at Fairview is ensuring students have opportunities to further their learning outside of the classroom. As the smallest school in the district, Ewing said faculty have to get creative about creating those opportunities.
Often that involves partnerships, like one started with the Golden Triangle Theatre that gives students opportunities to build musical theater skills. Another partnership started this year with McKellar Technology Center created a robotics team class for students.
As Ewing’s influence has helped push the school toward success, Fairview has also impacted her. Her time there has given her a new perspective about the power of people, she said.
“It has really changed my perspective on how you interact with people because people will never forget how you made them feel,” she said. “When you walk into the doors of Fairview, you can feel the warmth and the love and the happiness. It permeates through our building.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
