Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is the 2017 Latino Superintendent of the Year, according to the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS).
In a statement, executive director Nancy Lewin said, “The committee was very impressed with your application, your work, your passion and commitment to education and your continued involvement with ALAS.”
The association held its annual awards gala Thursday in Washington, D.C., but Hinojosa did not attend. Instead, he was at the school board meeting.
"I'm very honored and humbled to be selected for this prestigious award by ALAS, where I formerly served on the board, and as the SLA director," Hinojosa said in an emailed statement. "ALAS works to address challenges in education, particularly those impacting Latinos, and I'm very proud to be associated with the organization."
According to the group, the issue of recruiting and retaining more Latino administrators has reached a critical point as Latino kids are projected to comprise 25 percent of school-age children by 2025.
Last September, KERA looked into this issue with a story about Latino superintendents leading school districts in Texas’ largest cities. At the time, half of the state’s 20 largest cities had Hispanic superintendents in charge, including Dallas’ Hinojosa, Fort Worth’s Kent Scribner, Houston’s Richard Carranza and Arlington’s Marcelo Cavazos.
Last fall, Cavazos was named Texas Superintendent of the Year by the Texas Association of School Boards.
