BLECKLEY COUNTY, Ga. — The Bleckley County superintendent is one of four finalists out of about 180 districts for the 2021 Georgia Superintendent of the Year.
"We could probably all share the award this year after going through COVID and what everybody has gone through," Steve Smith said.
Smith was the Superintendent of Wilcox County 12 years ago before coming to Bleckley County in 2014.
"We had a great visit with Advanced Ed, which is the accrediting organization that comes nationwide that accredits us and we had a great review with them. We were told one of the highest scores in the country actually with Advanced Ed," Smith said.
Bleckley County has consistently placed in the top 10 highest performing districts in the state with the lowest amount of costs.
"I like to brag that we do the most with the least. We're one of the poorest districts in the state. There are only 10 districts that are poorer than us, based upon the way the state calculates wealth for equalization for grand purposes. So I feel like we really do a lot with a little," Smith said.
He's developed open communication with local leaders about the needs of their families, which played a big part in his reopening plans during the pandemic.
"We have 86% of our students who are doing face to face instruction. We started on August 10, which is our normal start date. I think we moved it maybe one day is all from a Friday to a Monday. It has gone extremely well. We have been extremely fortunate that we haven't had any outbreaks," Smith said.
He credits the district's success to his staff members, families and partnerships with local businesses. He hopes this award will bring a spotlight to all of their hard work.
"It's a great honor, it's recognition but it's really about recognizing our school district not about Steve Smith," Smith said.
Smith mentioned their partnership with Vizitech, which creates a direct pipeline for coding jobs for students who want to work with artificial intelligence right out of high school.
Superintendent Noris Price from Baldwin County Schools is also one of the four finalist for the state Superintendent of the Year.