The Pinnacle Awards celebrate the work of outstanding districts whose innovative solutions maximize resources and enhance student achievement.

Congratulations to the 2024 Pinnacle Award recipients—innovators in school business management!

Pinnacle of Excellence Award

Howard-Suamico School District
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Michael Juech, EdD, SFO, Assistant Superintendent of Operations

Howard-Suamico School District turned an environmental safety crisis into an opportunity to strengthen safety processes and procedures, build community relationships, and share lessons learned with other districts.

In Spring 2022, the district experienced a large-scale evacuation and reunification of approximately 900 students when an unknown odor was detected at one of the district’s middle schools. “Although the odor proved harmless in the end,” according to assistant superintendent of operations Michael Juech, “the situation tested many areas of the emergency preparedness of the district and helped identify opportunities for growth, training, and improvement. The district was able to use the experience to steer our vision of what safety and security needed to include.”

Juech says the district developed strong collaborative relationships with first responders and community leaders, was able through a grant to provide training around safety and reunification and had the opportunity to share what they learned with their colleagues in other districts.

Pinnacle of Achievement Awards

Hanover County Public Schools
Ashland, Virginia
Christina Berta, MBA, SBA, SFO, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations

Hanover County Public Schools launched a collaborative initiative that addressed the need for more streamlined pre-K education in the community. Christina Berta, assistant superintendent of business and operations, explains that “through strategic thinking and collaboration,” the district’s instructional and finance teams were able to move from a model of three separate preschool programs to create a comprehensive pre-K setting that includes special education and general education students in one classroom.

Mansfield Independent School District
Mansfield, Texas
Jeffrey Brogden, Associate Superintendent of Operations

After a visit to a regional service center that utilizes experiential learning, Jeffery Brogden sketched the initial design for the prototype for the early learner's academy on a paper napkin. Mansfield district leaders and stakeholders collaborated to establish an early learners academy that engages pre-K students in a full time curriculum of experiential learning and immersion on a daily basis. The district encourages others to visit and observe. “It is our district’s goal to improve all public education opportunities,” Brogden says.

Pattonville School District
St. Ann, Missouri
Mary Jo Gruber,CPA, CGMA, SFO Chief Financial Officer/Operating Officer

Pattonville School District uses a purchasing process to leverage the district’s ability to provide extended-learning opportunities to students and expose them to a variety of careers. Chief financial officer/operating officer Mary Jo Gruber explains that the district uses value-added services, which are additional offerings provided by businesses that go beyond their core product or service offerings, to provide extended learning opportunities for students. “For example,” Gruber says, “construction companies allow students to job shadow, accounting firms perform onsite visits to a classroom to connect the current curriculum to real-life accounting, or engineering firms sponsor robotics leagues or scholarships for AI events.”