Contact: Lisa Deffendall • First Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Amid accolades for raising student achievement, restoring trust with the community, assembling a strong leadership team, improving communications and focusing the district on students, Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman today was named the Kentucky Superintendent of the Year.

“It’s a recognition that Fayette County is moving forward and making gains in student achievement because of Stu’s leadership,” said Fayette County Board of Education Chair Becky Sagan, who nominated Silberman for the award.

Since taking the helm of the state’s second-largest school district in 2004, Silberman has become known for his mantra, “It’s About Kids,” even changing the name of the district’s Main Street office to “It’s About Kids” Support Services as a tangible reminder of the primary mission of the school district.

Silberman said he was humbled to receive the award, but gave credit for the success in the Fayette County Public Schools to district employees, students, parents and community, civic and business leaders.

“This recognition is an affirmation of all of the hard work that’s been going on in our district and our community,” Silberman said. “There’s a great synergy from the different parts of our community to come together to do what’s best for kids.”

The Superintendent of the Year Award is presented by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators and sponsored by Scientific Learning. The award is given annually to one superintendent who has demonstrated outstanding education leadership, creativity in meeting the diverse needs of students, strength in professional and personal communication, consistent professional development as well as motivation of district staff, and active involvement in the community.

In announcing Silberman’s selection, Wayne Young, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, called Stu “a proven educator whose leadership has yielded tangible and sustained success in two Kentucky school districts.” He went on to say, “his hands-on, energetic and focused leadership style has allowed him to accomplish both the practical and the visionary in his current district.”

When Silberman was hired in 2004, he was Fayette County’s fifth schools chief in less than three years. As Young said this morning, he inherited a “district marked by instability, public distrust, internal dysfunction and unfulfilled potential.”

Working tirelessly to build relationships with every segment of the community, Silberman has helped refocus everyone on a common mission – doing what’s best for kids.

“Stu was certainly the right person at the right time,” said P.G. Peeples, president and CEO of the Lexington Urban League. “He brought with him the skills and talents necessary for us to refocus what was at the time a dysfunctional system.”

In her nomination letter, Sagan summed up what Silberman has accomplished during his four years in Lexington: “After many years of lack of enthusiasm and guarded views of our schools, there is revitalization in the community that Fayette County Public Schools can achieve great success – all because of Mr. Stu.”

The Kentucky Superintendent of the Year is selected by a statewide judging panel and given a commemorative eagle sculpture and a $2,000 scholarship for a high school senior in his or her district. This is the first time a superintendent from Fayette County has ever been selected for the honor.

“This award sends a message across the state and across the nation that in Fayette County, we’re serious about providing the best education for our kids and that we’re moving to become a world-class system,” Peeples said.

Silberman will go on to represent the Commonwealth in the National Superintendent of the Year competition. The American Association of School Administrators will name the National Superintendent of the Year at its annual conference in February.

With more than 34 years experience in the field of education, Silberman previously was superintendent of Daviess County Public Schools in Owensboro, Ky., for nine years. He also served more 21 years in the Chattanooga, Tenn., school system, where he was a teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, area superintendent, assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent for resource management.

In what might be unprecedented in our Commonwealth, today’s honor is the third time Silberman has been selected as Kentucky’s top superintendent. In 2000-01 he was selected by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, and in 2001-02 he received the F.L. Dupree Outstanding Superintendent Award from the Kentucky School Boards Association.