Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) Superintendent Dr. Kent Scribner has been named the 2014 Out-of-School Time Champion by the Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence (AzCASE).
He will receive the award at the annual Statewide Out-of-School Time Awards of Excellence Luncheon on Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Also at the luncheon, innovative out-of-school time programs and staff from around the state will be recognized for their exemplary work in delivering quality youth development programs.
Previous Out-of-School Time Champions include Helios Education Foundation Founding Chairman Vince Roig, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O‚Connor, Center for the Future of Arizona Chairman and CEO Lattie Coor, and Arizona businessman, philanthropist and community advocate Eddie Basha, who passed away in 2013.
“During his career, Dr. Scribner has set the bar very high in terms of quality education both during the school day and in every out-of-school time situation and venue,” said AzCASE Executive Director Melanie McClintock.
“His input and perspectives on many Arizona out-of-school time many initiatives and outreach have been invaluable and have helped inform not only strategic direction but the success of those efforts.”
Scribner has been superintendent of the largest high school district in Arizona, serving more than 27,000 students in grades 9 through 12, since 2008. During his tenure, Scribner has led several successful educational initiatives. Among the most notable are Phoenix Union becoming the only district in Arizona to offer International Baccalaureate programs at two schools and the first-ever Montessori High School program in Arizona established at Camelback High School in 2012.
PUHSD has reacted very positively to Scribner’s implementation of a mission to prepare “every student for success in college, career and life” that has been credited with helping every school in the district in 2011 being rated Performing, Performing Plus, Highly Performing or Excelling by state accountability labels.
Before joining Phoenix Union, Scribner was the superintendent of the Isaac Elementary School District from 2003 to 2008.
Frequently called upon by business leaders, community organizations and educational institutions to share his expertise on urban education, he was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano to the Arizona School District Redistricting Commission in 2005. In 2008, he received the Excellence in Educational Leadership Award from the University Council of Educational Administration.and, in 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Scribner to the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
Born in Los Angeles, Scribner earned a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Carleton College in Minnesota, an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Temple University and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Arizona State University. He moved to Arizona in 1992 as a graduate assistant at ASU, where he examined issues of quality and diversity in Phoenix Union regarding the district‚s court-ordered desegregation.
He is married and has two children.