Jason Mundy, DA’s Incoming Middle School Director, Has Never Lost His Inner Middle Schooler
By Dylan Howlett
7-minute read
Every afternoon, at the close of each school day, an idyllic childhood sequence would unspool before Jason Mundy. It would start with the chime of the A.C. Reynolds Middle School bell at 3:02 p.m. Mundy — resplendent in the Members Only-brand jacket that he wore every day — would board the bus for the ride home along U.S. Route 74, winding through the rolling farmlands and past the towering woods of southeast Asheville toward his home in Fairview, North Carolina. He would chat on those bus rides with his friend Eric — about the rigors of Ms. Lorenz’s eighth grade North Carolina history class, or the latest initiatives tabled by student council, or their soonest opportunity to play tennis again.
The bus would ease toward the bottom of Mundy’s subdivision, and “Bear Dog” — the Mundy family’s miniature collie — would race to greet Mundy and the neighborhood kids. Bear Dog would chaperone the cohort of A.C. Reynolds Rockets down the cul-de-sac on Pine Ridge Drive, and Mundy would attend to his chores: vacuuming the floors and carpets, cleaning any stray dishes left in the kitchen sink, all in time for his mom, Debbie, to return home from her daily shift at the bakery of the local Ingles grocery store. It would continue this way for years: Debbie needing all of two phone calls to find out which neighborhood home Mundy and his friends had decamped to while they studied or wrote essays — one of the mothers making hot chocolate and another dropping off sandwiches, sharing the sustenance for homework, and friendships, and community.
“We were blessed to be in this place with really good people,” Mundy says. “That’s what it’s all about.”
It is, too, at Durham Academy Middle School, where Mundy will become its newest director on July 1. He will succeed Jon Meredith, who has led the Middle School for 14 years and will leave DA at the end of the 2024–2025 school year to become the head of school at Charleston Day School in South Carolina. Mundy has served as DA’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Engagement since 2022, overseeing the launch of the school’s three-year DEE action plan in 2024. But before he made an outsize imprint on diversity work, Mundy was, first and foremost, a middle school educator.
“From their first meeting with Jason, our search committee appreciated his deep experience, authentic self-awareness and quick sense of humor. During his full day of finalist interviews, those who met with Jason were most impressed by his warm humility, his commitment to teamwork, and his practical wisdom, gleaned from a variety of roles in a range of schools.”
Michael Ulku-Steiner
Head of School
His career began at Kent Denver School in Colorado, where his middle school history students — in the midst of their unit on World War II — would reflexively dive beneath their desks upon hearing a recording of a bomb raid siren. Mundy would eventually receive middle school teacher of the year honors at Kent Denver, all the while coaching field hockey, basketball and recreational tennis. He would eventually ascend to the role of Kent Denver’s interim head of upper school before becoming the middle and upper school head at Virginia’s Norfolk Collegiate School. It was little wonder, then, that Mundy has maintained a conspicuous presence at DA Middle School in his capacity as DEE director. He has split his office hours between the Ridge Road and Academy Road campuses, and Mundy frequented the pickleball courts after school to square off with Middle School faculty. He has volunteered in each of his nearly three years at DA as a chaperone on the sixth grade’s annual Camp Kanata trip.
“It is a campus brimming with excitement, where students are engaged and encouraged to take the lead,” Mundy wrote in his cover letter as part of the application process for Middle School director. “None of this is possible without the steadfast guidance of middle school teachers. The DA Middle School is a collection of superstars setting high bars and helping kids over them.”
This genuine love and care for the Middle School — along with more than a decade of experience as a division director — distinguished the former A.C. Reynolds alum in a nationwide search that exceeded 130 applicants and spanned nearly four months. Middle School is, as Mundy said during his interview process, a time of “self-discovery as young people work out who they will become.” It was, too, for Mundy some years ago in Asheville, where his voracious appetite for reading and equally insatiable penchant for kindness — he was named the eighth grade’s “Friendliest” boy in his yearbook’s superlatives — would shape the division director who will soon stroll the halls of the Gateway Center.
It is impossible to introduce Middle School Director Jason Mundy, then, without first introducing middle schooler Jason Mundy — circa 1988, in a special place with special people.
Middle Schooler Mundy’s Favorite Things
The following conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Favorite Subjects: English, History and Science
“I loved history and English. I thought science was a real puzzle to sort of figure out, especially middle school science because it’s the basics. It’s not getting too detailed: It’s all a marvel. Math is an interesting story. I never felt like I was good at math, but my friends were good at math — so I had to work hard to stay in their classes.”
Favorite Class: 8th Grade North Carolina History
“I really enjoyed it. The project I remember most was building a clay map of the state of North Carolina. It had to have rivers and lakes of a certain size and different colors of clay. It was a big board, and you had to add texture for certain topographical features. It took forever. I wish I had a picture of it. It was the coolest thing.”
Favorite Teacher: Ms. Lorenz, 8th Grade North Carolina History
“She set standards that you felt so good about yourself when you got it. She would say, ‘I think you can do better.’ And then you did. That idea of a teacher who sometimes believed in you more than you believed in yourself — you dug deep and you did better. I loved that about her.”
“He’s so kind. He’s super smart. He has a calm demeanor that will match nicely with the sometimes not-calm middle school experience. And he’s yearning to build more relationships with students. I think that’ll happen very quickly.”
