Meet The Team
Gwendolyn Cooke, Ph.D.
Gwendolyn J. Cooke, Ph.D. has worked in senior level positions in these urban districts: Kansas City, MO, Warrensville Heights, OH, Cincinnati, OH, Savannah, GA and Baltimore, MD. In Missouri, Gwen also worked for the university system in Warrensburg and Kansas City directing the Mentoring and Coaching Certification Program for 23 school districts and developing an evaluation system for ten (10) Charter schools. As well, Gwen served as a consultant in assessment for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
Gwendolyn spent the 2007-2008 school year in the United Arab Emirates coaching and mentoring two school principals and consulting with the Ministry of Education.
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Martinez Denmon
Martinez Denmon is a recently retired lifelong resident of Kansas City. He was a journalism and history major at Coffeyville College and Iowa State University where he played basketball and was drafted by the Boston Celtics.
Martinez's professional career includes over 30 years in sales with educational publishing companies Houghton Mifflin and Pearson Education. This sales responsibility included managing a team focused on major urban school districts, with successes in Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, Dallas, Memphis, Chicago, and St. Louis. Within the first five years of employment, Martinez became the Midwest Regional Manager and spent the final ten years of his career as company Vice President.
Our only objective is to create a “level playing field” for all students. This project my two colleagues and I have embarked upon is a belief of the prior statement.
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Martha Thompson
Martha Thompson has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. As a 40+ year veteran in the field of education, she was employed in the following school site-based positions: Classroom Teacher; Student Adjustment Center Coordinator; Instructional Specialist; Curriculum Implementation Specialist. As a central office administrator for over 20 years, Martha held the following positions: District Diversity Coordinator; Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator; and retired as the Director of Humanities (supervised social studies, art, music and physical education).
During her professional career, Martha was an active board member of the Missouri Social Studies organization. She was a member of the team that assisted in the development and implementation of the MMAT for the social studies content area. In addition, she chaired a KCPS Educational Equity Committee composed of educational professionals and community leaders who represented the ethnic and racial groups represented in the school district. The committee was charged with examining and making recommendations to the board to ensure equity was addressed in all areas of the district including hiring practices, curriculum, instruction, assessment and instructional resources and methodology.