Dr. Terrance Jordan did not like attending school as a youth.
“I had bad experiences in school growing up in rural Mississippi,” Jordan said. “I was mistreated by teachers and by some of my peers, so going to school was not something that I had any desire to do.”
Jordan, a self-professed slow learner at the time, recalled that his childhood education “wasn’t caring, it was punitive.”
“I remember getting paddled for not being able to spell on a spelling test, spelling words in front of everybody,” Jordan said. “The teachers, instead of providing me with some sort of intervention and support as motivation, made it more embarrassing and degrading. That just turned me off to school.”
Growing from those early life experiences to the new Springfield School District 186 superintendent was something that Jordan could not have envisioned several decades ago. When he officially begins his new duties on July 1, Jordan wants to make sure that no student goes through the same educational trauma that he experienced as a youth.
“My early life has significantly impacted how I treat kids, how I support educators and how I provide coaching and professional development to show educators that there’s a different way,” Jordan said. “I want our students to leave high school college and career ready. I want to make sure every student has the opportunity to be successful, whatever that looks like for them, and we want to be the catalyst to provide that opportunity. I don’t want any student leaving school feeling like I felt.”
The 48-year-old Jordan was approved by the District 186 Board of Education in January to succeed Jennifer Gill, who is retiring June 30 following 12 years as superintendent. Gill asked Jordan to be a member of her cabinet in 2021 and he is currently assistant superintendent of family, community and school leadership.
Jordan has also served on the boards of many local organizations, including the Springfield Art Association, United Way, YMCA and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois. He currently serves on the Heartland Continuum of Care Youth Homelessness Task Group, the Community Health Roundtable and the Faith Coalition for the Common Good Education Task Force.
“That’s one of the things that has been beneficial to me, being out and visible, meeting people and organizations, finding all of the resources that are available for the district,” Jordan said. “I am already meeting with people to prepare for taking over as superintendent. I want to listen, get into the schools and the community, see the needs in the schools and see what they have to say about the direction we’re heading.”
Terrance Jordan stands in front of a card that staff and students at Black Hawk Elementary School presented him when he left as principal to take a job with the District 186 administration. PHOTO BY DAVID BLANCHETTE
“The day that changed my life forever.”
District 186 encompasses 35 schools, approximately 13,000 students and 1,100 staff, and its 2026 budget is $268 million. The district’s geographic footprint includes Springfield, Grandview, Leland Grove, Jerome, Southern View and some rural areas to the north of Springfield. That’s a large entity to lead, but Jordan feels he is ready.
“A first priority of mine is to determine whether our academic investment is giving us what we need to be successful. We are in a deficit, but it’s an opportunity to reset, to do some things differently,” Jordan said. “There are going to be tough times coming up. It’s not the first time we’ve been here and it won’t be the last, but as I look at things, I try to see the positive in everything.”
Jordan’s journey from rural Mississippi to District 186 superintendent began modestly. Following high school he earned a physical education degree from Mississippi Valley State University, but Jordan did so only because he wanted to coach football. Jordan moved to Springfield, where he still has many extended family members, and got a job in the construction industry. He said it was great during the warmer months but not so good during the winter when the paychecks just weren’t coming in.
“I needed employment, and my uncle said I should put in for a substitute teacher certificate and get a job in the local school system,” Jordan recalled. “He probably told me that because I was living with him at the time; I was broke and he didn’t want to support me.
“Honestly, working in the school system didn’t cross my mind before then,” Jordan added. “I didn’t take on that position out of desire, it was more of a necessity.”
Jordan vividly recalls the day in 2003 when he walked into Springfield’s Feitshans Elementary School as a substitute kindergarten teacher, “the day that changed my life forever.”
“I can still remember that day like it was yesterday, walking up to Feitshans, already having some reservations about going into the school, thinking about the way I had been treated in Mississippi,” Jordan said. “I saw the school and how grand it was, and I was intimidated. But then I got in there and started working with the kids and saw I had the opportunity to make sure that they didn’t experience some of the things I did. I fell in love and felt that this is where I was supposed to be.”
Jordan later served as a library technology specialist and parent educator at Feitshans. He then taught first and third grade at Dubois, Feitshans and Enos elementary schools while earning his administrative license and received the Horace Mann Rising Star Teaching Award.
After earning a master’s degree in educational leadership, Jordan served as a guidance dean at Washington Middle School. In 2014 he was named principal of Black Hawk Elementary, where he served for seven years and was recognized with the District 186 Administrator of the Year Award and the Illinois State Board of Education Award of Excellence. Jordan was also named one of Springfield Business Journal’s Forty Under 40.
Jordan became acquainted with retiring superintendent Gill when she was an elementary school principal.
“Jennifer Gill is more than a mentor, she’s a friend. When she was principal at Vachel Lindsay I was a parent educator at the time, and back then she saw things in me and we stayed in touch,” Jordan said. “She has poured into me over the years. It’s not about the legacy you leave, it’s about how many leaders you develop, and she’s developed some great leaders.”
Gill encouraged Jordan to seek his doctorate degree. His dissertation focused on an issue close to his heart – multitiered systems of support that provide students exactly what they need to be successful. These systems are now in place at District 186 schools.
Gill feels that Jordan’s selection was a wise decision.
“Dr. Jordan is the right person at the right time. His community connections run deep and his focus is on students and their futures,” Gill said. “I cannot be more pleased to spend the next four months alongside Terrance to provide a strong transition for District 186, students, staff and families.”
Terrance Jordan in his current office at District 186 headquarters. PHOTO BY DAVID BLANCHETTE
“Show them who Terrance Jordan was.”
Jordan didn’t think about eventually becoming superintendent until after he joined Gill’s cabinet in 2021.
“I saw that every job I took impacted more students, so about four or five years ago I said OK, I want to be superintendent, but it took me almost 20 years to come to that decision,” Jordan said. “I started preparing myself: I attended superintendent conferences, started reading leadership books and I graduated from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Springfield.”
Jordan applied for the position when Gill announced her retirement. The selection process included six separate interviews and involved the board of education, district and community stakeholders, teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, cabinet members, parents and business owners. The District 186 Board of Education used the Illinois Association of School Boards, a nonprofit group that has members across the state, to search nationally for candidates.
Jordan made it to the final round of the selection process and then had to make a presentation to the school board and interview with them again.
District 186 Board member Buffy Lael-Wolf said that Jordan stood out from the many internal and external candidates who applied for the position.
“Dr. Jordan brings both vision and heart to this role,” Lael-Wolf said. “He understands our district because he has lived our work. He knows our students, our families and our schools, and he has earned trust through years of service.”
Jordan was ecstatic when he was offered the job.
“I was overcome with joy and excitement,” Jordan said “My ultimate goal during the process was to show them who Terrance Jordan was and let them decide if that aligned with their needs for a new superintendent.”
The Springfield Education Association (SEA), the union representing District 186 personnel, looks forward to working with Jordan as they have during his two-decade tenure in the district.
“We congratulate Dr. Jordan for his promotional appointment and very much desire for him to continue to be an outspoken part of the push for positive change, what is best for all of our schools and kids, and work in collaboration with our 1,200 committed educational union members,” said SEA President Aaron Graves. “Education is hard and leading it toward better is a challenge that is every bit as hard, and something we must all commit to.”
The SEA recognized Jordan “as a very effective and respected principal” at Black Hawk Elementary and noted “he would always do what is right, despite the challenges, and engage students, staff and parents in difficult discussions in order to prioritize the value of school, all while pulling his share of the load,” Graves said. “Servant leadership matters. Terrance and I have spoken extensively about continuing to improve public education for the youth of Springfield, and that success cannot be found in a silo approach. We must all share the burden if we are to share in the success.”
Jordan acknowledged that he is a servant leader “who believes in service, leading with integrity and doing the right thing, I believe in standing up for what’s right even if you’re standing by yourself,” he said. Jordan agrees with the SEA that together they need to “build an environment where everybody feels important, everybody’s included and everybody feels welcome and wants to be a part of the environment. We also want to make sure that anyone who walks into our buildings feels safe, so that’s going to be a focus as well.”
“Learn about the exciting things that we do every single day.”
Addressing the district’s chronic absenteeism rate, which stood at 41% in the latest Illinois State Board of Education Report Card on all of the state’s schools, will be a priority for Jordan. He observed, “You can’t learn if you’re not here.” Jordan also wants to improve the state report card scores for several local schools by “honing our multitiered system of support, making sure we’re providing students exactly what they need to be successful.”
Despite the district facing an $18 million budget deficit, Jordan doesn’t immediately foresee the need for a possible tax increase, noting that voters have already supported the district by passing a one-cent sales tax increase that took effect in 2019.
Jordan was asked if he would keep all of Gill’s current District 186 cabinet members, given the financial constraints.
“It’s only right that if we’re asking everybody else to trim and do things more efficiently, that we do the same with the cabinet,” Jordan said. “So if there’s an opportunity to save funds, then we’re going to do that.”
Jordan said it’s important to show the great things that occur in District 186, and he invites families and other community members to get involved with local schools.
“During the pandemic people were told to stay away from our schools, but now I want them to come back,” Jordan said. “Support our schools and learn about the exciting things that we do every single day to make sure our kids are getting the best education they possibly can.”
Jordan hit the ground running from the day of his selection as he prepares to officially take the reins of District 186. Jordan’s wife, Ashley Jenkins-Jordan, is chief of staff for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, so the super-busy Jordans only have salt water fish at home instead of other pets because “we don’t have to go home and let them out,” Jordan said.
The couple have a 28-year-old daughter who lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Jordan also has a large extended family in the Springfield area “so be careful what you say about me because you might be talking to a relative,” he joked.
Jordan currently earns $192,000 as assistant superintendent and will earn $230,000 as District 186 superintendent.
Looking toward the future, when Jordan finishes his tenure as superintendent, how does he hope people will view his service?
“I want them to think the same thing they thought when they found out I was named superintendent,” Jordan said. “My being named brought so many people joy, and they felt the urge to reach out to me.”
This article appears in February 19-25, 2026.
