TASA has selected Lubbock-Cooper ISD Superintendent Keith Bryant as Texas’ nominee for 2020 National Superintendent of the Year, an award given by AASA | The School Superintendents Association.
Bryant has served as superintendent of Lubbock-Cooper ISD, a fast-growing district of nearly 7,000 students in southern Lubbock County, for the past six years.
He began his 28-year career in education in his hometown of Lamesa, after earning his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Texas Tech University and working in the financial industry for several years. Realizing his calling was education, Bryant returned to Lamesa to teach and coach at the high school level, then earned his Master of Education degree and moved into administrative roles. Ultimately, he earned his superintendent certification and led Lamesa ISD as superintendent. Prior to moving into his current role in Lubbock-Cooper ISD, he served as superintendent of Bullard ISD for six years.
For Bryant, the students of Lubbock-Cooper ISD come first. “One of the things I most respect about public education is that we are charged with educating all students who enter our classrooms,” he said. “It is my genuine belief that every child is capable of learning and success, and this is a vision I know is shared by the entire staff of Lubbock-Cooper ISD. We love kids, we believe in kids, and we work tirelessly to ensure kids receive every possible opportunity to achieve.”
Bryant currently serves as the Region 17 representative on the TASA Executive Committee and as chair of the TASA Advocacy Committee. A TASA member since 2012, he has served on a number of other TASA committees and is a member of TASA’s Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Network and Texas Public Accountability Consortium. Bryant also served as president of the Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools (2010-2013). In addition, he was appointed to the P-TECH Advisory Council and serves on the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Legislative Council, the Fast Growth Schools Coalition Steering Committee, the TASB Lone Star Investment Pool Board of Directors, the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and the Lubbock Area United Way Board of Directors. He is also involved in a number of community and church activities.
In September, following his selection as Region 17 Superintendent of the Year, the Texas Association of School Boards named Bryant the 2019 Texas Superintendent of the Year. Now, as a state nominee for AASA National Superintendent of the Year, Bryant will be considered by a panel of judges from across the U.S. that will select four finalists to be interviewed in Washington, D.C., in January. The 2020 National Superintendent of the Year will be announced and the state nominees honored at AASA’s National Conference on Education in San Diego February 13.
