The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools recently named two instructional improvement officers.
Dr. Troy Pitsch, most recently the superintendent of schools – elementary principal for Unified School District 294 in Decatur County, in northwest Kansas; and Terrence M. Sanders, a former principal of East Union Middle School of Union County Public Schools in Monroe, North Carolina, began their duties on July 1.
Among the responsibilities of Pitsch and Sanders in their new roles with the school district are supervising and evaluating principals; assisting principals with decision-making and problem-solving; planning and developing programs to be implemented across assigned schools; assisting in the implementation of district initiatives and serving as a liaison between principals and the chief of schools.
At USD 294, Pitsch led the district in its effort to achieve excellence for students, added guided small-group instruction, a progress monitoring system, wrote more than $70,000 in grants for student resources, expanded the pre-kindergarten program to double its previous enrollment and helped with facility improvement during his tenure.
Pitsch has more than 17 years of education experience, primarily in Title I schools. He has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Pflugerville School District in Pflugerville, Texas.
He has a doctorate in educational administration, educational policy and planning from the University of Texas at Austin, a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and a bachelor’s degree in social studies composite in history and the social sciences education from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He also has a district leadership certification from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, with certifications in district leadership and early childhood – 12 principal for the state of Kansas.
Sanders, at East Union Middle School, led an effort that resulted in an 11-point gain in seventh grade math from the previous year in 2018, and exceeded growth in eighth grade reading in 2018.
He also has served as the principal of Heritage Elementary School and interim principal of Bailey Middle School in the Spring Independent School District in Houston, Texas.
He also served as assistant superintendent for Professional Development for Houston Independent School District (HISD) in Houston, Texas. In this position, he directed professional development services for nearly 13,000 teachers, provided leadership and coordinated new teacher orientation for more than 1,500 teachers, collaborated with the Academic Services Departments, including elementary and secondary curriculum and instruction, multilingual, innovative and special education to support instructional improvement efforts.
He served as principal of Judson W. Robinson Jr. Elementary School in HISD, where he increased student enrollment by nearly 100 students for the 2013-2014 school year, and met state standards on end-of-grade tests from 2012 to 2015 based on state assessments and earning distinction honors in math.
He has more than 10 years of educational experience and is a former assistant principal of Walnut Bend Elementary School in the HISD and a third and fifth grade teacher in Charlotte Mecklenburg School District in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Sanders has a master’s degree in school leadership from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. He has a principal certification from Texas and North Carolina.
- Information from Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools