By Jay P. Goldman |

Veteran superintendents from Iowa, New York and North Carolina are vying to become AASA’s president in 2022.

Shari L. Camhi	Theron Schutte	Rodney Shotwell

The contenders are:

Shari Camhi, superintendent of Baldwin Union Free School District in Baldwin, N.Y.

Theron Schutte, superintendent of the Marshalltown Community School District in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Rodney Shotwell, superintendent of the Rockingham County School District in Eden, N.C.

The three declared candidates for president-elect were formally certified during a virtual meeting of the AASA Governing Board on Tuesday, Feb. 16.

They will deliver prerecorded remarks about their candidacies during a forum at AASA’s 2021 National Conference on Education at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18. AASA past president Deb Kerr, who chairs the election committee, will moderate.

Voting for president-elect opens on Feb. 19 when all eligible AASA members receive their electronic ballots. The voting deadline is March 12, and AASA plans to announce the victor’s name on March 15. That individual serves for a year as president-elect starting July 1 before assuming the AASA presidency a year later.

Members may vote on any electronic device – cell phone, tablet, desktop or laptop. Members without e-mail addresses will be mailed their ballots via the U.S. Postal Service.

Kerr, who chairs the election committee, expressed concern that only about one in five members of AASA vote in the association’s presidential elections. She urged Governing Board members to encourage voting in the next few weeks to raise the 20 percent figure. “We can do better,” she told fellow board members.

Biographical background on the three candidates follows.

Shari Camhi:  She has served since 2014 as superintendent of Baldwin Union Free School District. Previously, she worked in several Long Island districts: Lindenhurst Public School District as assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and instructional personnel, Glen Cove School District as assistant superintendent and Mineola Union Free Schools as assistant superintendent. She began her career as a special education teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y. She served as a member of the AASA Governing Board and holds a doctorate in organization and leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University. Camhi joined AASA in 2007.

Theron Schutte: He has worked as superintendent of Marshalltown Community Schools since 2016. Previously, he served as superintendent of Bettendorf Community Schools and Boone Community Schools, both in Iowa. He holds a Ph.D. in educational administration and policy studies from Iowa State University. He served 12 of the last 13 years on non-consecutive terms on the AASA Governing Board and Executive Committee. Schutte joined AASA in 2004.

Rodney Shotwell: He served since 2006 as superintendent of Rockingham County Schools.  Previously, he was superintendent of Macon County Schools in Franklin, N.C., and principal of Lexington Senior High School in Lexington, N.C. He started as a high school social studies teacher in Burlington, N.C.  He earned a doctorate in educational leadership and cultural foundations from University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has served on both the AASA Executive Committee and the AASA Governing Board. Shotwell joined AASA in 2007.

(Jay Goldman is editor of Conference Daily Online and AASA’s School Administrator magazine.)