View a video from Dr. Heath Morrison's first day on Granicus.

View a video from Dr. Heath Morrison's first day on You Tube.

Dr. Heath E. Morrison, named superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in April, officially began work July 2. He had visited Charlotte six times between April and July – twice as a candidate, four times after being named superintendent – to prepare for his formal entry.

Dr. Morrison has pledged to “listen and learn” during his first months at CMS, and he did plenty of both on his first day.

His first stop was a 7 a.m. visit to the CMS Graphic Production Center, which handles printing for CMS (everything from school signs and student handbooks to school calendars and telephone directories).

He also visited other CMS departments at the Craig Avenue site: the courier center, textbook warehouse and transportation. One of the transportation staff members that he met was James Draffin, a bus mechanic who has been with the district for 44 years.

Dr. Morrison also answered media questions briefly after his tours.

His schedule for the remainder of the day included school visits and parent meetings.

After his tour at Craig Avenue, Morrison visited Independence High School. He spoke with students enrolled in summer school, discussing college requirements and alternative paths to graduation such as online courses.

He visited U.S. History, Civics and Economics, Algebra I and English I classrooms. Principal Amy Dellinger also gave him a tour of the school, and he spoke with members of the media as well.

He made a midmorning visit to performing and visual-arts classes at Endhaven Elementary’s summer camp program, then spent some time with rising second-graders enrolled in the camp. The students and Dr. Morrison talked about the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

At Albemarle Road Elementary, Dr. Morrison visited the Y Readers classes. He also visited the school's Summer Feeding Program, one of several such sites in CMS, and talked to students and their parents.

After lunch, Dr. Morrison visited Ridge Road Middle, where he met with the 2012-2013 PTA Council. The group discussed strengthening the relationship between school administrators and the PTA, as well as strategies to increase parent involvement in education. The meeting lasted almost an hour.

His next stop was Statesville Road Elementary, where he visited students enrolled in the Freedom School and Bell scholars. He told the students that he was having a really good first day. Some students had prepared letters for him. He also talked to the students about the upcoming school year and spoke with staff about the school year that just ended. 

To close out the day, Dr. Morrison had live interviews for the late-afternoon newscasts at two local television stations.