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PORT NECHES — The halls of Port Neches-High School were filled again Monday morning as district educators and administrators prepared for the upcoming school year with Convocation 2022.

“We’re extremely excited to have our staff back, and our staff is excited to be back,” said Superintendent Mike Gonzales. “We’ve had a great summer. Our staff is prepared and they’re excited to start working with these kids.”

Beginning at 7:30 a.m., district employees gathered to listen to uplifting messages from administrators, as well as guest speaker the Rev. Charles Johnson.

“These teachers are pumped for this new year,” Johnson said. “You walk in and the culture of this district is unstoppable, and that doesn’t just happen. That happens because of the leadership of Dr. Gonzales and all of these assistant administrators and principals right down to every single staff member.”

Johnson is the executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, a ministry created to serve public schools through religion, promotion of social justice and work with legislation, according to the organization’s website.

Johnson, an advocate of public education, founded Pastors for Texas Children in 2013.

“It’s just a beautiful thing to see,” he said Monday at PNGHS. “I can tell that Port Neches-Groves folks love their public schools. It’s a shining temple of knowledge.”

“Embrace the good,” Gonzales said, is this year’s theme.

“We want to embrace the good, and we talked about focusing on the wins instead of the losses,” he said. “Every year there are wins and losses, and I wanted everyone to understand that we need to focus on wins because those are the things that make us better — especially when we’re around kids. They need to see our very best.”

PNGISD returns to school Aug. 17.