DeSoto Central Middle School’s Williams named Administrator of the Year

Photo: DeSoto Central Middle School principal Bryon Williams, named DeSoto County School District Administrator of the Year. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)

DeSoto Central Middle School (DCMS) principal Byron Williams Monday was announced as the Administrator of the Year in the DeSoto County School District. Williams has led DeSoto Central Middle School the past seven years, part of over two decades teaching youngsters. 

In reacting to the news, Williams believes he is part of a pool of great administrators in the state’s largest school district.  

“There are plenty more principals who are more deserving, in my eyes, but it’s good to be recognized after being in education the past 22 years,” Williams told DeSoto County News Monday morning.  

Williams, whose parents were also in education, began as an elementary school teacher at South Panola, then worked at two Memphis schools for eight years before coming to DeSoto County. That’s when he became an assistant principal at DeSoto Central High School.

After four years at the high school, Williams was appointed principal at Southaven Intermediate for one year before returning to the DeSoto Central school zone, where he’s been now for 11 years, as an assistant principal and now in the main leadership role at DCMS. 

The Administrator of the Year has been around education his entire life.  

“I grew up with my parents, going to work with them some days,” Williams explained. “I got to know their co-workers and that was like an extended family for us growing up.”

Williams views the middle school years a very impressionable, but important, time for youngsters.  

“It’s an age group where you can really make a difference and really just grow some kids and give them an idea of what to do and what the future holds,” said Williams.  “I really want to make a push for students to succeed here in middle school, and continue to push them into high schools toward what they want to do career-wise.”  

Middle schoolers start making decisions for themselves during their grade 6-8 years and Williams said students begin making young adult decisions as a middle schooler. 

“They have the freedom of class change and of that nature,” he said. “Our eighth graders have the opportunity to pick out classes for high school and kind of choose what career path they want to pursue, so it’s very impressionable.”  

Every administrator is only as good as that person’s staff and Williams credits his teachers for the school’s continued success. DeSoto Central Middle remains an “A” rated school with the Mississippi Statewide Accountability System.  

“We’ve been successful here for a long time and I always say it’s not because of me, but because of my teachers,” Williams explained. “They’re the ones in the classroom with those kids each and every day,” adding part of his job is to be an instructional leader, provide support when needed and help keep morale up.

Student growth is noted and celebrated at DeSoto Central Middle, and students are able to see that growth during the school year. 

“We’ll have a growth reward party at the end of the year, where if you grow by so many points it may be a slice of pizza or nachos,” Williams said. “That gives every kid a chance to be successful.”  

Williams has been married to wife Carrie for the past 22 years. They are parents to two daughters, Morgyn, a student at Northwest Mississippi Community College, and Summer, a seventh-grader at Hernando Middle School. He received a degree in 2002 from the University of Mississippi and has two master’s degrees, from the University of Mississippi and from Arkansas State University.  

He has enjoyed being a part of the educational system in the DeSoto Central schools and getting to know the students and parents in the attendance center.  

“I love this community and I have developed a lot of relationships with the parents and students and their siblings,” Williams said.