Maryville leader named Tennessee’s Superintendent of the Year

The director of Maryville City Schools is this year’s Superintendent of the Year in Tennessee.

Mike Winstead received the award Sunday in Gatlinburg during the annual banquet of the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, or TOSS.

Winstead has led Maryville’s school system for three years and was assistant director prior to that. He’s served on Education Commissioner Candice McQueen’s testing task force, as well as the working group that helped to draft parts of Tennessee’s plan under the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

He will now represent Tennessee in the national competition sponsored by the American Association of School Administrators.

Winstead was chosen from eight regional superintendents of the year, including:

  • Eddie Pruett, Gibson County, Northwest;
  • Troy Kilzer, Chester County, Southwest;
  • Danny Weeks, Dickson County, Mid-Cumberland;
  • LaDonna McFall, Coffee County, South Central;
  • Jennifer Terry, Bledsoe County, Upper Cumberland;
  • Melanie Miller, Athens City, Southeast;
  • Mischelle Simcox, Johnson County, First Tennessee

Last year, Superintendent David Stephens of Bartlett City Schools received the state’s top award.