Rockwood School District Superintendent Curtis Cain reflected on his first year leading the district and discussed the future during a recent interview with the Eureka Leader. In the first part of a two-part series that appeared last week, he shared his thoughts on the 2022-2023 school year, and this week, he addresses the district’s future.
Jaime Bayes, president of the Rockwood Board of Education, said an early indicator for her that Curtis Cain is the right superintendent for the district is his desire to always be prepared.
“In early conversations with Dr. Cain, he said something that stuck out to me. He said, ‘We don’t know what is coming around the corner, but we always have to be prepared for that,’” she said. “To hear him say that in a reassuring way and watching it come to fruition through the year with how he has responded to different situations was important. It could have been a small thing or a large thing popping up. He handled those situations with humility, grace and a strong leadership.”
Cain, 49, recently completed his first school year as Rockwood’s superintendent. He was hired in January 2022 after serving as superintendent of the Wentzville School District for nine years. His first day at Rockwood was July 1, 2022.
In March, board members extended Cain’s initial three-year contract another year to go through the 2025-2026 school year. The board also voted June 8 to increase his salary to $264,582.50 for the 2023-2024 school year after he was paid $255,000 for the 2022-2023 school year.
In his second year at the helm, Cain said he believes the district will improve thanks to a new training program focused on dignity and belonging and the board’s approval of the hiring of four school safety officers.
He also said he will need to study the conditions of facilities to ensure the district is properly funding its buildings’ upkeep. Other goals in his second year are to help promoted leaders settle into new roles, continue to assure the district keeps up with evolving technology and continue to improve student achievement.
“We are very fortunate to have his leadership here in Rockwood,” Bayes said. “I am excited to see what the future holds with him as our leader.”
New to Rockwood
In February, Cain announced a plan to implement a different approach to ensuring universal equity, opportunity and access for all students.
The training program is called “Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity.”
Board members voted 4-0 on Feb. 9 to approve paying Dignity Consulting $110,800 to help implement the program. Board members Izzy Imig, Keith Kinder and Randy Miller were not at the meeting.
Board members met with John Krownapple, one of the founders of Dignity Consulting, on May 24 to develop an understanding of the approach and to clarify roles and responsibilities.
“It is a training framework that we are engaging in with the staff, and ultimately, it is going to be for community members as well,” Cain said. “I think this investment is one we are going to look back on and feel good about what it is going to mean for students and specifically their experiences in our schools.”
Cain said he also is proud of the support he received to increase safety throughout the district.
Board of Education members voted 6-0 on March 16 to hire the safety officers, who will be paid $25 to $37.50 per hour.
The four safety officers will patrol Rockwood’s four high school quadrants of Eureka, Lafayette in the Wildwood area, Marquette in the Chesterfield and Ballwin areas and Rockwood Summit in the Fenton area.
“This one is bittersweet in that I wish it was not necessary, but I absolutely believe it is needed,” Cain said.
Cain said four armed security officers, who will work for the district, will provide additional security primarily at the district’s elementary schools.
“They will be on a rotation that will be randomized,” he said. “Very few will know what that rotation looks like and their strategy behind that. The idea is for them to be there to add another layer of support.”
Cain said he and district officials worked closely with law enforcement agencies to develop the plan, and he said the new officers do not change agreements with law enforcement agencies that provide school resource officers to the district.
Cain said the security officers have all previously served as school resource officers, and he hopes they are viewed like all staff members.
“These are not foreign entities who will be walking around the schools,” he said. “These are staff members who are here to add a needed layer of presence and visibility in our school district. I wish it wasn’t needed. I just believe in today’s world, we have to walk with our eyes open, and I believe these positions are essential.
“I don’t want our students, staff, parents or patrons to walk a single day in fear. That is not what this is about. I want people to be informed, to know what to do and that there is a resource available and on hand. That is why we are bringing these four individuals in.”
Facilities
Cain said the age of buildings is a concern, especially because the district’s newest high schools – Marquette and Rockwood Summit – were built 30 years ago.
