By Scott Harvey
Fort Worth – The Texas Rural Education Association (TREA) is scheduled Friday to honor Dr. Graham Sweeney as Superintendent of the Year.
Sweeney has served the Boles ISD for 24 years. He was notified of the award in April.
"We've had a lot of great things happen through Boles," Sweeney said. "Boles, out of the 1,040 public schools not counting charters, is the poorest district in the state but yet we've been able to do quite well."
As superintendent, Sweeney organized the STAR-Texas (Student Transfers Across Rural Texas) initiative which helped allow transfer students opportunities to further their education while minimizing racial discrimination across school boundaries. As a result, Boles ISD was able to quadruple its enrollment and add many new facilities.
The district currently has 540 students, with 350 transfer students from 13 other school districts. Additionally, the district has a waiting list of about 100 students.
Dr. Sweeney will receive the award during the Texas Rural Education Association's annual conference Friday in Fort Worth.