Dr. Fay Simpson Sprouse, Ware Shoals School District Superintendent, recently received the 2024 South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) Lifetime Achievement Award.
Each year up to three education administrators receive the prestigious award, which recognizes the lifetime achievement of veteran administrators. Winners were announced at the SCASA Awards Dinner on May 15, 2024, where they received a monetary honorarium presented by the South Carolina Association of Governmental Organizations (SCAGO). They will be publicly recognized during the Innovative Ideas Institute (i3) in June. Others receiving the award this year are Mrs. Becky Brady, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel in Anderson 1 and Dr. J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County School District.
Dr. Sprouse has spent 39 of her 40-year career at her alma mater. She taught elementary school after graduating from Erskine College in 1984. After earning her Master's degree in 1992 at Furman University, she worked one year as a Federal program coordinator in Abbeville School District before being selected as principal of Ware Shoals Primary in 1994. She was appointed as Superintendent in 2001. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Clemson University in 2009.
She has been a member of SCASA since 1994 and currently holds the office of SCASA Board President. She also has served as Superintendents' Affiliate Representative and as a mentor for future leaders.
According to the selection committee, recipients of the SCASA Lifetime Achievement award demonstrate evidence of outstanding leadership as an educational administrator, a record of service and leadership as a member of SCASA and its affiliates, community service not directly related to the education profession, and service to the profession above and beyond normal job responsibilities.