“There is just a wear and tear when you have thousands of bodies in and out of schools,” he said. “I want us to continue to be good stewards of the resources that we have available to us. I do have concerns about maintenance and capital needs in our district. We have older buildings. We have to embrace that fact. I want to make sure we are able to engage in the stewardship that we should be engaging in, but it ultimately takes resources for us to do that effectively.”
Cain hinted voters may be asked to approve a bond issue to be able to pay for maintenance needs.
Voters last approved a $95.5 million bond issue in April 2014, and major projects financed from that were the construction of a new Eureka Elementary School, along with renovating the previous Eureka Elementary for early childhood programs; an addition to Eureka High School to create a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lab and additional classrooms; and new classrooms at Geggie Elementary.
“We have to figure out what the next steps look like,” Cain said, when asked about a possible bond issue to finance capital improvement projects. “The needs are not going to shrink. The best way I can describe it is if there is a hole in the roof, I would rather replace one shingle than the entire side of the roof. I think that is good stewardship.”
New leaders
Rockwood will have numerous new employees in top administrator positions at the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
The district has a new chief financial officer, Cyndee Byous, who takes over July 1 when Paul Northington leaves to become executive director of finance and school operations for the Hancock Place School District.
David Cobb, who was the executive director of elementary education, was promoted to assistant superintendent of supervision of schools. He replaces Lisa Counts, who is retiring.
Cobb will assume many of Counts’ duties, overseeing all the district schools but focusing primarily on the elementary level, his area of expertise, according to district officials.
The district filled Cobb’s position by promoting Crestview Middle School Principal Gary Jansen to executive director of secondary education.
Rockwood also has two new administrators in positions that have been lightning rods for controversy the last three years.
Marquette High School Principal Stephen Hankins was named the district’s assistant superintendent of student services, and Cassandra Walker Suggs, who has been the principal at Wildwood Middle School, was promoted to director of educational equity and access.
On July 1, Hankins assumes the role previously held by Terry Harris, who resigned as executive director of student services in January.
Suggs will become the third person in the last three years to be in the position that previously was called the director of education equity and diversity. She replaces Aisha Grace, who resigned in January.
Brittany Hogan resigned as the director of educational equity and diversity in April 2021. She has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Rockwood, saying it did nothing while she and other Black staff members were being harassed by parents and other community members. The lawsuit alleges the district addressed the issue only after white employees became targets of the abuse.
Cain said he believes employees thrive when there are known quantities in leadership positions, so everyone knows who they can approach with questions and concerns.
He also said the important thing for the district is that leaders help create a team mentality that allows all voices to be heard.
“A team does see change, and the team will change over the course of time as a result of the change,” Cain said. “The source of stability has to be the notion of the team. That is what we are going to continue to build in our district. We are a team. We are going to figure it all out, work together, celebrate our successes, but always work to improve the team. As long as we hold onto that mindset, we will work through whatever the future holds for us.”
Future of education
Cain said his primary focus every year will be students.
“One saying I have stuck to is the classroom is the reason you have a school district,” he said. “You will continue to see us focus on what we are doing in our classrooms and learning spaces to meet the needs of all students. We are constantly thinking of what can we do differently. What do we need to revisit? How do we continue to meet the needs that are presented to us on a daily basis as students come to school?”
Cain said it is important to focus on preparing students for their future, especially when it comes to evolving technology.
“When I think of ChatGPT, that didn’t exist four years ago,” he said of the artificial intelligence application that aims to mimic human conversation. “No one knows where it is going in four years. We will have to figure out how to embrace this tool. I believe that today’s version of it is as inefficient as we will ever see. This is a game changer. That is what I mean in terms of preparing kids for their future and not our present.”
Student achievement
Cain said he expects students to continue to thrive, and he said he believes that will happen because of how the staff and community work together.
“The accolades keep rolling in because of what happens on a daily basis in our classrooms,” he said. “It is also a sign of the support from our communities. The number of donations made across all of our buildings. It is from PTA, PTO, boosters and organizations that come in and support what is happening at our schools.
“There is more good news that happens in the Rockwood School District than you can shake a stick at, and I wish people would spend a little bit of time seeing what is happening. I would encourage people to lean into what is really happening functionally and practically on a daily basis. Looking back, it has been a fantastic school year, and I can’t wait to see what happens next school year.”