“It feels great to be back home,” Dr. Art McCoy said more than once after he was introduced as the successor to Dr. Tiffany Anderson as the superintendent of the Jennings School District.
McCoy was eager to point out that he spent the first 14 years in Jennings and feeling a lifelong connection to the area during a press conference earlier this afternoon (Friday, Feb. 19) at Jennings High School.
“My heart is drawn back home – to the community that has given so much to me – and to show the same love to the students that I’ve been shown,” McCoy said.
Anderson announced last month that she would be leaving Jennings to become the first African American female superintendent of Topeka Public Schools.
Both McCoy and the Jennings School Board know that Anderson’s shoes will be tough to fill –and spent a significant portion of the news conference touting the overhaul and achievements that have happened on her watch.
“Dr. Anderson has set the bar high and we knew that it was critical to find a transitional leader who has our mission that every student can succeed in the school district,” Jennings School Board President Rev. Harold Austin said.
McCoy’s appointment comes less than 30 days after Anderson announced her departure from Jennings. Before he steps into the role, he’ll assume the position of deputy superintendent on March 14 and step in to replace Anderson on July 1.
The Jennings school board opted out of an intense national search in their appointment of McCoy.
“We didn’t want to spend $20,000 for a search firm to find a superintendent when one was in our backyard,” said Austin. “We knew what we wanted – and Dr. McCoy was what we wanted.
His passion coupled with his experience and knowledge will ensure that our schools will continue to foster academic success and that our students will continue to perform at the highest academic levels.”
McCoy seemed confident that he could fill Anderson’s shoes – probably because he had been in the position before.
He said he succeeded her as an assistant superintendent at the Rockwood School Districts and brought some of the programs and initiatives she implemented to Ferguson-Florissant during his tenure as Superintendent.
He left Ferguson-Florissant in 2014 after being placed on administrative leave by the school board. He said at the news conference that he and that board have since resolved the differences – which were never made public.
“Dr. Tiffany Anderson is a champion and an awesome leader,” McCoy said. “[Like her] my focus is the students – in this region and this district. There will be no mountain that we won’t move to make sure that they have all they need to succeed.”
Jennings High School freshman Rayvaan Lowe is one of those students.
She admitted she was emotional when she learned Jennings would lose Dr. Anderson to Topeka.
“We’ve been with Dr. Anderson for so long and she made us all feel so comfortable and we had a relationship with her,” Lowe said.
The moment she learned McCoy would replace Anderson, Lowe did her research on him.
“I read that he had good relationships with a lot of his students and the community so I wasn’t really heartbroken anymore, I was kind of happy,” Lowe said. “I’m happy for Dr. Anderson. She’s going somewhere where she’s going to be the first African American superintendent – where the segregation of schools first ended – so I’m happy for her.”
She is referring to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the 1954 landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
Lowe hopes that during his tenure that McCoy will expand opportunities beyond the College Prep Program.
“I know that there are people in traditional that didn’t get into college prep but they work just as hard as us,” Lowe said. “I feel like everyone should have a chance.”
As far as immediate goals, McCoy specifically spoke of the Jennings School District upgrading from fully accredited to accreditation with distinction.
He also mentioned continuing an accelerated curriculum two to three levels above grade level, making sure dual credit options – for AA certification after high school and an aligned job placement prior to high school graduation – and making sure students have corporate relationships to enlighten them on global business.
Lowe was excited about McCoy’s declaration that he would work tirelessly to take her school’s accreditation to the next level. And she feels like the transition from Anderson to McCoy will be more seamless because the common thread to Jennings.
“It’s nice to know that we are getting somebody who was in the same place as we are – who came from here,” Lowe said. We’ll be able to connect with him because we shared the same life.”
McCoy expressed his desire to use his relationships and resources to make sure students ‘who look like you and me’ have access to opportunities and are prepared for higher learning at some of the best institutions in the world.
“There was no hesitation to come back home and serve the community I grew up in,” McCoy said. “I plan to give my heart, my talent and my labor to the entire team to the entire board, staff and stakeholders to best serve the students.
That is currently the focus and that will continue to be the focus.”
