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Dr. Gary Norris began his tenure in Sarasota County on April 1, 2004.
Dr. Norris started his career in 1972 as a vocal music teacher in
Kansas. Six years later, he became a high-school administrator. In 1983
Dr. Norris obtained his Ph.D. degree in Education Leadership from Kansas
State University in Manhattan, Kansas.
Since 1982 Dr. Norris has been a school superintendent serving in three
states: Kansas, Minnesota and Florida. He gained Florida experience as
Superintendent of the Indian River County School District from
1989-1994. Following that, he headed the Salina Public School District
in Kansas. While in Salina, Dr. Norris and his staff were credited with:
closing the achievement gap at some of the district's lower
socio-economic schools; passage of a $100 million referendum to totally
renovate the district's schools; passage of the first sales tax for
education, which connected each classroom to a state-of-the-art voice
video and data system and moving their large high schools to the
"Smaller Learning Community" concept.
While in Kansas, Dr. Norris also assumed a number of state leadership
roles, most recently in the area of school finance. He was president of
"Schools For Fair Funding," a group of 14 mid-sized Kansas school
districts that sued the state of Kansas over inadequate and inequitable
school funding. The lawsuit was successful at the district court level
and the decision was recently upheld by the Kansas Supreme Court.
Dr. Norris and his wife Julie, a nurse, have two grown children, Nathan
and Natalie. An active member of the community, he has served as:
President of the Salina Area United Way, President of the Salina Rotary
Club, Workshop Leaders at his church, member of the Boy Scout Executive
Council and an organizer of the Salina Community Roundtable.
Since his arrival in Sarasota, Dr. Norris has; launched a new strategic
vision for the district; joined ranks with Sarasota County in a unique
partnership to share IT services; laid the foundation for a new
technical-high school; worked in partnership with the teacher's union to
expand research based collaborative planning activities; implemented a
research base screening process for teacher selection; and organized a
principal's instructional leadership academy.
Today he will discuss "NeXt Generation Learning"
which acknowledges that we must find new ways to ensure that all
children learn high much higher levels and each child is placed on a
pathway for success.
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