Heath Morrison, superintendent of Washoe County School District in Reno, Nev., was named Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrator at the National Conference on Education in Houston.
AASA honored Morrison in light of the district’s high school graduation rate increasing to 70 percent from 53 percent since 2009, the year Morrison became Washoe’s superintendent.
“Despite the fact that Nevada’s once-booming economy has been in steep decline, Heath has led his community in the development of a district-wide five-year strategic plan to ensure that every child receives a high-quality education and graduates from high school ready for college or a career,” said Dan Domenech, AASA executive director. “Already, the district is seeing results. We can learn from his success.”
Washoe has also seen significant test score gains and has narrowed the achievement gap in many subject areas, and the district is actively engaging the community by working with parents through its new Parent University and involving businesses and volunteers in schools through the Community Compact, a program between the district and several community organizations.
Todd Duncan, fleet manager for Washoe’s transportation department, added that Morrison has increased resources for the district’s communications department, which now regularly works with transportation to update parents and students of, for example, late starts or school cancellations due to weather via the Connect-Ed automatic telephone notification system. The district recently won an award for its communciation programs.
Washoe County is the second- largest district in Nevada and serves about 63,000 students who attend 93 schools in the area. Approximately 22,000 students are transported from home to school via yellow school bus. Transportation runs 200 regular ed buses and 100 special needs buses as well as 425 other vehicles and equipment.
Other AASA national finalists joining Morrison were: Diane L. Frost, superintendent of Asheboro City Schools, Asheboro, N.C.; Lorraine Lange, superintendent of Roanoke Country Public Schools, Roanoke, Va.; and Susan Smith Bunting, superintendent of Indian River School District, Selbyville, Del.
The four were chosen from 49 state Superintendent of the Year finalists, all of whom represent excellence in school leadership nationwide, said AASA. The annual awards program is open to all U.S. public school superintendents as well as superintendents in Canada and in American International Schools. Finalists are judged by their leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement.
