Wednesday, February 04, 2009

 

School Superintendent Wins State Award

Several times during the life of this blog I've mentioned the high quality of the Mason County Schools system in Kentucky where my two youngest attend. Now, Tim Moore, Superintendent of Mason County Schools, has been named Kentucky Superintendent of the Year.

First, I must say that Mr. Moore earned this through personal effort and by building a great staff at all levels. I've mentioned before how Associate Superintendents Kelly Middleton and Elizabeth Petitt have wrote a book detailing their approach to improve their schools.

Not only have the academics at Mason County Schools improved but extra-curricular activities have flourished as well. Students now have a myriad of activities from which to choose. The basketball team has won two state championships under two different coaches during Mr. Moore's tenure. The football team has won several district championships.

The school has made tremendous progress. In my book, they could be more open to unsolicited input from parents. Like most educators, they take too much of a "we know best" attitude. There's too much of "we want parental involvement but only how we say." I suspect this is a problem in virtually school.

But overall, these schools are light years ahead of where they were when Mr. Moore took over.

Particulars:
Moore took over the reins in Mason County in 1997 and a year later had to lead the district back from a $500,000 court judgment that left it with a negative general fund balance. In her nomination of Moore, school board Chairman Ann Porter wrote that he asked district personnel to create opportunities from obstacles. The plan was effective and by 2008, the general fund balance was just over $4 million.
Porter cited Moore's changes in hiring practices as one of the reasons the district's academic index has seen steady growth and has met all No Child Left Behind goals. Moore has also fostered better relationships with students and faculty and staff, asking for their input to identify areas of concern and for ways to solve problems, officials said.
Mason County volunteer hours have increased dramatically, with 52,000 hours documented in 2007.
Not bad.

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