Beaufort County School District Superintendent Herman K. Gaither today will receive the 2002 Frank Withrow Outstanding Achievement in Education Leadership Award from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) at ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
Press Release from the Beaufort County School District
The award, sponsored by 3COM Corporation, is among the activities scheduled for CoSN’s K-12 School Networking Conference this week.
"I’m happy to accept this award on the part of everyone in the school district, and across Beaufort County, who has helped us put technology at children’s fingertips," Gaither said Monday. "Learning with technology today is essential for success in tomorrow’s world."
Two years ago the Beaufort County School District received the Ohana Foundation’s national award for technology leadership in public schools.
The CoSN Outstanding Achievement Award is based on Gaither’s efforts and results in four separate categories of blending education with technology:
- Providing leadership in using telecommunications and information technologies to increase student learning.
- Improving teacher access and productivity through support of information technologies.
- Developing public and/or private sector partnerships and policies that provide connectivity to learners in schools.
- Increasing the public’s understanding of the importance of school networking to improve student learning and teacher productivity.
Gaither was selected from a long national list of nominees from school districts, state and federal agencies, nonprofits, as well as elected government officials.
"We are honored to present this award to Herman Gaither," says CoSN Board Chair Jim Hirsch. "He has provided the kind of leadership that has enabled Beaufort County School District to make dramatic strides in implementing technology to promote student achievement."
Gaither’s success is due in great part to his responsible and strategic approach to technology in education throughout the 1995-1997 school years, CoSN leaders say. At this time, as resources became available to the district from a 1995 bond referendum, Gaither wouldn’t allow individual school participation unless they first justified their ability to use the new computers and interconnecting networks.
As a condition of securing computers, software, networks and training, each school was required to draft a technology plan that clearly described how academic achievement would be improved by technology. No plan, no computers.
"We wanted to be sure that each principal knew how teachers would use the computers," Gaither said. "We weren’t interested in just piling computers at the back of each classroom – teachers and principals had to have a plan for using those computers to improve learning. We look at computers as another tool for learning."
In more recent years, Gaither has helped bring the district the Learning with Laptops program and its supporting community-based, non-profit SchoolBook Foundation.
"The world has changed a lot in recent years, and education has changed a lot too," notes Earl Campbell, chairman of the Beaufort County Board of Education. "We know that our students have to understand how to use computers and the Internet, because that’s how the world operates now.
"We’re proud that Mr. Gaither and the School District are getting this award, but the real winners are the children who are learning so much more today with technology than we could just 10 years ago," Campbell said.
One of Gaither’s latest accolades is his role in partnering the district with SRI International and a three-year, $1.75 million National Science Foundation grant.
The money is earmarked to improve science education with wireless, handheld computer devices. The program will begin next fall.
Gaither has more than 40 years of experience with the Beaufort County School District with background as both a teacher, curriculum specialist and financial officer.
He serves on the board of directors of WorldClass Schools, a non-profit organization promoting education reform, and on the advisory board of the South Carolina Commission on Teacher Quality. He also has presented internationally at Microsoft educational summits.
The CoSN award is named in honor of Frank Withrow, a longtime leader in the education technology movement. He is responsible for research in immediate visual memory, the development of multimedia language products, paired associate learning and all grades of social curriculum.
This is the third year for the Withrow Award. Past winners include Superintendent Joe Kitchens of Western Heights, OK, and the first year CoSN honored Carol Bird-Kauzner, technology director for Ft.Huachuca Accomodation School in Arizona.
CoSn is a national education technology association whose mission is to promote use of the Internet and telecommunications to improve K-12 learning. Its annual education technology policy and practice conference attracts school district, state, national and corporate community leaders who require up-to-date information on emerging technology issues.
