This week, we are proud to share the story of the extraordinary Dr. Jake Wilson of Mountain Island Charter School
With his laptop, a coffee mug, and a container of candy, Dr. Jake Wilson can be seen most days pushing his office on a cart through the hallways of North Carolina’s Mountain Island Charter School. Jake isn’t waiting for people to come to his office; he is taking it to them.
His cart is a rolling symbol of his philosophy: that presence, visibility, and consistency are not just leadership strategies but preconditions for trust and culture-building.
“Take your laptop, sit in the back of a classroom for ten minutes,” he tells new school leaders. “You don’t even have to watch the classroom all that closely. Just answer a couple of emails while you’re in the back of the room. But just be there. Be present. And listen.”
It’s simple, but it’s not small. Jake believes real quality time in classrooms changes how leaders understand their staff, shape their culture, and build better schools.
“There’s no replacement for time spent in the classroom as a school leader,” he said. “You not only see what your teachers are capable of, but if you stay in there a good long while, you know who really is a rock star and who is really struggling.”
From the Classroom Up
Jake’s clarity about instruction, culture, and systems is rooted in lived experience. He didn’t ascend directly into leadership from graduate school or the central office. He began where many great leaders do: at the front of a classroom.
He spent years teaching fourth grade in Gaston and Cleveland County Schools.
“Fourth grade was the sweet spot for me,” he said. “They’re old enough to be independent, but they still love their teacher. And they’re brutally honest. You always know where you stand with a fourth grader.”
It was in that classroom that Jake began refining his ideas about how structure supports effective classroom management.
“One of the things I remember from my elementary education training was a professor who said, ‘When you have high structure in your classroom, what you’re creating for students is a sense of safety.’ Safe students behave more than students who don’t feel safe,” said Jake.
That insight shaped the way he ran his fourth-grade room. But over time, it also shaped the way he approached leadership when he moved into administration. Jake served as an assistant principal at both elementary and middle school levels and then as Principal at Union Elementary School and Burns Middle School in Cleveland County. Jake earned accolades as the youngest Principal of the Year in Cleveland County Schools, and Principal of the Year Regional Finalist, and led a school to achieve the Blue Ribbon designation from North Carolina.
Walking the Line with High Schoolers
From fourth graders, Jake moved to high schoolers as the middle and high school principal at Mountain Island Charter School. It was a dramatic shift, but one that expanded his understanding of leadership.
For Jake, leading high schoolers required a different tone. One that is more mature, more adaptable, yet still consistent and clear. His approach was to show up. In the hallways during every class change. In classrooms throughout the day.
“They don’t need you to be their friend. But they absolutely need you to see them, respect them, and set boundaries they can trust,” said Jake. “The difference between elementary school and high school is that the high schoolers will tell you to your face when they’re not happy.”
Jake found that, just like fourth graders, high school students needed structure to feel safe. But they also needed agency and respect. He helped teachers understand that respect and control weren’t opposites; they were interdependent.
“High schoolers are not trying to make your life hard,” he said. “They’re trying to figure out what matters — and who they matter to. When you get that, you can lead them.”
What had clicked for Jake as a teacher became even clearer as a principal: safety and clarity matter just as much for the adults in the building.
“When adults feel safe — when they know the parameters under which they’re working, when they know the expectations — they’re the same way,” he said. “Now you see the creativity flourish. Now, you see the passion grow. Because they know where the boundaries are.”
Coaching, Not Catching
Jake’s leadership philosophy centers on one deceptively radical idea: that improvement is about coaching, not catching.
“I have a very simplistic view of school improvement, especially when it comes to personnel and staff,” he explained. “You really can only do it two ways. You can improve the people that you’ve got, or you can get new people. And the cheaper one, the more efficient one, is to improve the people that you have.”
That starts with presence and observation to support, not surveillance. “Maybe a teacher needs help with student behavior,” said Jake. “Maybe they need some new strategies. Maybe they need a resource. Being in the room allows me to back that teacher up. You can fake things for two or three minutes,” he said. “You can’t fake things for thirty minutes. If you’re in my classroom for 15 or 20 minutes, just observing and just being a fly on the wall and then you’re going to start to see who I really am.”
