PASA is now seeking nominations for 2020 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year.

The National Superintendent of the Year program, sponsored by First Student, AIG Retirement Services and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, pays tribute to the talent and vision of the men and women who lead the nation’s public schools. This is the 33^rd year for the national award program.

To be considered for National Superintendent of the Year, a Pennsylvania applicant must first be selected as Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year by the PA Association of School Administrators (PASA).

Criteria

Each candidate for Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year will be judged on the following criteria:

Leadership for Learning – creativity in successfully meeting the needs of students in his or her school system.

Communication – strength in both personal and organizational communication.

Professionalism – constant improvement of administrative knowledge and skills, while providing professional development opportunities and motivation to others on the education team.

Community Involvement – active participation in local community activities and an understanding of regional, national, and international issues.

Nominations

Any Pennsylvania superintendent who plans to continue as a superintendent or I.U. Executive Director may be nominated. The program is designed to recognize the outstanding leadership of active, front-line superintendents. It is not recognition of service at retirement or a program to reward current state or national leaders.

Additional criteria for Pennsylvania nominee eligibility include the following:

• The individual must be both a PASA and AASA member.
• The individual must have been a superintendent for at least five years and in his/her current district in Pennsylvania for at least two years.
• The individual must intend to continue serving as a superintendent in the year in which he/she will be the PA Superintendent of the Year.

All nominations will be accepted online only. Those seeking to nominate a Pennsylvania superintendent must first register on the AASA Superintendent of the Year website. (Self-nomination is not permitted.) AASA will notify candidates of their nomination.

The deadline for submitting formal, online nominations for Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year consideration is Friday, July 26. Nomination information is available on the AASA Superintendent of the Year web site at https://soy.aasa.org.

Applications

Nominees for Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year who are found eligible according to the established criteria will be asked to complete the PASA application rubric (not the online AASA application). Completed application rubrics must be received by the PASA office no later than Friday, August 30.  

Selection Process

Members of the PASA Elections Committee and the PASA President will review all applications no later than September 6 and recommend to the PASA Board of Governors a minimum of two (2) finalists but not more than three (3) for consideration as Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year.

Those applications then will be presented to the Board for the purposes of voting (online). The finalist who receives the majority vote (at least 51 percent) will be considered the Pennsylvania recipient of the award.

At that point, the individual selected will be notified and will be asked to complete the formal, online AASA application for Superintendent of the Year by the November 1 deadline.

Recognition

The 2020 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year will be recognized and honored during a special luncheon this fall.

The 2020 National Superintendent of the Year will be chosen from among four finalists selected from the state winners and will be announced at the 2020 AASA National Conference on Education in San Diego  (February 13-15) during a ceremony where all state Superintendents of the Year are recognized and honored. In addition to other awards, a $10,000 scholarship is presented each year in the name of the National Superintendent of the Year to a student in the high school from which the superintendent graduated. The four national finalists receive U.S. Savings Bonds.

Questions about the PA/National Superintendent of the Year application process may be directed to PASA at pasa@pasa-net.org.