Spectrum - Volume 21 Issue 08 October 15, 1998 - Teaching programs honored at education conference

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Teaching programs honored at education conference

By David Nutter

Spectrum Volume 21 Issue 08 - October 15, 1998

Fred Morton, superintendent of Montgomery County Schools, will be the keynote speaker for the Fifteenth Annual Excellence in Education Conference on November 5 and 6.
Morton's address, "Transforming New Ideas into Effective Educational Practice," will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center (DBHCC) auditorium. The public is invited to attend, free of charge. Presentation of the award winning programs will take place from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, Nov. 6, in the DBHCC. Reservations for the awards luncheon can be made through the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center.

Morton's district includes 20 schools covering 450 square miles and serving rural and suburban communities and a number of towns including Blacksburg. His career also includes experience as an elementary teacher, a middle-school assistant principal, a principal at two high schools in Virginia, and an assistant superintendent in New York. He spent seven years as a staff member at IDEA in Dayton, Ohio, where he conducted training for school improvement facilitators and developed a variety of programs for school leaders.
Morton is known as a "hands-on superintendent" who models his belief that all members of the school division must be active learners to make continuous improvement a reality. His goal is to be engaged with groups that are focused on solving problems that will enhance the learning of all children in his school division.

Morton served in the Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army where his active duty included a tour in Vietnam. He continued in the Army Reserves for many years where his responsibilities included leading extensive training activities
Since its inception in 1983, the Excellence in Education Awards Conference has recognized innovative approaches to teaching and learning in Virginia's public schools and community colleges. The awards conference, presented annually by the College of Human Resources and Education at Virginia Tech, has become a forum in which Virginia public-school educators gather to present ideas and exchange information with Tech professors. Twelve award winners and 24 certificate-of-recognition recipients were chosen.
For the fourth year, the Excellence in Education conference will include the World of Work awards, presented by the Blue Ridge Training and Education Council in recognition of contacts with an exceptional ability to create an educational experience that uses real-world applications. Entrants are judged on the integration of academic, technical, and career education in preparing students for the workforce and enhancing the education and economic development potential of the Blue Ridge Region of Virginia. Eight Virginia public-school educators will be presented awards.
For more information, call 1-5056.