Dr. Melanie Mikusa to retire after 18 years leading Morganton Day School

A longtime Morganton educator who helped shape one of Western North Carolina’s best-known independent schools will retire at the end of the 2026-27 school year.

Dr. Melanie Mikusa, head of school at Morganton Day School, has announced plans to retire after more than 30 years at the school.

Mikusa will be the subject of a detailed profile in an upcoming edition of The Paper.

Morganton Day School is conducting a national search for its next head of school, with information about the position available on the school’s website.

For Burke County families, the transition marks the end of a long chapter at a small school that has been part of Morganton’s education landscape since 1978.

Morganton Day School was founded as The Children’s School in the fall of 1978 by four families and later evolved into Morganton Day School.

At 305 W. Concord St., the school now serves students from Junior Kindergarten 3 through eighth grade.

Mikusa’s relationship with the school began before she became its leader. Her education career began as an outdoor educator with the North Carolina Outward Bound School and she was introduced to Morganton Day School after volunteering there.

She later spent 16 years teaching kindergarten and first grade at MDS before becoming the school’s eighth head of school in 2008.

During Mikusa’s tenure, Morganton Day School became closely associated with inquiry-based learning and the International Baccalaureate curriculum.

MDS intentionally keeps enrollment small, around 120 students, to support low teacher-to-student ratios and hands-on, inquiry-based instruction. Daily enrichment includes art, physical education, Spanish, and music, while the school also promotes STEAM and maker education as part of its IB approach.

Mikusa’s own professional growth followed that same lifelong-learning model. She earned a master’s degree in reading and special education from Appalachian State University, became nationally board certified in early childhood, and later returned to ASU to earn a doctorate in educational leadership in 2018.

The change comes as MDS continues to build on its downtown presence. In 2019, the school purchased the old armory in downtown Morganton for renovation and expansion, describing the project as a new chapter in the school’s history.

— AVN