He sees this as both a professional and a moral obligation. “I always tell people it’s not a ‘gotcha.’ It’s an opportunity to say: ‘Mr. Wilson needs some support.’ That’s the only way to be fair. That’s the only way to build a team.”
A Charter Leader with Public Roots
Although much of Jake’s early career was spent in traditional public schools, he never viewed charter schools as a threat. What matters, he says, is that students and families feel seen, safe, and supported. “Most parents just want what they believe is best for their child. That’s it,” he said. “So I always approached my work with the mindset that I would make my school the best option. Period.”
His approach to competition is simple: make your school the best option. “We’re not a performing arts school. We have great theatre productions, but we’re not a performing arts school. We have a fantastic robotics club, but we’re not a STEM school. We have a great football team, but I’m not a 4A high school that produces 17 D1 athletes a year. And that’s OK.”
He believes deeply in collaboration across various educational sectors, including charter, district, private, and homeschool. “At the end of the day, our job is to educate kids. That’s always been the point of public education.”
Collaboration Over Competition
Jake’s current work with charter schools across North Carolina is grounded in a blend of idealism and realism. He brings to the charter space the pragmatism of someone who spent his early career in traditional public schools and the optimism of someone who believes that structure can coexist with joy.
“I never really had a problem with charter schools,” he said. “I tend to have a capitalist mindset when it comes to school choice. Parents don’t really care about the politics. Most parents want what they believe is the best educational opportunity for their child.”
His focus isn’t on bashing alternatives; it’s on making his school the best option available. “That has always been my goal: to make mine the best option,” he said. “And I bring that into my coaching with charter school leaders. I don’t talk a lot about the ‘other side of the fence.’ I talk about what we can control.”
Results, Recognition, and Relationships
Under Jake’s leadership, Mountain Island Charter’s Class of 2024 achieved a 100% graduation rate. 58% of graduates matriculated to four-year colleges, 22% to two-year colleges, 13% entered the workforce, and 1% joined the military.
In 2025, Jake was named the North Carolina Wells Fargo Principal of the Year.
But he returns, always, to consistency. “One day, a student looked at me and said, ‘You’re the only one who keeps asking me.’ And that stuck with me. Because that’s what leadership is. It’s not always what you say, it’s that you keep showing up.”
Optimism as a Daily Practice
Jake is known for his “quippy sayings,” but behind them is a serious belief in the transformative power of optimism in schools.
“Bringing a level of optimism into an educational setting costs you nothing, but it absolutely changes lives,” said Jake. From executive directors to bus drivers, Jake believes everyone in a school community benefits from joy and hope, and kids feel it, too.
While he acknowledges the challenges and the real work of school improvement, he refuses to be consumed by negativity.
“I’m going to serve the people around me and bring joy into their space,” said Jake. “Whether my audience is big or small, I’ll keep doing it.”
If there’s one trait that Jake believes distinguishes the best educators, it’s optimism. “You can choose to be a very positive leader. I really believe in bringing that level of optimism to the educational setting. No matter where you fall in that setting — whether you’re an executive director, a superintendent, a bus driver, a kindergarten teacher, it really doesn’t matter.”
Optimism, he says, is free and transformative. “Bringing a level of optimism into an educational setting costs you nothing. But I guarantee you it makes your life better. And it certainly makes the life of kids better.”
He’s quick to add that optimism doesn’t mean ignoring challenges; it means embracing them. “I’m not saying we should ignore those things. School improvement is a big deal. But I’m going to serve the people around me, and I’m going to do what’s good for them. I’m going to bring that joy and hope into their space.”
He offers a cosmic reminder to stay grounded: “My wife and I laugh at this. It might sound a little morbid, but I always bring up the fact that we all die at the end of this. We’re just a bunch of people floating on a rock through space.”
Instead, he’s chosen his calling. “I’m going to bring an optimism to everything I do, and my people are going to feel it. And if I gain a wider audience because of that, cool. I’ll keep doing it with those people. And if I gain a smaller audience, that’s fine, too. I’ll keep doing it with those people.”
So, he keeps pushing the cart. He keeps showing up. Keeps choosing optimism.