Dr. Cindy Moore
Middle School Learning Specialist & Diversity Coordinator
Middle School Director Search Committee Member
Favorite Book: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
“We read A Separate Peace in school, and I thought, ‘It’s gonna be the worst.’ It was a great book. I ended up teaching it to seventh graders at Kent Denver, too — by my choice. I think it’s about wrestling with your inner demons and that idea of being confident enough in yourself to also allow others to be their best self, and to not hold a grudge for that. It doesn’t diminish me at all if you win a track award: I should celebrate that with you rather than feeling a certain way, feeling some grieving that I didn’t win something. I think that’s a really interesting lesson at that age group when they’re just forming these habits. Can you be gracious?
“I read it over the summer again when I taught the book, and I was at my grandmother’s house in Georgia. I was reading and circling vocab words as I went, and I left it out in the living room. My grandmother is notorious for waking up at 2 in the morning and being up for hours. I got up the next day, picked up the book and started reading. She had read it that morning and continued to circle vocab words. My students were funny when I shared this story while we were reviewing vocabulary: They were like, ‘Is this a Mr. Mundy word, or is this a grandma word?’”
Favorite TV Show: Night Rider
“David Hasselhoff!”
Favorite Movie: The Goonies
“It’s so good.”
Best Friends: Eric — and Fairview Christian Fellowship’s Youth Group
“Eric is great. His family was my second family. And I saw my youth group every week. It’s funny, too, because my mom went to the Baptist church, but my friends went to the Presbyterian church — so I went to church with my friends. My mom didn’t care as long as I was going to church. Our little group did everything together socially. There’s a little group of folks that I’ve known since elementary school [who live] here in Durham, and they were all part of that little youth group: Sarah and Scott, and Sarah’s sister, Jenny.
“The parents would put together a summer camp for us. Every Sunday, we would meet and have formal Bible study, and then we would just do things socially. Somebody’s parent would meet us at the church and take us all to a movie, or we would go camping. Eric’s family had horses, so we would ride horses up in the mountains and sing little songs while we were riding up there — ‘Boom Chicka Boom,’ and we would all come up with different versions of verses. It was a really good childhood.”
“What stands out to me is he cares about relationships, which is super important at DA, but also at the Middle School. And he cares about giving our faculty what they need to be successful.”
Chrissie Bushey
Middle School Counselor
Middle School Director Search Committee Member
Favorite Outfit: Members Only Jacket
“That was one thing that was very important to me. It was this thin little jacket that was good for nothing, but it was the trend. I froze to death. It was the first time in my life when fashion trumped comfort.”
What I Would Tell My Middle School Self
“I’d love to tell myself, ‘Just don’t worry so much. Things are gonna be fine. And you’re not gonna be good at everything. Give yourself some grace because you are gonna be really good at some things, and that’s gonna be enough.’”
How I Changed During Middle School
“Fifth-grade me was trying to figure out a lot of stuff, and then eighth grade me — wrongly or not — was more confident in who I was, although I still had a lot to figure out. I felt a little more comfortable in my own skin, which was nice. I had a good group of friends, and I understood how important that was to my life, and what role that played in my success.”
“We have a staff who genuinely enjoys and cares for kids. They genuinely want to be a part of what the kids are doing. And I think Jason embraces everything that we’re trying to do. In his new role now, he has kids, he has staff, he has families. He has a whole lot to do and to take care of. I think he’s the right guy to manage all of that. I think we all recognize and understand that it’s a hard job. It’s not just kids. It’s not just staff. And it’s not just families. It’s the interaction of all those. Everything does overlap and intersect. With that in mind, he’s the right guy. The resounding support from our staff just really underscored the decision.”
Mike Schollmeyer
Middle School Science Teacher & Basketball Coach, JV Baseball Coach
Middle School Director Search Committee Member
What I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up
“I knew I wanted to be successful. I think I knew I wanted to work with kids in a way. Then I started working at a boys summer camp through college. Going into my first year at Duke University, I wanted to be a pediatrician; organic chemistry convinced me that I’d better find another way to work with kids. So I did the teaching program at Duke, got my North Carolina teaching certificate and did student teaching. On a whim, I went to a hiring fair for independent schools and got the job at Kent Denver. And 29 years later, I’m still at it. I think that’s part of my reason for wanting to make the transition to Middle School director: I’m missing working directly with students in a daily, meaningful way.”
How will the A.C. Reynolds middle schooler whose “Bear Dog” greeted him every afternoon; and who received “Friendliest” honors; and who read voraciously; and who met Ms. Lorenz’s exacting standards show up in your role as Middle School director?
“I want to bring all of those elements. I want to bring high standards with the decency to help people get to it. I want to bring loyalty. When students are pulling in for drop-off, I’m gonna be standing out there opening car doors and greeting people. I’m fascinated to see those fifth graders as young kids when they start in middle school. To think you have a hand in the young people that they are when they leave? That’s gonna be fantastic.
“I hope it’s all of those middle school memories, all 29 years of experience sort of coming to bear in making the Middle School a great experience for those kids and those teachers.”
At A Glance: Jason Mundy’s CV
Mundy’s first year as DA Middle School director will be his 30th year in education and independent schools.
Durham Academy (2022–present)
- Director of Diversity, Equity and Engagement
Kent Denver School | Englewood, Colorado (2016–2022)
- Director of Equity and Community Engagement
Alexander Dawson School | Lafayette, Colorado (2012–2016)
- Director of Upper School
Norfolk Collegiate School | Norfolk, Virginia (2007–2012)
- Associate Head of School and Upper School
- Head of Middle and Upper School
Kent Denver School | Englewood, Colorado (1996–2007)
- Interim Head of Upper School
- Middle School English and history teacher
- College Counselor
- Grade Level Dean of Students
- Diversity Coordinator