State association names Steven L. Walts Region IV Superintendent of Year for second time

The Virginia Association of School Superintendents has named Dr. Steven L. Walts, Superintendent of Prince William County Public Schools, as Region IV Superintendent of the Year for the second time. Walts has led Virginia’s second-largest school division since July 2005.

He is one of eight superintendents from 140 school divisions across the state who were finalists for the Virginia Superintendent of the Year. He was also named Region IV Superintendent of the Year in 2010.

Walts was recognized for demonstrating innovative leadership, clearly targeting teaching and learning.

He has helped to establish Prince William County Public Schools as one of Virginia’s leading STEM-focused divisions and for supporting academic rigor, particularly through specialty programs from elementary through high school. Such programs include International Baccalaureate, Cambridge, and Advanced Placement Scholars; and others that emphasize biotechnology, environmental and natural sciences, information technology, and international studies and languages.

Further, schools Divisionwide offer opportunities for students to be involved in robotics, and PWCS students achieve at the state, national, and international levels in robotics. Walts played a major role in the opening of the academic day Governor’s School @ Innovation Park, a STEM school that serves PWCS students and the region as a whole.

Virginia’s Region IV includes 20 school systems in the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park, and Winchester; and the counties of Fairfax, Fauquier, Page, Arlington, Frederick, Prince William, Clarke, Loudoun, Rappahannock, Culpeper, Madison, Shenandoah, Warren, and Orange.