Meet Your Leadership Team

Hello Cougar Run Community,

My name is Shannon McPherson and I am humbled and honored to be the principal of Cougar Run Elementary. I am over the moon to begin my 14th year at Cougar Run, learning and growing along side all of you. My goal is to continue our journey together toward educational excellence - cultivating the knowledge, skills and dispositions that we believe all students need in order to be successful beyond their educational careers. I chose Cougar Run because I have firsthand knowledge that this school is filled with the most talented, compassionate and dedicated educators. Cougar Run has been an organization of excellence since it opened in 1996. Together, we will continue that tradition of excellence. Get excited because this is a journey of hard work mixed with a lot of fun!

During my last 13 years as a staff member at our fantastic school, I have gotten to know many of you. For those of you I will soon meet, I am excited to build relationships with you! I am a people person - I love partnering with families and have a strong belief that the best way to foster educational excellence for our students is to have a strong school/family partnership. That is one of the things I am most excited about this year; building relationships with families and providing opportunities for families to be involved in our school. Another thing I am excited about is reconnecting with our students and staff. These last few years have been the hardest most of us have had educationally and even personally. It made things the most difficult on what we value most, such as building and maintaining a strong, positive and inclusive culture and climate in our school. We will be continuing the work on fostering a welcoming, loving and nurturing environment for our kids in order to ensure academic and social-emotional growth and progress of every single one of our students.

I began my educational career 25 years ago as a teacher in the Weld County School District. After years in the classroom, I obtained an instructional literacy coach position in Aurora Public Schools. My family had always resided in Douglas County, so I then seeked and obtained a teaching position here at Cougar Run. It is here where I threw out my anchor, and have since grown from classroom teacher into leadership as our building’s Professional Learning Specialist, Assistant Principal and now, the Principal of this fantastic school. When I first walked through the doors of this fabulous school, I knew I never wanted to leave. When you know you are in a great place, your goal becomes to continue to grow and foster greatness alongside all of those humans who make Cougar Run one of the premiere schools in Douglas County.

When I am not at school, I have many outside interests. I love the outdoors and being active. Alongside my large family of four teenage boys and husband, we ski in the winter, and hike and wake surf in the spring, summer and fall. I have some solo passions, too. I am an avid runner and yogi as a firm believer in health and wellness to maintain balance. I have an amazingly supportive husband. In addition to our four boys we have a fur baby named Jameson who joins us on many of our outdoor adventures.

These last few weeks of summer are precious. Enjoy your time with your children. Then, on August 8, it’s time for us to get this 2022-2023 school year started together. I look forward to all of the great things ahead of us this year!

Sincerely,

Shannon McPherson

Principal, Cougar Run Elementary

Hello! My name is Jessica Simmons and I am the Professional Learning Specialist (PLS) for Cougar Run Elementary. I wear many hats, including instructional coaching, professional development, Gifted Education Facilitator, as well as Gifted Lead for the Highlands Ranch Feeder area. I am a Colorado native, born and raised in Boulder, CO. I have a wonderful husband, Matt, and two children, Aidan and Lily, who bring me more joy than I ever thought possible! My education includes a B.A. in Speech, Language and Hearing Science alongside my Elementary Education major. I also have my Master's Degree in Instructional Technology and I earned my National Board Certification in Middle Childhood. I have taught primarily 4th and 5th grade, and I've been a proud member of the Douglas County School district since the year 2000. I shifted into the position of PLS during the 2011-12 school year and I have enjoyed working with students, teachers and the community in this amazing role!

Please feel free to contact me with any wonderings. I look forward to a productive and engaging year working with the wonderful kids, staff, and families at Cougar Run!