Richard Branson - GSV Advisors

Innovative Superintendents 91
Superintendent District Claim to Fame
Heath Morrison Washoe County School District
(NV)
Graduation rate up from 56% to 70% in 2 years;
community outreach
Diane Frost Asheboro City Schools (NC) Sharply narrowed math achievement gap; record
high graduation rates of 84%
Lorraine Lange Roanoke County Public Schools
(VA)
Laptop initiative
Susan Smith Bunting Indian River School District (DE) Delaware Vision 2015 initiative; RTT trailblazer
Marc Johnson Sanger Unified School District (CA) Professional learning communities; top gains in
state in academic achievement
Tom Trigg Blue Valley Unified School District
(KS)
Student collaboration with local business leaders
Mary Alice Heuschel Renton School District (WA) Dramatic dropout reduction; all-time high
graduation rates of 93%
Penny Fisher Greenville County School System
(SC)
Virtual schools and twilight schools; integrated
engineering curriculum
Similarly, in an interview we conducted with John White, Louisiana Superintendent of
Education and Former New York City Deputy Chancellor, in August 2011, he commented
on the appearance of opportunity and the barriers in creating change:
I am always surprised by the low hanging fruit of opportunities for technology in
education, and how little is actually explored. I attribute this to the following: the
culture of ‘no’ within this bureaucratic industry; structural issues of K-12
purchasing, provisioning, processes and restrictions on funding (i.e. what the
money can and can’t be spent on) limiting investments in infrastructure; and the
needs of schools are generally neither articulated nor entirely evident.
91 Sources: GSV Advisors
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