By Abby Cambiano
Northeast News

KCPS Superintendent Mark Bedell has made a few changes to his leadership team in anticipation of the upcoming school year.

Bedell has decreased the size of his cabinet to six as the district works to refresh the strategic plan. The team will be working on big changes this year, including a potential reopening of Lincoln Middle School, the launch of new mentorship programs, and other leadership changes throughout the district.

Linda Quinley is the new Chief Financial and Operations Officer. She served with Columbia Public Schools for 11 years as Director of Business Services and then later as Chief Financial and Operations Officer. Also serving as Treasurer of the CPS Board of Education, Quinley led campaigns for two operating levies and five bonded elections.

Quinley earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from William Woods University before starting her career at a regional Certified Public Accounting firm, working with clients ranging from local businesses to nonprofits and corporations.

Quinley and her husband have lived in Missouri for the majority of their lives, raising two sons here. The couple has owned small, local grocery and hardware retails stores, which Quinley said gave her the perspective of the small business taxpayers who support their community and schools through property taxes, programs and partnerships.

Dr. Marla Sheppard is the new KCPS Deputy Superintendent. She was previously an Assistant Superintendent in Fort Bend ISD, where she was responsible for 16 schools of all levels. She had been with FBISD since 2013.

Sheppard earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from Texas A&M University before beginning her career in the Houston Independent School District as a middle school and high school math and science teacher. Sheppard received her master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Houston.

Sheppard joined the HISD Secondary Principalship Cohort in 2002, and after completing her principal internship at Holland Middle School, she became Dean of Students at Paul Revere Middle School.

In January 2006, she was appointed as principal at Lamar Fleming Middle School in the 5th Ward. During her tenure there, the school became a Texas Education Agency (TEA) “Recognized” school; she was named Wheatley Feeder Pattern Secondary Principal of the Year and the HISD Secondary Principal of the Year in 2011.

In June 2011, she was appointed as the first female principal at the historic Jack Yates High School. Yates went from being an “Academically Unacceptable” campus to, two years later, becoming a TEA “Met Standard” school with an academic distinction in mathematics.

“Dr. Sheppard has a true passion for students and creating equity for all,” a press release from the school district said. “As a native Houstonian and product of Houston ISD’s Booker T. Washington High School, she understands the importance of education and its role in creating opportunities for individuals.”