Paula Merritt / The Meridian StarLauderdale County School District Superintendent John-Mark Cain poses for a portrait at Northeast Middle School. In his first four months, he's made it a point to make the rounds to all four corners of the district.

When John-Mark Cain became the new superintendent of the Lauderdale County School District over the summer, he, in his own words, “hit the ground running.”

The veteran educator, who most recently served as deputy superintendent of the Scott County School District, has many things on his mind as he settles into his new role in Lauderdale County.

In an interview with The Meridian Star editorial board this week, Cain spoke about his background and his plans for the future of the Lauderdale County School District.

What follows is part of that conversation, edited for clarity and space limitations.

QUESTION: Why did you want to be an educator, and now an administrator? Has your motivation changed over the years?

ANSWER:  The relationship I had with a teacher in middle school. The relationship strengthened over the years as that individual became my baseball coach in high school. I saw him as a figure I could ask advice to – I had lost my dad at a young age. So he kind of filled in that void.

So, when I really came down to pick a pathway, he said, “why don’t you think about coaching and education?” So I took the dive and went in. I taught for a few years, and it went really well. I coached baseball and soccer in Kosciusko. My principal at the time came to me and said, “You know, you really make pretty good decisions…You should consider administration.”

The John-Mark Cain File

• Growing up: Born in Natchez, Miss. and grew up in Holmes County.

• Family: Married to Denae Rone Cain, of Kosciusko, who is a sixth grade ELA teacher. His two daughters are Kinley, 14, and Breelyn, 12.

• Leisure: Enjoys relaxing, watching televised college athletics and coaching fast-pitch travel softball, serving as head coach for the Motion 06-Cain program.

• Reading: Currently reading Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss and other books, periodicals and journals related to leadership.

• Favorite movie: The Empire Strikes Back.

• Education: Earned Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Mississippi while his other earned degrees were from Mississippi State University.

• Professional: Served as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent before being selected as Lauderdale County’s first appointed Superintendent of Education.

That meant a lot coming from him, so I took that advice and went into administration. I started out as assistant principal, then principal in different schools.

But, you really don’t know what you’re getting into until you get into it. My first year as a principal I remember the superintendent at the time came to me. We were at a football game one Friday night, and he said “You sure you want to get into this?”

And I said, “Absolutely – I enjoy working with people, and feel like we can make a big difference in what we do.” As long as our heart’s in the right place, I feel like it’s what I’m going to continue to do.

Q: You are the Lauderdale County School District’s first appointed, not elected superintendent. You also come from a different district, and don’t have a history with Lauderdale County Schools, like many of the central office staff and other administrators. Does that affect how you are able to lead?

A: I think that coming from the outside, it gives you a different perspective. I’ve worked in two other districts, in Kosciusko and the Scott County School District, so it gives you a different set of lenses to look at things when you come into a situation. When I went Kosciusko to Scott County, it was a similar situation. You learn how to relate to people, and figure out what motivates them.

But, it also gives you an opportunity to start fresh, with a clean slate, with no preconceptions. You read, you do your due diligence, you look at the data, but you really come into the situation with a blank slate.

From the leadership point of view, I think, everybody kind of starts at the same level when you come in from the outside. You really have to make your own determination about people and their skills, and if they’re able to contribute to the vision you have.

There are challenges involved as well….you don’t know the people. You don’t always understand what they are capable of. It takes some time. You have to figure out where things are and how they operate, and you need to do so in a pretty quick manner. You’re asking a lot of questions and meeting a lot of people.

Q: You’ve been on the job here about four months, what do you know now that you didn’t know when you interviewed for the job?

A: When I interviewed for the job, Lauderdale County was regarded as a great school district, which is one of the reasons I applied. I always knew that there were really good people here. I knew they were hard-working and really cared about what they did…that drew me here.

Being here for four months, that preconception has only been strengthened. There are a lot of very hard, diligent-working people that we have in our school district. They care, they have sense of pride about themselves. They have a growth mindset, in which they want to continue to get better at what they do. And, there’s a sense of lending help and aid to each other when it’s needed. It’s just a good thing when you come to work each day and work with people who really have a passion for teaching and learning.

