Woodstock High Principal Named Administrator Of The Year

WOODSTOCK, GA — Woodstock High School Principal Mark Smith's strong support for his media center and its programs is readily evident, whether he is cheering on the Reading Bowl team, tweeting about media center activities, or even spending 10 hours on the floor with a wrench, assembling new library tables in time for the first day of school.

Smith's dedication to his school's media center recently earned him the Georgia Library Media Association's Distinguished Administrator of the Year award. He was surprised earlier this month with the award by students, administrators, media specialists and his family in, of course, the school's media center.

Media Specialists Jennifer Cogdill and Kimberly George nominated Smith for the award, the first one ever given by the GLMA (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

"When we think of moral support, we envision Mr. Smith. There is no other administrator who shows his support for media specialists with such veracity every single day," they wrote. "He continually asks us, 'What can I do for you?' and 'What do you need from me?' in order to help us progress and advance our media center into a better place for students."

Cogdill and George noted Smith's support of their updates and changes to the media center in the last three years as they have changed the space physically and programmatically.

"Our school library is not the traditional library in which all is quiet with the focus on books," they wrote in his nomination letter. "Mr. Smith is a supporter of this nontraditional library where we collaborate, we building instructional and community partnerships, we encourage students to create and we think aloud."

GLMA implemented the award to recognize those administrators, outside the library profession who, through individual leadership and sustained effort, have made worthy contributions to the operations of effective school library services and to advancing the role of the school library in the educational program. In addition, it recognizes the responsible and influential role of those administrators that aid in developing successful school library programs.

Smith was also surprised at the award presentation by his wife, Katie, and sons Noah and Robert. The celebration included remarks by GLMA officers, presentation of an etched glass award, followed by refreshments.

Photo: Principal Mark Smith with Media Specialists Kimberly George, left, and Jennifer Cogdill, right. Credit: Cherokee County School District