Director of Schools Mark Willoughby was recognized at the monthly meeting of the DeKalb County School Board Thursday night by the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents for having been named the 2013 Upper Cumberland Superintendent of the Year.
Keith Brewer of the TOSS presented Willoughby an award in honor of the achievement at the meeting, saying that Willoughby missed winning  Superintendent of the Year for the state by less than a point.
“We have a competition for Superintendent of the Year that is based on finalists that we have from each developmental district,” Brewer said. “Mr. Willoughby represented the Upper Cumberland District. He was nominated and elected as the finalist for the Upper Cumberland. He joined seven other superintendents across the state. It was a close competition this year. Some outstanding leaders were there. The Upper Cumberland Superintendent of the Year won last year and she is now the current deputy commissioner from Putnam County, which is in the Upper Cumberland, so whatever you're doing down here, it's right.
“This year, Mr. Willoughby did not win but what separated him from the eventual winner as Superintendent of the Year representing Tennessee in Los Angeles this year was less than a point," Brewer continued. "We have independent readers, about nine of those are judges from across the state and they are made up of retired superintendents, higher education, supervisors, and practitioners in the field and they do the judging. That's a process that takes them sometimes a week and then they send the scores to us and we certify those scores and count those,” he concluded.