JOPLIN, Mo. —
C.J. Huff, superintendent of the Joplin School District, is one of four finalists to be nominated for the 2013 National Superintendent of the Year award by the American Association of School Administrators.
The finalists were selected from 49 state-level winners.
The program honors the leadership and contributions to education of public school superintendents. The association will announce the winner on Feb. 21 at the National Conference on Education in Los Angeles.
In an email statement Thursday night, Huff said: “I’m honored to be representing the Joplin schools and the state of Missouri as a finalist. I couldn’t be more proud of the work we have done together as a school community to improve the quality of education for our kids in Joplin. We’ve stayed the course under some very trying circumstances.
“I have been saying for a long time that if we continue to do the right things for the right reasons, good things will happen. I certainly don’t see this recognition for our district as an end, but more as a beginning. This recognition very clearly reaffirms what I already knew. ... We’ve got good people inside and outside our schools who love our children and don’t quit when the going gets tough.”
The other finalists are Wanda Cook-Robinson, superintendent of Southfield (Mich.) Public Schools; Mark Edwards, superintendent of the Mooresville (N.C.) Graded School District; and Maryalice Russell, superintendent of the McMinnville (Ore.) School District.
“AASA is honored to present these four outstanding superintendents,” said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director of the association, in a statement. “They represent the best in school system leadership today.”
On Tuesday, the finalists will be at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where they will participate in a panel discussion. The finalists will be interviewed by a national selection panel.
Huff’s nomination states that after his arrival in 2008, the Joplin School District adopted a comprehensive plan to address lackluster student performance and low levels of community engagement. The student dropout rate has been cut in half, community support has increased, and the district has established 280 partnerships with local businesses, faith-based groups and social service agencies to meet student needs, the nomination said. The program has become the model for the creation of Bright Futures USA, which now serves nearly 50,000 children in a dozen Missouri school districts.
Huff holds a doctorate in education leadership from the University of Arkansas, and a master’s degree in educational leadership and a specialist degree in education from Missouri State University. He received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Pittsburg (Kan.) State University.
Scholarship
A $10,000 COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP will be presented in the name of the award recipient to a student in the high school from which the superintendent graduated or the school now serving the same area.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Joplin superintendent nominated for national honor
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
-
-
Joplin insurance agent seeks donations for Moore, Okla.
After losing an office building and her home in the tornado on May 22, 2011, Loretta Bailey is familiar with the destruction that a tornado brings. The 400 households that her insurance agency helped through the aftermath of the tornado also know that loss. \
-
SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
-
Joplin team drove through storm to get to Moore
It was a long drive in the middle of a severe thunderstorm that had earlier produced a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. With the two-year anniversary of Joplin’s deadly twister approaching on Wednesday, a team of 14 Joplin emergency workers was ready to risk the trip in order to get help to a hurting Moore.
-
Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
-
Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
-
Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks
The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.
-
Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
-
Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
-
Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
-
Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
-