Q: Someone noticed that you posted a picture of your worn out shoes on social media. Describe your work day or week and how you get around?

A: That came from that superintendent…that asked if I was really sure I wanted to do this or not. One of the things he said was, “You can always judge a principal at Christmas by looking at the bottom of their shoes.”

With my schedule, it’s been hit-the-ground running. My daily schedule varies, whether it be going out to the schools early on…attending various events…then, just being out in the community, visiting with groups…seeing what Meridian and Lauderdale County has to offer. I’m still exploring some of that, honestly.

On a typical day, you get in and the emails are waiting on you. Somebody’s got a problem. We try to get those handled, then meet with our directors…typically, it can be reviewing budgets, policies, or events we’ve got coming up…Deadlines we’ve got to meet from the state department or other agencies. Then, really trying to get out to visit the schools seems to be the most challenging part at times.

Q: What questions do you get asked the most from the community?

A: It really depends on which group I’m talking to. For instance, we recently had the opportunity to meet with our local ministers. They really just want to know about me, first, but at the end, they want to know how they could help and contribute to what we are trying to do.

Other groups want to know what we are doing in high schools with issues that pertain to them – personal finance. If you talk to business leaders, they want to know how are you developing a good work ethic with your students? How are you incorporating that into the academic process?…How is technology being used now?

Q: You hired a communications director, Andrea Williams. You’re very active on social media and we understand you encourage district staff to be active on social media, too. Why is communication so important to you?

A: If you don’t tell your story, then someone else will tell it. We feel like we have a great story to tell throughout the Lauderdale County School District. We had so many good things on, we just didn’t feel like we were putting it out there. With the addition of Ms. Williams, she’s done a fabulous job coming in, she’s really going out and making sure those good stories are being told. She also provides a good ear for me, if I’ve got a situation I need to ask her about…she’s willing to lend that point of view to me as well. In the end, we need to just let people know that we are a huge part of this community – our success is a huge part of overall success for Meridian and Lauderdale County. We feel like, if we’re able to convey those successes, then people will continue to support us moving forward.

Q: What do you see as the greatest challenges to the district, and yourself?

A: We have aging facilities throughout the county – most of our schools were built in the 60s. We do have some newer construction, with West Lauderdale Elementary…Southeast Middle School. But a majority of our schools are aging. I think the infrastructure is a challenge not just for Lauderdale County, but for schools around the state of Mississippi.

We’ve just finished a facility audit…and should be getting the results in the next few weeks. We want to have the information to help us make those decisions about facilities. Do we need to look at continuing to improve our existing facilities, or do we need to look at some other kind of long-range plan?

Around the state, funding is always going to be an issue, and that relates back to facilities as well. Schools are really having to look at their budgets and expenditures, their personnel and really try to make the best decisions with that limited source of money as it continuously seems to be cut, year over year, as increases in benefits and other things are passed to the local school districts, and not necessarily additional funds provided from the state level.

On challenges

Personally, my biggest challenge is continuing to grow the district. We want to be one of the top 10 school districts in the state of Mississippi. We feel like we have the people, we feel like we’ve got the resources to make that happen. We want to make that a reality.

–John-Mark Cain

Personally, my biggest challenge is continuing to grow the district – academic, athletic, and the arts. We want to be one of the top 10 school districts in the state of Mississippi. We feel like we have the people, we feel like we’ve got the resources to make that happen. We want to make that a reality.

Within that, it means looking at not only the state accountability model…but sometimes it goes beyond that, too. For instance, I’m a big proponent of pushing higher ACT scores. We’ve invested more money this year into that program. We’ve started out kids out early as the ninth grade now with ACT preparation. We understand that ACT translates into dollars. Parents understand that, so we want to make that a huge priority for our district.

We want to continue to expose our students to more advanced coursework, though AP and dual-credit courses. We want to be a pivotal partner in workforce development, which means examining, strengthening and expanding our CTE or career-technical opportunities.

Q: Much emphasis is placed on test scores. Are those scores a true reflection of what the district is accomplishing?

A: There would be some debate on the model the state has in place and what it actually measures – what kind of true picture of what is actually happening in our schools.

