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As principal of Flat Rock Middle, Dr. Monica Reckley inspires her students to take the next step forward.
Reckley grew up in an impoverished area of Memphis, one of 5 children born to a single mother. She became a teen mother while in high school, and still excelled. She was voted Athlete of the Year, and she was her class valedictorian.
“One of (my mother’s) most famous sayings would be she expected every generation to be better than the previous one. That’s something that resonated with me and kind of drove my passion to learn and to grow every day,” said Reckley.
With the inspiration from her mother’s tireless work ethic and later her own son, she learned to always keep moving forward. Her mother taught her to find a better way even if you’ve created extra hurdles for yourself.
“It was always about the plan, the next step and not living in whatever that lesson was.”
Reckley considered careers in law, business, or medicine, but she found her calling was in helping others.
“There were countless examples of me working to help people overcome academic hurdles,” she said. “Math had always been my forte, and I had the gift to be able to break down calculus in a way that even the most struggling learner would grasp.”
A mother of 4, she believes in leading with compassion and discipline with dignity.
“Being a parent made a better teacher, and being a teacher also made me a better parent,” she said. “I want to be the best teacher for you. I want to treat you as if your last name was Reckley.”
She also found inspiration in leaders like Oatha Mann who encouraged her to follow her out of the box ideas, then analyze what could be learned if it didn’t work out.
“We have to fail forward,” she said. “That was so empowering that I would take risks for kids. I would take risks to really level up the learning that was taking place here in this building.”
She pulls from her own background to connect with families. She can relate to many of their struggles and wants to take excuses out of their arsenal. Together, they can work through anything for the benefit of the kids.
“I hear, I understand, but I know we can keep getting better and better and better.”
Reckley is driven to pay forward the dedication and care of teachers that believed in her growing up. She enjoys the challenge of education in a Title I school.
“I think what we do in public education is a great equalizer. We go through and we give everybody an opportunity to be better. It doesn’t matter where they come in,” she said. “We give them a remarkable 8-hour experience when they’re in the building with us that is honestly unparalleled. I accept that challenge, and I go through and try to live up to all my role models and inspirations each day.”
Her calling is to teach young scholars how to perservere and be resilient, learning to thrive no matter what the world throws their way with a motto of ‘Make the next play the best play.’
“I’m very inspired to go through and change the world one child at a time.”
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