By JUDY SHERARD
jsherard@dailynews.net
NORTON -- Greg Mann, superintendent of Norton Community Schools USD 211, credits the district's board of education with his involvement in state professional organizations.
Mann, in his 36th year in education, received the Kansas School Superintendents Association 2011 distinguished service award. Mann was recognized as the award winner in February at the Council of Superintendents meeting at the Kansas State Department of Education.
"We have an outstanding board. They encouraged me to be more involved with state organizations," Mann said. "If not for them, I wouldn't be receiving this award.
The local board of education serves as the conscience of the community, he said.
"I've been blessed with boards that know when to pull the rope and when to give you rope."
The distinguished service award is given annually in recognition of outstanding contributions and leadership. Mann knows he was nominated by a peer, but doesn't know who it was.
This is his fourth year on the board of directors of the organization. He also was a member of the leadership team reorganizing the group and chaired the workgroup to increase representation, especially from smaller districts.
"That was my baby," Mann said.
The reorganization allows representation on the board based on geographic location and enrollment.
It's important for western Kansas to have a strong voice, he said.
Superintendents in small districts, the norm in western Kansas, are responsible for duties that are delegated to others in larger districts.
"I can't imagine not knowing everyone I work with," Mann said.
KSSA fosters professional development helping superintendents enhance their skills and mentoring others in a structured program.
"It's rewarding to help other superintendents just starting their careers," Mann said.
In addition to the board of directors, Mann is on the Council of Superintendents, which meets with the Kansas Commissioner of Education as an advisory group. Mann said the council was part of a conference call that discussed extending the testing window because of bad weather.
A native of Garden City, Mann began his career in education teaching in Grainfield.
He first worked in Norton as junior high school principal and athletic director for 10 years.
That led to administrative jobs in Leoti and WaKeeney.
He returned to Norton as superintendent and has been in the district for 20 of the last 23 years.
Like most educators who have been in the field for some time, Mann cited technology as one of the biggest changes in education. That includes the way schools operate.
Mann said he remembers when the Garden City district had one copy machine that was kept in a locked room because it was so expensive to operate.
Now copy machines are common, and every class has a whiteboard rather than a chalkboard.
There also has been a philosophical change in education from a teaching model to a learning model, he said.
Before the change, teachers taught the material, and the students were charged with learning it. Now the philosophy is, it's "my responsibility as a teacher to make sure you learn it," Mann said.
Funding has changed, too.
"Before 1992, schools were funded locally; now it's centralized," he said.
The nation is moving toward a federal school system with a centralized set of standards like the common core.
"That way a score in Kansas is the same as in Nebraska," he said.
Computers have made much of that possible.
Because of the attachment of Lenora USD 213, the Norton district will have no funding cuts; however, even with flat funding, Mann said the district's costs continue to go up.
He still finds his work in education satisfying, though, and has no plans to retire.
His wife, Brenda, teaches general science, psychology and sociology at Norton Community High School. Their four children all graduated from Norton schools. The couple also has two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren. They will add a son-in-law to the family later this year.
