Philip Lanoue, the schools chief in the Clarke County school district in Athens, Ga., was named national superintendent of the year today in San Diego.
The announcement came during the annual conference of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.
Lanoue has led the 13,000-student Clarke County school system since 2009.
The other finalists were MaryEllen Elia, former superintendent of the Hillsborough County schools in Tampa, Fla.; Patricky Murphy of the Arlington, Va., schools; and Patrice Pujol of the Ascension Public Schools in Donaldsville, La.
All four finalists were selected as winners in their individual state contests for superintendent of the year.
Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Miami-Dade district in Florida, won the national award in 2014.
Thursday marked the first day of the AASA conference, where members are celebrating the organization’s 150th anniversary. Several superintendents are blogging their observations from the conference at AASA’s website.