New Killeen ISD superintendent prepares for first year in district

Iam excited to begin the 2023-2024 school year as the Superintendent of Schools for Killeen ISD. We will be opening the doors to our 52 campuses to 44,500 students on Monday, August 14, 2023. As the new Superintendent there, I am grateful for the opportunity to call Central Texas home.

I call the great state of Texas home, growing up in south Bexar County. My parents were hard workers; my mother worked in one of the school cafeterias, eventually retiring from that position and my dad worked for Lucent Technologies and AT&T. Although we did not have much money, we were rich in other ways. Our parents were hard workers and taught us to work hard, too. We ate dinner as a family almost every day and had everything we needed.

I attended public schools in Southwest ISD, near San Antonio, and my experience there was very positive. Early on, I loved reading and worked hard to be a good student and earn a spot in the top of my class.

I was encouraged to join youth sports while in school, and I fell in love with athletics. I loved competition and especially loved the notions of team and being a teammate. I played every sport imaginable, but track and field were my favorite. My high school career culminated with me accepting a full athletic scholarship to SMU, in Dallas, the first in my family to do so.

Arriving on campus for my freshman year, I immediately realized most of the other Southern Methodist University (SMU) students were different. It seemed everybody there, except me, had a car. I didn’t even own a bike. However, I loved my coaches, my teammates, and found success and my identity at SMU. It was a wonderful experience. I got married in 1994, and moved to Fort Stewart, Georgia, which at the time was home of the 24th ID rapid deployment division, also known “First to Fight.”

With my husband being in the military, we knew we would be leaving Fort Stewart in 18 months and, like all military families, would serve where we were needed.

Although I was not certified to teach, my first job as an educator was in Liberty County, Georgia, public schools as an instructional aide for grades 4 and 5. That is where I began to fall in love with education.

I began teaching and coaching in my home district, and the very next year I was promoted to be the head girls’ basketball coach and career technology teacher. To be teaching and coaching in the very high school that I graduated from and where I learned to love coach- ing and teaching was a dream come true. I spent about seven years coaching and teaching and when my family began to grow, I needed balance so I moved into high school administration, then eventually central administration.

Killeen reminds me so much of where I grew up and of my first job in Liberty County, Georgia. Military families come with a unique set of challenges. The core families are rarely together. Moms and dads are deployed all the time, often in dangerous, far-away places. The spouse at home, or grandparents and friends if both parents are deployed, is trying to keep it all together. After being one of those families, the opportunity to serve them now is very rewarding.

When contacted about applying for the Killeen ISD’s superintendent’s position, I was excited about the opportunity. Having worked in Killeen ISD when my husband was stationed at Fort Cavazos, I recognize the special culture of the greater KISD community. They work together to support one another and their children and grandchildren. There is a team atmosphere that I just love.

I share all of this with you because I want you to know where my passion for student success comes from. I am truly blessed to serve this dynamic and diverse community. We will achieve student success when we work in a collaborative environment and have dedicated teachers that are supported by their district.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2023-2024 school year.

Jo Ann Fey Killeen ISD Superintendent