A calling, not a contract

When floodwaters damaged a Jennings School District building and a cyberattack targeted the district’s network, Superintendent Dr. Paula Knight had one message for her team: “I got it. We’re OK.”

That steady leadership through back-to-back crises is one reason Knight will receive the Stellar Performance Award during the St. Louis American Foundation’s 39th annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala. The event will be held Oct. 17 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel.

Jennings Board of Education President Miranda Walker Jones said Knight rallied her staff through both emergencies, ensuring students lost no instructional time while the district rebuilt and recovered.

“She’s had to continuously rise to the occasion and rally her team to make sure that our kids didn’t lose any time away from their academics — while rebuilding a building and managing a cyberattack at the same time,” Walker Jones said.

Knight said moments of adversity reveal the true measure of a leader.

“No good sailor was ever formed on calm seas,” Knight told The St. Louis American. “If the seas are always calm, how do you know you’re a good sailor until those waters get really, really rough and choppy?”

Since taking over the district in 2021, Knight has expanded its pre-K program to include 3-year-olds and pushed opportunities for students to earn college credits and travel internationally.

“In our great state of Missouri, the state has not quite embraced universal pre-K. But I have,” Knight said. “I am not gonna let these barriers be the reason why children who look like us can’t come to school.”

The emphasis on early education follows Knight throughout a career that began in a second-grade classroom and included 27 years with St. Louis Public Schools.

Knight grew up in St. Louis. Her father, Dr. James Knight, was a cardiovascular surgeon, while her mother, Donna Knight, served as a finance manager for former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. But Knight credits her grandfather with first encouraging her interest in education.

“He got me a chalkboard, and I would play school,” Knight recalled. “And I would line up the dolls, line up my stuffed animals, put them on the floor, you know, put them in the rows. And I would just play school.”

Knight graduated from Parkway Central High School and Saint Louis University before earning advanced degrees from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

She began her career as a second-grade teacher at Hamilton Elementary School in SLPS. Gloria Shelton, a former SLPS administrator who mentored Knight, recalled recognizing her potential early in her career.

“I used to tell her she was the youngest, oldest person I knew — full of wisdom,” Shelton said.

Knight eventually became chief academic officer and deputy superintendent and spent almost a decade working closely with former Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams.

“Dr. Knight was someone who cared deeply about kids and wanted to see what was best for them,” Adams said. “She cut to the chase and wanted to know how we could best support kids. She had high standards and did not tolerate people around her who were not focused on excellence.”

Knight was appointed to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood in 2013. While overseeing early childhood education at SLPS, she doubled enrollment from 1,100 to 2,200 students.

The work comes as Jennings continues to struggle academically. Missouri’s 2025 Annual Performance Report rated the district “Approaching” in English language arts achievement and “Emerging” in math. The district fared better in several measures of student growth and met the state’s target for its four-year graduation rate.

Knight also has sought to broaden students’ opportunities beyond the classroom.

Jennings junior Zion Hite transferred from a private school after learning he could graduate with an associate degree through the district’s dual-enrollment program.

“I decided to move to Jennings because they had a dual-enrollment program, and I had the ability to graduate high school with an associate’s degree before I’m even 18,” Zion said. “That was an outstanding opportunity that I wasn’t offered at my private school.”

The district has 28 students enrolled in the program. Students who complete it also have the opportunity to travel abroad. Previous trips have included London and Paris, with South Africa next on the itinerary.

“Yes, we are in Jennings, and our tax base may be different, but it doesn’t preclude our kids from seeing the world,” Knight said. “When you go into education, it can’t be a job. It has to be a calling over a contract.”

Zion said Knight’s influence goes beyond the programs she has created.

“She is extremely personal and very in touch with the community and with the kids,” Zion said. “A lot of superintendents, people don’t really see them. But she’s in the school. She’s making sure she’s connected with the students.”

That commitment to service extends beyond the school district. In spring 2022, Knight pledged the Gamma Omega Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a decision she said came at exactly the right time in her life.

For Knight, however, the thread running through her career remains the classroom where it began.

“I’m always going to be a teacher at heart,” Knight said. “You don’t have to chase the work, the work will find you. The positions will find you. People will find you.”

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