Superintendent Mark Bedell explains why he’s leaving Kansas City schools for Maryland
Superintendent Mark Bedell said Friday that he’s accomplished what he set out to do in Kansas City Public Schools, meaning he’s ready to move on and pursue higher aspirations.
After serving for six years, Bedell — who broke the district’s decades-long revolving door of superintendents — announced on Thursday that he would leave the post Aug. 5. He has accepted the top leadership position at Anne Arundel County Public Schools, based in Annapolis, and will return to Maryland, where he previously lived.
The Kansas City school board unanimously voted to select Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Collier as the district’s interim superintendent for the coming school year.
Capitalizing on the credit he received for helping KCPS improve academic achievement and attain full state accreditation in January, Bedell is leaving for a much larger district. Though Annapolis itself is a smaller city, the Anne Arundel County district is expansive with roughly 83,000 students, compared to the Kansas City district’s 14,000.
Bedell called it “an opportunity to diversify my experience,” during a press conference on Friday.
“I have big goals, too. And I want to make sure that people fully understand that going to where I’m headed in Anne Arundel, it gives me a whole different type of experience that balances out my resume. Because I have aspirations to go even further than that if I’m ever given the opportunity to do so.”
Last year, the Kansas City school board approved a new three-year contract for Bedell, raising his salary to $282,000.
School board President Nate Hogan said Friday that, “we would have tried to renew his contract in January of next year for another three years if we would have had the opportunity. I want to make that clear to this community, because we know some of the historical context and narrative around this district. But we would have renewed that contract happily.”
Bedell said his decision is what he believes to be best for his career and family.
“It’s not about the money,” Bedell said. “I’m actually surrendering some of what I have in one of the best contracts in the country. It may have not been the best when I started, because that’s what the media said that it wasn’t. But after the board saw the work and the product, they took care of me and my contract. So it’s not about the contract and it’s not about the money. It’s not about the board. It really is about: It’s time.”
The Anne Arundel County school board is expected to approve a four-year contract for Bedell next week.
Bedell previously served as an assistant superintendent for Baltimore County Public Schools, and worked in that district for four years. He said moving back to Maryland was also a personal decision, allowing him to be closer to his daughter’s university, as well as other family who live in his hometown of Rochester, New York.
He had never led a district before arriving in Kansas City, but in 2016, Bedell took the helm as the district’s 27th superintendent in 45 years. He is the district’s longest-serving superintendent in more than five decades.
Kansas City school and community leaders have applauded Bedell for helping the district progress and regain community trust, after a history of enrollment decline and a two-decade-long struggle to regain full state accreditation.
The district regained provisional accreditation from the state in 2014. And as Bedell took the helm two years later, the district announced it had a high enough score on state accountability measures for the Missouri state board of education to consider full accreditation. But board members said they needed to see sustained progress.
During Bedell’s tenure, the district raised academic achievement scores and graduation rates, helping it to finally become accredited once again in January. At the time, state school board members said Bedell’s steady leadership played a factor in their decision to grant the district full accreditation.
“Working in an urban school district is hard,” Bedell said. “… So your job is to get in here and follow through on what you said you would do, leave the district in a much better position than you found it. All of our data points indicate that. The full accreditation indicates that. The stability with the (school) board indicates that. The fact that our succession plan includes a lifetime employee who will be taking the helm of this district as I transition out should tell you that this district is in good hands.”
Bedell said he is confident the district will continue to have stable leadership after his departure, as it continues work to gain community support on a long-term restructuring plan.
With the growth of charter schools and as more families fled to suburban districts over the past couple of decades, KCPS enrollment fell by half. The district is now considering closing and consolidating some under-enrolled and outdated schools in the coming years so it can modernize classrooms, expand programs and ensure all students have access to the same opportunities districtwide.
Collier will take over as interim superintendent on Aug. 8. She has served as an educator in Kansas City Public Schools for 22 years, including as a teacher, principal, chief human resource officer and deputy superintendent.
“I hope that people continue to support KCPS and that they remain invested,” Collier said Friday. “Schools cannot do it alone. That doesn’t change because Dr. Bedell is leaving. We still need the commitment of this community to wrap their arms around our school system and to support us. One of my goals is to continue to enhance those partnerships, continue to do the great work that Dr. Bedell has done that way, of really inviting our community in.”
Collier said that she would be interested in the permanent superintendent position, although the school board will conduct a search to fill the role. Collier also emphasized that the district needs continued stability, after decades of “ups and downs” and “disappointment” with constantly changing leadership.
“We’ve had what I call change fatigue,” Collier said. “That trickles down into the classroom and negatively impacts our students. And so I think it’s highly important that there is some continuity, continuation of the great things we’re doing. However, we have to also make sure we’re looking at areas where we can improve and tweak those areas, and ways we can innovate.”
Since the announcement, community leaders across Kansas City have expressed their gratitude for Bedell’s leadership that they say gave the district needed momentum.
“I am proud of what Kansas City Public Schools has been able to accomplish under his leadership,” said Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, a former school board president. “His student-focused leadership set a high bar and he accomplished significant academic growth for children including regaining accreditation. I wish him the best of luck in the future and am extremely grateful for his efforts in Kansas City.”
“He’s the superintendent who returned stability and credibility to the district,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told The Star. “Dr. Bedell showed that credibility by restoring accreditation to KC schools.”
In Maryland, Bedell will replace George Arlotto, who has served as superintendent in Anne Arundel County since 2014 and worked for the district for 16 years.
“Dr. Bedell stood out as the candidate with the energy, experience, and understanding of the school system needed to lead AACPS through the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead and was the Board’s unanimous selection,” district officials said in a statement.
The Star’s Glenn Rice contributed reporting.
This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 1:40 PM.
