Geoff Thomas, superintendent of Madison School District, was named as the 2015 Idaho Superintendent of the Year, selected by members of the Idaho Association of School Administrators (IASA). This is a comprehensive award that considers student achievement, instructional leadership, community engagement and relationship with the board of trustees.
Rob Winslow, executive director of the Idaho Association of School Administrators said: “Geoffrey is and always has been an exceptional leader. He is well deserving of this honor.”
Thomas will be receiving this award and representing Idaho at the National Superintendents Conference next month in San Diego.
“It is a great honor and very humbling to be selected by my peers. This award is really a recognition of the amazing students, teachers, administrators, board of trustees and staff in MSD321. Madison is the finest school district in Idaho,” said Thomas.
Thomas has served as Madison superintendent the past 14 years. In this time, he has been instrumental in building two new elementary schools and remodeling six others.
Thomas has been an outspoken statewide opponent of Common Core State Standards and standardized Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium or (SBAC) test.
Thomas said: “CCSS, ISEE and SBAC are about corporations making money off public education and not actually education itself. They are vehicles by which corporations rake in our hard earned tax dollars by forcing us to accept curriculum, student tracking and testing that we never requested or needed.”
Board Chair Kevin Howell said: “Dr. Thomas has always been a forward thinker. He is not one to sit by and accept everything that is sent down the chain. He is the first to stand up and fight for local control as well as our being able to decide what is best for our children.”
Thomas is also a member of Rotary Club and is currently serving as vice president of the Rexburg Chamber of Commerce and will become President in March, 2015.
Thomas and his wife Janalee have five children. In his spare time Thomas loves to read, spend time with his children and grandchildren, exercise and cruise on his motorcycle through the back roads and scenic byways of southeast Idaho.
