Cathy Moore is greeted by students and faculty at Fuller Elementary School in this 2018 file photo after being named Wake County Superintendent.
Wake County Superintendent Cathy Moore has been named a finalist for North Carolina Superintendent of the Year.
Earlier this week, Moore was named the Central Carolina Regional Education Service Alliance Superintendent of the Year. She is now among eight finalists for the 2022-23 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year award that will be given this fall.
“Superintendent Moore exemplifies grace and flexibility, providing focus and clear direction,” Wake school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey wrote in her nomination form for Moore. “Her heart is always in the right place, constantly thinking of what is best for the students, families, and employees of our district.”
This accolade comes after Moore was National Superintendent of the Year in April by Magnet Schools of America. Last year, Moore was named the 2021 Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina PTA.
‘Stellar education leader’
Moore has been superintendent of North Carolina’s largest school district since May 2018.
Moore, 58, has worked in Wake since 1988, when she joined Enloe High School as a French teacher. She would later go on to become principal of Sanderson High School, where she was named the district’s Principal of the Year in 2007.
She later moved to central office, becoming an area superintendent and deputy superintendent before becoming the district’s first female and first Latina superintendent.
The last Wake superintendent to win the state award was Jim Merrill, who was named 2017 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year by the N.C. Association of School Administrators.
The news that Moore had been named a finalist for the state’s top prize led to congratulations from her colleagues.
“Congratulations to a stellar educational leader — well deserved,” Cumberland County Superintendent Marvin Connelly, who used to work with Moore in Wake, tweeted Tuesday.
This story was originally published June 8, 2022 12:32 PM.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article262291272.html