TASA has selected Dr. LaTonya Goffney, superintendent of Lufkin ISD, as Texas’ nominee for the 2018 American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Superintendent of the Year award.
Goffney has served as superintendent of Lufkin ISD, a school district of 8,200 students in East Texas, since 2013. During her tenure as superintendent, the district has stepped up its communications efforts to engage the community and create a collaborative culture, focused on improving literacy skills, especially those of low-income students, and committed to ensuring all students make progress.
“I always tell our teachers and leaders that we are not responsible for how our students come to us, but we are responsible for how they leave us,” Goffney says. “The goal of Lufkin ISD is for all students to show growth and progress.”
Lufkin ISD is also focused on preparing students to be future-ready. Goffney has been active in TASA’s MISSION: School Transformation initiative and was a member of TASA’s Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Institute — a group of 39 superintendents and senior-level district administrators in the early stages of their careers who came together in 2012 to understand, design and initiate innovative systemic changes in Texas public schools.
In addition to her membership in TASA, Goffney holds leadership positions in the Texas Association of Suburban/Midsize Schools, Texas Leadership Center, and Texas Council of Women School Executives. She also represents Texas as a member of the AASA Governing Board.
A native of Coldspring, Texas, she began her career as a language arts teacher in Coldspring-Oakhurst ISD. Goffney served as an assistant principal, principal and superintendent in that district before coming to Lufkin. She holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Sam Houston State University.
She is married to Joseph Goffney, and they have two children: Joseph Jr., 17; and Joslyn, 13.
In October, the Texas Association of School Boards named Goffney the 2017 Texas Superintendent of the Year. While the TASB Superintendent of the Year program is not affiliated with the AASA program, honorees of the TASB program are encouraged to apply for the AASA award.
As a state nominee for AASA National Superintendent of the Year, Goffney will now be considered by a national blue-ribbon panel of judges that will select four finalists to be interviewed in Washington, D.C., in January. The 2018 National Superintendent of the Year will be announced and the state nominees honored at AASA’s National Conference on Education in Nashville February 15-17.
