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District's leader is Southeast Region Superintendent of Year
The Southeast Education Alliance has announced that LCPS Superintendent Brent Williams has been named the Regional Superintendent of the Year for the 2020-2021 school year.
This nomination was generated from the Alliance Council of Superintendents and was unanimously approved by the group. Williams serves as the liaison for the Council to the State Superintendent’s organization, NCSSA, and provides a strong voice on behalf of our Alliance at the State level.
The Southeast Alliance includes superintendents from 14 counties in southeastern NC including Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Clinton, Craven, Duplin, Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Sampson, and Wayne. This honor includes a nomination as a candidate for the 2020 A. Craig Phillips North Carolina Superintendent of the Year Award to be announced in November. The state winner will go on to compete for the national award to be offered by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).
“Brent Williams demonstrates his passion and commitment to Lenoir County and the public education systems of North Carolina daily as he works with his colleagues, his Board of Education, his State and local leaders, and most importantly his staff, students, and families. His leadership has continued to be a model for superintendents and all educators to view, especially as we work in this critical time of shared and collaborative engagement with so many different stakeholder groups. He is an advocate for education on all of the major issues we are experiencing throughout the state,” said Dr. Kathy Spencer, Executive Director of Southeast Education Alliance.
“I want to thank Dr. Kathy Spencer, the Southeast Education Alliance, and the Alliance Council of Superintendents. It is an honor and a great pleasure to lead Lenoir County Public Schools and to represent the school districts in the Southeast Region as Regional Superintendent of the Year,” Superintendent Williams said.
“I am proud of the progress that our district has made over the last few years with strong gains in student achievement, in the steady progress of our one-to-one digital learning program and the partnerships we’ve forged with Lenoir Community College and area businesses and manufacturers that are creating many additional opportunities for our students. I am very thankful for the opportunity to lead our district and to work with such outstanding teachers, administrators and other staff members who do all that they can every day to fulfill the mission of making truly the best possible and most meaningful learning opportunities a daily reality for the young people that we are so richly blessed to serve.”
Williams’ five-year tenure as superintendent has been marked by strong positive trends for the district – rising test scores, record-high graduation rate, record-low dropout rate, dramatic declines in the discipline rate, year-to-year gains in grant awards and scholarship dollars and a region-leading dual enrollment program that provides a path for students to earn up to two years of college credits while still in high school.
Superintendent Williams currently serves as Region 2 president and a member of the board of directors of the North Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. He is the Southeast Region representative on the Executive Board of the North Carolina School Superintendents Association. Other professional affiliations include membership in the North Carolina Association of School Administrators, Southeast Education Alliance, Southeast Alliance Council of Superintendents and UNC World View Council of Advisors.
With the uncertainty the ongoing public health crisis has imposed on education, Superintendent Williams has accepted additional leadership duties related to operation of the state’s public schools. He serves as a member of the Southeast Regional School Re-Entry Task Force, working with superintendents, community health offices, school staff and community leaders to plan for safe and orderly school operations. Through the North Carolina School Superintendents Association, he serves on a state-level strategic planning task force studying issues related to school closures and reopening.
A former teacher, principal, director, executive director, and associate superintendent with Lenoir County Public Schools, Brent Williams moved into the superintendent’s role in January 2016.
A native of Mount Olive and the son of educators, Williams earned undergraduate degrees from Mount Olive College and Barton College, Master of School Administration degree, Educational Specialist requirements and licensure certifications from East Carolina University. He is a candidate for a doctor of education degree in educational leadership from ECU.
He was chosen as finalist for the district’s Teacher of the Year in 1997 and was twice named LCPS Principal of the Year, in 2004 at Contentnea Elementary School and in 2009 at North Lenoir High School.
Superintendent Williams and his wife, Amy, have two children, Austin and Abigail.