Four veteran educators, plus the immediate past president of the association, received AASA’s Distinguished Service Award during the 2nd General Session on Friday in Nashville, Tenn.
The recipients were:
- Tacy Ashby, senior vice president of strategic educational alliances at Grand Canyon University and a former superintendent and state education agency administrator in Arizona;
- Alton Frailey, a 33-year veteran educator who retired in 2016 after serving as superintendent of the 74,000-student Katy Independent School District near Houston, Texas, for nine years. He was president of AASA in 2016-17.
- Darlene Pierce, who served as director for the National Teacher of the Year Program at the Council of Chief State School Officers from 1981–1990 and the National Superintendent of the Year Program from its beginning more than 30 years ago and continuing until 2009.
- Jerry Weast, who spent 35 years as a superintendent of school districts in five states, retiring three years ago from the Montgomery County, Md., Public Schools. During his tenure, Montgomery County received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for management excellence.
- Jane Westerhold, an educator for more than 40 years before retiring as superintendent of the Community Consolidated School District 62 in Des Plaines, Ill., in 2016 after 11 years. She was the 2015 president of her state association and served on the AASA Governing Board.
Pierce was unable to attend the event.
For more information about this award and the recipients, see the official AASA press release.