Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson is a finalist for a national award honoring outstanding contribution in urban education.

The Green-Garner Award is the highest honor given to a superintendent or school board in urban areas by the Council of the Great City Schools, an organization that works to improve academic performance in the nation’s largest urban school districts. The winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship to award a student within their district.

“It is a huge honor to be named a finalist for the Green-Garner Award,” said Superintendent Hopson. “I am proud that the District is being recognized for the innovative vision of our leaders and all of the hard work that our schools, families and students are putting in everyday so that we continue to see academic growth.”

Highlights of Superintendent Hopson’s five-year tenure include:

• SCS recently received the second highest rating on the Tennessee Department of Education’s 2018 Accountability Report.
• Since the initial Priority School list, 28 of our schools have earned their way off.
• Over the past 5 years school years, all iZone schools experienced increases in success rates and that growth continued until the 2017 TNReady assessment change.
• At the beginning of 2018, Superintendent Hopson implemented a plan that increased all full-time employees’ wages to a minimum of $15 an hour, citing the importance of all District employees earning a living wage.

Superintendents from Buffalo, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Miami, New York City and Pittsburgh are also finalists.

The winner will be announced at the Green-Garner Awards Banquet on Thursday, October 25th in Baltimore, MD.