Press Release
For release: 12/14/2022
Submitted by: Jason D. Lemley
LCSS Receives GSBA's Leading Edge Award for 4th Year in a Row!
Earlier this month, the Lumpkin County School System received the Georgia School Board Association’s (GSBA) Leading Edge Award in the area of Continuous Improvement. Accepting the award on behalf of the LC BOE and district was Superintendent Dr. Rob Brown and BOE members Lynn Sylvester and Mera Turner.
According to GSBA, the Leading Edge Award recognizes innovative and “out of the box” practices by governance teams and school districts. With an emphasis on highlighting school districts who are leading the way in ensuring students are competitive in an ever-changing global market, the GSBA Leading Edge Award recognizes the design and implementation of projects and programs that are having a positive impact.
For a school system to be eligible to apply for this award, they must: 1) promote and advance public education through integrated coordinated advocacy action; 2) engage partners to address critical issues; and 3) provide needed services to support the local community. School districts are invited to apply for this award each fall and must choose one of the nine components of the Georgia Vision for Public Education that aligns to the district’s innovative practice. Components include: 1) Continuous Improvement; 2) Communication; 3) Early Learning and Student Success; 4) Teaching and Learning; 5) Teaching and Learning Resources; 6) Human and Organizational Capital; 7) Governance, Leadership and Accountability; 8) Culture, Climate and Organizational Efficacy; and, 9) Financial Resources.
In its fourth year of existence, all 181 school districts in Georgia are eligible to apply for the Leading Edge Award. This year, eighteen school districts were recognized at the GSBA Annual Conference Award Ceremony as a Leading Edge district for 2022 with Lumpkin County Schools being one of two districts (along with Chattahoochee County Schools) receiving the award for Continuous Improvement.
Superintendent Rob Brown remarked, “This marks the fourth year in a row Lumpkin County has received this award (every year since its inception) having been recognized in 2019 for Communication, in 2020 for Human and Organizational Capital, and last year in 2021 for Culture, Climate, and Organizational Efficacy. Only four out of 181 districts in the state of Georgia have received the GSBA Leading Edge Award all four years (Lumpkin County, Jefferson City, Rockdale County, and Walton County). With our district’s strategic planning process, the involvement of our stakeholders in reviewing and analyzing our goals, measures, and progress, and our commitment to providing the best education for all our students in Lumpkin County, this recognition from GSBA is a testament to our district’s focus on never accepting the status quo but rather continuing to find ways to improve every single day. Thank you to our Board of Education, to our district and school leaders, and to all of our teachers and staff for striving for excellence in all that we do!”
