When asked about what she plans to do differently than previous superintendents, Dr. Melissa Schneider, the new superintendent of the Parkway School District, said, “well, I plan to wear high heels.”

Schneider most recently served as the Assistant Superintendent at Thompson School District in Northern Colorado. However, her experience in education goes far beyond that. She has served in a wide range of leadership roles, including a principal, an instruction coach, a district coordinator of excellence and equity, a gifted and talented facilitator, a director of professional development, and, before all of that, a fourth and fifth grade teacher.

“I was an elementary teacher, and that’s kind of unique,” said Schenider. “Not a whole lot of superintendents have come from an elementary teaching background, but I’m proud of that.”

She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in education administration and supervision, and a PhD in research methods and statistics.

“I specifically chose to get my PhD in research methods and statistics because I wanted to be able to think about education and lead from a lens of analytical and reflective perspectives. My cognate is in educational leadership and policy studies, so being able to take an analytical look at policies and their impact on our kids and how boards govern themselves, I bring that lens with me in my leadership, so that’s kind of my pedigree, if you will.”

One way Schneider has displayed her leadership style is through her presence in schools and at events. Since the beginning of the school year, she has recorded social media videos with students and has attended concerts, sports games, and other events throughout the district. 

“My favorite work is seeing the efforts of multiple departments all come together to benefit kids,” said Schneider. “I see this most when I am at events with our students or out in schools. For example, at a football game I am able to witness community and parent involvement, the coordination of the marching band and cheerleading, the athletes playing on the field, students up in the booth filming the game, the grounds and fields kept so nice and ready for the game, the buses and drivers who drove our athletes to the game, and the list goes on… I believe that all work in the school district should end up benefiting the district’s mission and vision. No matter if I am at Parkway or the other districts in which I serve, this is one of my favorite ways I think about the work and influences what I do on a daily basis.”

Schneider has many goals for the next five years, including addressing budget challenges and strengthening cooperation with the municipalities within the district, but also maintaining Parkway’s reputation.

“I hope that I can look back at the five years and say we didn’t lose the quality of what we do because of outside factors, whether those outside factors are financial or political or anything else, you know, safety and security-wise, that we maintained certain things that are excellent and we become more excellent in other things and that we have the opportunities to do so,” said Schneider.

While she would like to maintain aspects of what previous superintendents brought to the district, she intrinsically brings a new and different perspective. Schneider is the eleventh superintendent in Parkway’s history, and the first one to be female. 

“There’s just inherently a different view from my perspective in that way, identifying as female, so I am excited about what that brings… I do enjoy learning from other female superintendents and what their success strategies are, and how they navigate certain situations and their perspectives of taking care of kids.”

Only a small number of superintendents in the country are female, and the St. Louis area has mostly male superintendents as well. 

“It is an honor to serve in this role as the first female,” said Schneider. “In the previous 27 years I spent in education prior to becoming Parkway’s superintendent, I never had a female superintendent myself in my previous school districts. Only 25% of the nation’s superintendents are female, so after coming up through the ranks of elementary education, where it is primarily female educators, things definitely feel different.”

Schneider hopes to lead the way not only for students, but for future educators as well.

“I would like to see more females get into the education profession, not just because they want to be a teacher and have seen mostly female teachers in front of them, but because they one day want to be an educational leader,” said Schneider. “That starts with seeing yourself in the role and having the idea that it really could be you one day leading–and that you are needed in the role, too.”