*Editor’s Note: Classes resume for the 2024-25 school year at Callaway Public School two weeks from today. We realize there may be families who are new to the Callaway school district, or have kiddos starting school for the first time. Knowing the people you are choosing to leave your children with for eight hours a day can help bring a little bit of peace of mind in the midst of the chaos. For the next three weeks we will introduce you to the three CPS administrators, and the staff members joining the district this year. We begin with Superintendent JD Furrow.

“The buck stops here” is a common phrase referring to the boss, or the person at the top rung of a business or organization ladder. For Callaway Public School that person is JD Furrow.

Furrow took the helm at CPS on July 1 as superintendent of the district. He came to Callaway from Sandhills Public School, where he most recently served as principal and superintendent.

A native of Mullen and 1992 graduate of Mullen High School, Furrow had the opportunity to teach at his Alma Mater from 2000-2012. However, he said that pursuing a career in education was not always his plan. “When I first enrolled in college I was pursuing a degree in engineering. After a year at Lincoln, I really missed athletics and decided I wanted to be a math teacher and a coach, so I transferred to Kearney and graduated from UNK in 1997,” he explained.

Working with kids and building relationships has been the fuel for his career, Furrow said. “I think the main factors that steered me into education were the mentors I had as a student. I was blessed to have great teachers and some of the best coaches in Nebraska when I was growing up. I know the impact they had on my life and my moral compass, and I always wanted to be able to be that kind of role model as

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As far as his post-secondary education goes, Furrow said he has a “potpourri of credits and schools”. He earned an undergraduate degree in math education with a coaching endorsement from UNK. “I then have about half of a master's degree worth of courses in mathematics from both UNK and UNL,” he added.

Furrow took a job as a counselor at Mullen Public School so he took a few summers of school counseling classes from Chadron State College. “Before I finished that degree, we moved to Anselmo-Merna. While there I went back to UNK and got my EDAD (Educational Administration) degree as well as my specialist certificate for superintendent,” Furrow added. “I have always been a life-long learner and I enjoy the challenge of taking classes to better myself, so I am not sure that I am done going to school yet.”

He began his teaching career in Arapahoe where he taught for three years before returning to his hometown of Mullen. He taught in Mullen for 12 years before deciding to pursue a career outside of education.

“During the summer of 2012, I began the process of entering law school, but Broken Bow had a tragedy where they lost their math teacher in a bus accident.

When I was asked if I would consider taking the math job in Broken Bow, I felt that I could put my plans on hold for a year to help them out,” said Furow. “It was a great year, and I was reinvigorated to teach.”

In 2013 a math job opened up in Anselmo-Merna, his wife's Alma Mater, so he moved his family to Merna where he taught, coached, served as the AD, and a head teacher. “My time at Merna motivated me to go into administration,” Furrow shared. “When a job in Sandhills opened up in 2019, I took the opportunity to be the K-12 principal and superintendent. While I loved the people I worked with, the kids of our school, and the challenges of being both principal and superintendent, I felt that I was being spread a little too thin and wasn't doing the job justice. So, when the job at Callaway opened up, I applied and was hired to be just the superintendent this year. I am very excited to work with a great team here at CPS.”

Just as our state has plenty of openings for teachers to choose from, the same can be said for administrators. Furrow said there were a handful of superintendent positions open this year that he was interested in.

“What made me choose Callaway was easy...my wife,” Furrow said. “I told Christi that I was going to start applying to other jobs than Sandhills and she was excited by the thought of moving to Callaway.

We had been a commuter family for the past five years and she wanted to move and be a part of a community again. She loves everything that Callaway has to offer; the stores, the hospital, the swimming pool, and most importantly 25 minutes from our first grandson. The sell for me was easy, I have been around Callaway's school system since the mid 80's and Callaway's reputation as a school that emphasizes academics, arts, performance, and athletics gives me goosebumps. We have multiple CTE (career technical education: Ag, Family Consumer Science, Business) areas for kids to pursue as well. Students from CPS can really become anything their heart desires.”

His wife, Christi, is an RN-BSN who has worked in long term care for about 25 years. She will be filling the role at the school as a nurse this upcoming year.

The couple has five young men: Matthew, an attorney in Broken Bow; Aaron, who lives and works in Omaha where he has become quite the volleyball player; Jacob, a 2021 graduate of Sandhills High School who works in the kitchen at Brookestone View in Broken Bow; Andrew, who also graduated from Sandhills and is working for the National Forest Service as a rangeland fire fighter; and Caleb is “our caboose”. He will be a junior at Callaway High School this year. Furrow said Caleb has made a lot of new friends and is really excited to start his school year at CPS.

JD and Christi have one grandson, John, the 1 1/2 year old son of Matthew and Haley. The couple is expecting their second child in February.