Kansas City, Kan. ? Michelle Sedler started in the Turner School District as a paraprofessional, a position that doesn’t always get the most respect in the education business.

The job proved to be her launching pad.

In 17 years the 39-year-old has gone from special education paraprofessional to superintendent. Along the way, the mother of five has earned a reputation for tackling challenges with fresh ideas in several roles including a special education teacher, high school principal and assistant superintendent.

Her variety of jobs might be part of the reason why she takes a moment every day to hand write a thank-you note to a staff member, be it a bus driver, janitor or others who make a difference in a child’s life. It also helps explain why she visits classrooms and tries to know every teacher.

And it’s why she traveled from the central office in August to help preschool and kindergarten teachers direct youngsters to a sea of buses on the first day of school.

Sedler said academic success is her top priority. And she knows it will take each and every staff member working together to have an efficient school district.

“We’ve made huge gains,” she said. “But we’re not yet the organization that we need to be.”

Like many urban school districts across the country, Turner needs to improve its test scores.

Former co-worker and Kansas City, Kan., district Superintendent Jill Shackelford said Sedler knows instruction, and she knows how to lead.

“She’s an outstanding leader,” said Shackelford, who worked with Sedler in Turner before arriving in Kansas City, Kan.

Last year, Sedler and a curriculum committee completely gutted the language arts system for preschool through 12th grade. The committee will do the same thing for math this year with hopes to implement the new program by next fall.

The curriculum work is especially important in Turner, where the district has been classified as “in need of improvement” by the federal government.

Sedler and her husband are raising five young children.

Sedler earned her bachelor’s degree in special education when she moved from Oklahoma to Kansas. It wasn’t long before she was taking master’s classes at Kansas University and Pittsburg State. She’s finishing her doctorate work at Baker University.

“It is a juggle,” she acknowledges. “My husband is awesome. He has to be Mr. Mom sometimes.”