LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Dr. Jeanette Cowherd was nominated by her colleague, Samantha Fitzgerald.

Dr. Cowherd has more than 30 years of experience in education, working in both rural and suburban schools as an instrumental music instructor, building administrator, and district-level administrator.

Under her leadership, Park Hill School District received the Missouri Quality Award and continues to be recognized for its excellence in academics, fine arts, educational programming, and opportunities for all students to succeed. She led Park Hill to successfully pass a $110 million-dollar no-tax-increase bond, which included the construction of an elementary school, middle school, support services center, transportation center, and a new high school facility for the LEAD Innovation Studio.

During her tenure, the district also implemented a K-12 college-and-career-readiness index, culturally-responsive teaching practices, program equity audits, internship experiences for high school students, and the re-visioning of the high school experience through the LEAD Innovation Studio. LEAD connects students with caring mentors, a supportive learning environment, their home high schools, and their local and global communities through a personalized, project-based program where students solve problems and experience professional environments.

Dr. Cowherd is a passionate supporter of public education. She believes in preparing each student for college, career, and life, regardless of their background.

When Dr. Cowherd became superintendent, she went out of her way to ensure that community members felt like they had a voice and a role in their district. That’s why she created the Park Hill Partners program in 2015, her effort to strengthen community relationships.

The Park Hill Partners program gives participants an overview of how the district's departments are run, including an overview of the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP), academics, human resources, school finance, and operations. By explaining district operations, Dr. Cowherd gives participants insight into district processes and helps them understand why the district makes certain decisions. This program also allows participants to get to know district leadership and other Park Hill Partners, which creates a stronger community and leads to student success.

In 2016, experts told the district that their enrollment was continuing to increase, and that they needed to plan for about 2,000 new students, which meant finding room for them. Using data and research, the district planned for a no-tax-increase bond issue to help build more schools. In past bond and levy elections, superintendents would delegate speaking events to other people. However, Dr. Cowherd felt it was necessary to talk with parents, staff members, and community groups. She went on a speaking tour so she could directly share the need and vision with the Park Hill community. She met with PTA groups, parents, families, community groups, schools, and community leaders. Dr. Cowherd wanted to make sure each group understood what they would be voting on, and she wanted them to know how their choice would impact Park Hill students for generations to come. Voters approved the bond with 83.9% of the vote. This community support led to the largest construction project in district history, and Dr. Cowherd had the privilege of overseeing the entire process.

Access and inclusion for all students has always been one of Dr. Cowherd’s goals since the day she started as the Park Hill School District superintendent. In fact, it’s part of the work that the Board of Education reviews in her annual evaluation. One strategy the district implemented to achieve this goal is professional development. Dr. Cowherd began these efforts by providing training to her Board based on the work of Zaretta Hammond's book, "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.” In 2018, the district identified this as one of our top two goals for its CSIP. Each building aligned their respective school improvement plan to address this goal, and each department conducted an equity audit as part of their yearly program evaluations that they report to the Board. Dr. Cowherd also made it a priority to increase learning opportunities for each student, removing barriers that might stand in their way. She did this by:

• Increasing opportunities for families of the youngest learners to access the district's Title I preschool;
• Starting a systemic implementation of culturally responsive education. Dr. Cowherd trained the Board, and together, they trained school administrators, who are now sharing this learning with their staffs;
• Articulating inclusive instructional beliefs, which are posted in every classroom, and;
• Overseeing deployment of the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program in all schools. When she became superintendent, AVID was an elective at both high schools, pushing students from underrepresented groups to take courses of rigor and prepare for college. Dr. Cowherd expanded the program to all schools because AVID provides study skills and strategies to help students retain and better understand information. Since implementing AVID, 43% of the district's prioritized students enrolled in rigorous courses in the 2020-2021 school year.

Dr. Cowherd’s changes made a positive impact in the Park Hill School District. In 2020, 52.2% of students in the identified subgroups were enrolled in academically rigorous courses, an 11% increase since implementing this index four years ago.

Another way the district is tracking its successes is through the Equity Index, as well as a College and Career Readiness Index that Dr. Cowherd helped create. Together, these two indexes help measure how well the district is meeting students’ needs. Dr. Cowherd continues to look to outside experts to help the district become more equitable, and she recently named the district’s first director of access, inclusion, and family engagement to help her staff navigate their work internally. Dr. Cowherd knew it was also important to reevaluate hiring processes. The district is continually searching for ways to diversify its workforce so that the staff better reflects our student body. The district is also providing a support group for current employees of color.

Nobody was really prepared for the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic would bring. From quarantining students and teachers to pivoting to virtual learning, Dr. Cowherd was concerned about potential learning loss, increasing opportunity gaps, and the impact on student and staff mental health. When the entire district had to transition to virtual learning, Dr. Cowherd was worried about students who did not have Internet access, devices, or the support to learn at home. She led the charge in supplying each student with a laptop or iPad, and she helped the district get grants to distribute Internet hotspots to students who needed them. The staff worked hard to make sure they were supporting students academically and emotionally, but Dr. Cowherd also wanted to make sure her teachers and staff members did not feel burned out. She made sure the district provided mental health webinars to staff to connect them with expert advice and resources, and she looked for ways to recognize them and lift them up. She decided to name every teacher the Park Hill Teacher of the Year for the 2020-2021 school year, and all of the support employees were named the Park Hill Support Employee of the Year. Dr. Cowherd also made sure her district developed summer programs to address potential learning gaps. This past summer had the highest summer school enrollment in Park Hill history, with more than 5,000 students enrolled.

"Even during times of stress and crisis, Dr. Cowherd holds herself and the Park Hill School District to live out our core values of visionary leadership, integrity, student focus, high expectations, continuous improvement, and equity," said Fitzgerald.