The American Association of School Administrators named John R. O’Rourke the 1997 National Superintendent of the Year at its annual conference in Orlando, Fla., last month.
Mr. O’Rourke, 52, has been with the 5,400-student Pittsford Central School District near Rochester, N.Y., since 1992 and is a former chief of the Fulton, N.Y., schools.
As part of the award, the AASA will present a $10,000 scholarship to a student in the high school Mr. O’Rourke graduated from. He will also receive a medallion and a $2,000 savings bond.
The National Skill Standards Board has appointed Edie West as its executive director. Ms. West is a leading training and business-management consultant. She will direct the work of the board, which is charged with encouraging a business-led effort to create a voluntary national system of skills standards for various occupations. Created by Congress in 1994 to set occupational benchmarks for job training and vocational education, the Washington-based panel is composed of leaders in the fields of business, education, labor, and community affairs. ... Education Alternatives Inc. has appointed a new executive team to oversee its efforts to run charter schools and private schools. Its members are: Joseph Appel, vice president, development and assessment; Nancy Gerard Hall, vice president, development and curriculum; and Harry Powers, vice president, development and consulting. The Minneapolis, Minn.-based company, which seeks contracts with local school districts to run schools, was recently awarded management of as many as 12 charter schools in Arizona, as well as an international charter school in Boston. (“EAI Gets Charter To Run Up to 12 Schools in Ariz.,” Jan. 29, 1997.)
The Washington-based Brookings Institution has named author and education scholar Diane Ravitch as the first recipient of the Herman and George R. Brown Chair in Education Studies. Ms. Ravitch is a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings and a senior fellow at New York University.
As part of her role with the Brookings Brown Center for Education Research, Ms. Ravitch will edit a new policy journal titled the Brookings Papers on Education Policy, which will be published annually.
--ADRIENNE D. COLES acoles@epe.org
