Guilford County Schools issued the following announcement on Feb.18.
At their National Conference on Education on Friday, Feb. 18, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) announced Superintendent Sharon L. Contreras as the recipient for the Superintendent Award as part of the organization’s 2022 Women in School Leadership Awards.
The award pays tribute to the talent, creativity and vision of outstanding women educational administrators in the nation’s public schools.
Applicants from across the country were judged and measured on their leadership for learning, communications, professionalism and their community involvement.
“As someone who gets to see her leadership first-hand, I’m so elated that Superintendent Contreras’ peers and colleagues from across the country have recognized something I’ve known for years,” said Guilford County Schools Board Chair, Deena Hayes. “Sharon Contreras leads people and our district to heights we’ve never seen before and her legacy is one that is truly lasting.”
In the application, the district’s response to unprecedented learning loss across the country, the passage of the $300 million bond, the effort to ensure the district became a 1:1 technology district as well as several other notable accomplishments were highlighted.
“AASA’s Women in School Leadership Awards recognize outstanding leaders in public education who are driving positive change in our school districts and motivating academic achievement for our students,” said Marita Zuraitis, president and CEO of Horace Mann who sponsors the award. “These women have excelled while navigating a constantly changing landscape.”
Contreras became the first woman of color, first Latina and first person with a disability to lead Guilford County Schools in 2016. She was named Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina PTA in 2019, a North Carolina Regional Superintendent of the Year in 2020 by the Piedmont Triad Educational Consortium and she was a top five finalist for the Green Garner Urban Education Leadership Award given out by the Council of the Great City Schools in 2020.
Original source can be found here.
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