Dr. Julie Flieg named Greater Ozarks Cooperating School Districts (GOCSD) Southeast Missouri Professional Learning Director/Assistant Director

Greater Ozarks Cooperating School Districts (GOCSD) recently expanded membership to Southeast Missouri. With this expansion, GOCSD will represent 100+ school districts and 9 Universities/Colleges in 47 counties representing nearly 147,600+ K-12 students. GOCSD consists of rural, suburban, and urban communities representing districts with enrollments of less than 50 and up to 24,300 students.

To support the growing organization and the 25 committed Southeast Missouri districts, the GOCSD Board recently hired Dr. Julie Flieg. Her main role will be to expand membership in the Southeast Missouri region and to create collaborative opportunities between educators in the two regions. She will create networking and expanded professional learning experiences for both regions, but will have a special focus on the needs of educators in Southeast Missouri.

Dr. Julie Flieg has served the entirety of her approximately 29-year educational career at Ste. Genevieve County R-II School District. Beginning as a student worker in the cafeteria and rounding out her five years as superintendent of schools, Dr. Flieg held a role in every corner of the district. She has served as a guidance secretary and registrar, a teacher’s aide for a special education classroom, a business teacher, class sponsor, club sponsor, assistant principal, a volleyball coach, athletic director, principal, and assistant superintendent before launching her role as superintendent in 2018. Her path through public education has given her a thorough understanding of how each person within the school system supports the success of each student. She has built relationships in all areas, in all departments, and held onto those relationships through the years. This holistic view fuels her passion for supporting faculty and staff at all levels through meaningful, accessible professional development so that they are empowered to help students learn, grow, and achieve success.

During her professional education career, Dr. Flieg served as president of the MAAA Superintendents Association. She has been a member of: the Missouri Association of School Administrators (MASA), the Missouri Association of School Business Officials (MoASBO), the School Superintendents Association (AASA), and the Southeast Missouri Superintendents Association. She also served as the Southeast Executive Board Member of the Missouri Assessment Partnership (MOAP) and on the Missouri Commissioner of Education’s Advisory Panel.

GOCSD logo

GOCSD logo

When asked about her new role Dr. Flieg shared, "The opportunity to collaborate with and expand GOCSD in the Southeast Region is exciting, and it aligns with a passion of mine— creating opportunities for educators to network, collaborate and receive high-quality professional learning. I am eager to begin fostering discussions about GOCSD with our Southeast Region’s school districts, the Regional Professional Development Center, area colleges and universities, and any other potential partner in the region. However, I am most looking forward to working with educators to ensure that all of our students in the Southeast Region receive a free, appropriate and high-quality education, and providing educators with the necessary resources, tools and skill sets to support students is paramount to that goal."

GOCSD proudly welcomes Dr. Flieg to her new role!

About Greater Ozarks Cooperating School Districts

During the 2014-15 school year a small group of southwest Missouri school superintendents began the discussion of forming a Southwest Regional School Districts consortium. These discussions continued and the group began to grow. In the spring of 2015, eleven school districts agreed to form together and be called the Greater Ozarks Cooperating School Districts (GOCSD). The 2015-16 school year was GOCSD’s first year as an organization, and by the end of the year, 28 member districts were represented.

A key purpose of GOCSD is to serve as a conduit for the sharing of educational practices between districts through networking and collaboration, while also offering district-initiated high quality professional learning opportunities for members. The GOCSD sponsored yearly Innovation Summit is one of the premiere professional learning experiences offered for Missouri educators. Top educational researchers from across the nation serve as keynote speakers with local educators sharing expertise through over 100 break-out sessions. Districts are also provided opportunities for purchasing needed resources at reduced costs through the many GOCSD business partners.

GOCSD also serves as a key voice for Missouri public schools at the state and national level. The collaborative efforts with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, local and state business communities and state/federal legislators provide key opportunities for proactively supporting school districts. The needs of Missouri children are at the forefront of this advocacy work.

https://gocsdmo.org/