If you were to ask yourself, “What does it take to be a successful district leader in 2024,” what characteristics and values come to mind? Perhaps, transparent leadership? Someone who’s a champion of the underdog, maybe? There’s no wrong answer—but there are good answers. As for Jessica Dain, superintendent of the Piper Unified School District 203, she believes in the power of two-way communication.
Dain was recently named one of the National School Public Relations Association’s 25 “Superintendents to Watch” of 2023. She was nominated for being “a proponent of transparent communication, highlighted through her rollout of the District Strategic Dashboard,” her nomination reads.
Leading with full transparency, she says, allows herself and other district leaders with similar schools of thought to establish trust with her students and her families.
“I think it’s really important that we remember as leaders that two-way communication and parties having the opportunity to exchange information back and forth is vital to the stakeholders feeling confident in their leader,” she explains. “To receive this award, I think, really acknowledges the hard work that our team and communications department is working towards in providing that relationship of trust with our district stakeholders.”
Piper USD 203, home to some 3,000 students, is the third-fastest growing school district in the state of Kansas, which Dain believes is a testament to the qualities that make the community such an inviting place to live and bring kids through public school.
One of the requirements for this award requires superintendents to have five or fewer years of experience. Dain is now in her fourth year as a superintendent, which means she entered the superintendency at a rather pivotal time for K12 education: December 2019, just before the pandemic.
“Looking back, I’m not sure that I would have applied for the job if I’d known we’d have COVID, but I’m really glad that I did and I’m glad that I had that opportunity,” she says.
In all honesty, she adds, it’s resulted in the most challenging season of her professional career. Still, it’s allowed her to play to her strengths and rely on her ability to communicate effectively to her district to achieve its goals and overcome any adversity.
Thankfully, she has several other skills in her toolbelt to rely on that make her such an effective leader. Previously, she was the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning as well as support services for Olathe Public Schools for five years.
Throughout her time at Olathe, she says they leaned into trauma-informed care and trauma-informed instruction.
“Essentially what that means is that educators—at least in our setting—take the time to understand the backstory of their students,” she says. “They realize that their approach can’t be a one-size-fits-all.”
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Having an understanding of each student’s story gives educators—and even leaders—the ability to tailor their instruction and their relationship with their students, which then leads to the importance of equipping schools with social workers and mental health professionals at the ready for students and their parents.
“It was that background in social-emotional learning and trauma-informed care that I utilized for COVID,” she says. “Because in its true definition, trauma is something that happens to us that we don’t expect. That’s what COVID was. None of us expected it, and it was very traumatic. Our worlds were turned upside down.
“Leaning into those things and providing social-emotional learning, mental health professionals, social workers and behavior support into the school setting has been paramount for our work here in the Piper School District.”
Outlining priorities
Although many school districts are already nearing spring break, we asked Dain to share with us what she had planned for the 2023-24 school year. One of those initiatives involves equipping students with the knowledge and skills to become #FutureReady, whatever their postsecondary aspirations might be.
Over the past two years, the district has launched six wall-to-wall career academies for their 9th-12th-graders. The goal is to provide every student with a market-value asset along with a high school diploma upon graduation.
“That could mean an industry-recognized credential like welding,” she notes. “Or 15 or more hours of college credit, 120 hours of interning with an industry-based partner, an entrepreneurial experience or even a client-connected project.”
And it doesn’t end there. In 2024-25, they’re opening a brand new lab-based high school where hands-on career-based learning will take place.
“We want our students to have time to explore and immerse themselves in what they think they want to do after they graduate from high school,” she says.
This will give students the advantage of realizing early on that what they thought would be the career of their dreams might not be what they envisioned. Or, it’ll reinforce their postsecondary goals. Nonetheless, postsecondary success has become a major priority for the district.
“We’re really invested in ensuring that our students have that competitive edge after they graduate from high school,” she says.