The state developed the model, and they’re meeting federal requirements in that model…it encompasses graduation rate, growth of students.

That’s one huge component of it, but there are a lot of other metrics and variables that the accountability model doesn’t include. I think it’s that one story it’s important for schools to be able to tell, that it’s not all about the letter grade. It’s not all about the test scores, it’s about what we are doing for individual students. Have we given he individual student hope? Have we given them an avenue or a mechanism for them to break a cycle that may have lasted generations? Can we give them an opportunity they may have not once had?

Those stories aren’t told in a letter grade. They’re not told in a test score.

When you have students at Clarkdale building beds for those in need, when you have schools collecting clothing or canned food items. Or, when you have students who, six months ago said they were going to drop out, and now they’re going to graduate and go into the military…those are anecdotal stories you collect and hear. I think those are the stories that aren’t always told.

Nobody becomes a teacher for test scores. That’s not why they go into the profession. They go into it  because they care about children.

Q: Teacher shortages are often mentioned. How do convince talented teachers — and your current students — to remain in the state?

A: The state has convened a task force looking at the issue of testing, the frequency of testing and the duration of testing. So, this is a debate that is happening right now at the state level.

As far as getting teachers to stay in the state…if you look at surrounding states, we do lag (in salaries). Taking a look at that, I think if we can get to a national or regional average.

On the payment side, we do have to make it where our teachers feel like they can make a living. They’re not trying to get rich, but they do have to make a living.

On the test side….testing is a part of what we do now…accountability is important. The public wants to know how schools are doing. But as schools, I think we have to consider the entire child, the entire student. It’s not only about test scores…

On test scores

If we teach to a high level, in which we’re creating students who can write, communicate and debate, then test scores can be a by-product of doing that. What we have to do is continue to challenge our students to think critically. We’ve found if you do that, then test scores will happen.

–John-Mark Cain

If we teach to a high level, in which we’re creating students who can write, communicate and debate, then test scores can be a by-product of doing that. What we have to do is continue to challenge our students to think critically. We’ve found if you do that, then test scores will happen.

Q: The district’s budget, like most other school systems, was tight this year. How do you deal with ongoing state budget cuts? And what alternatives does the district have — outside of fundraisers? Do local businesses have a role? Is there a place for consolidating schools or services?

A: We’re going to look at all of our processes, all of our departments, and really just say “are we being the best stewards of this money?”

That’s always the challenge – you want to be good stewards and reduce costs as much as possible…but you don’t want to do anything that would negatively affect student achievement.

From the facility aspect, we’re going to wait and see the report.

Q: Some studies have shown that 60 percent of the jobs that exist now won’t be there when students just now entering elementary school enter the workforce. How is the district preparing for that?

A: It’s all technology-driven now…we’ve got robots performing surgery. We’ve got cars that can drive themselves. So, what industry is not going to be touched by that? That’s the challenge.

As a school…we are exposing our students to digital technology as much as possible – coding…we’ve got students as early as middle school involved in coding and robots.

If you want to look at what jobs are actually going to be there, I think it’s important to look at the workforce development side…career-technical education….we feel like we can be a vital partner in moving in that direction to create the workforce of tomorrow.

Q: Schools have taken on roles beyond education — providing nourishment, mental health services, and a safe haven. Is that a path school districts must continue to go down or are other solutions needed?

A: It’s no longer the old schoolhouse. Schools now are expected to provide the emotional support for a student. Sometimes, it’s afterschool, because the family dynamic has changed so much.

It means that we have to have adequate numbers of counselors in our schools, that we have to have partnerships with mental health programs.

The problems and issues that young students come in with now are drastically different…that’s definitely a big challenge for us, but we don’t shy away from it.

Q: What can you do that your predecessor Randy Hodges couldn’t?

A: (Long pause) …Nothing – the man’s a legend.

(Room erupts in laughter.)

Mr. Hodges did a fabulous job, and he was good to me coming into this situation. He helped with the transition…he made it as smooth as possible.

So, I think I’m coming in with a different set of eyes, and looking at things a little differently. If we can tweak a couple of things to get to where we want to be, then we will continue to pursue that as long as we have the opportunity.