City superintendent awarded state honor

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland Superintendent Suzanne Godin has been named Maine’s 2012 Superintendent of the Year from the Maine School Superintendents Association.

Godin received accolades for her focus on student achievement and her ability to generate community support for the city’s schools, the group said.

Godin, who has been superintendent in South Portland since 2007, was selected by a committee of her colleagues, including former award recipients, Maine School Superintendents Association officers, and presidents of Maine’s superintendent regions.

She received the award on Oct. 26 at the Maine School Superintendents Association annual meeting in Augusta.

“I believe this is recognition of the good work our students, teachers, administrators and board have been doing to support achievement in South Portland,” Godin said.

Godin served as assistant superintendent in South Portland before being named superintendent. Prior to that she was a principal in MSAD 51 serving Cumberland and North Yarmouth. She is active in professional associations, currently serving on the Maine School Superintendent’s Association Executive Committee; as president of the Casco Bay Educational Alliance; and, as the legislative liaison for the Cumberland County Superintendent’s Association.

South Portland School Board member Karen Callaghan nominated Godin for the award, calling her an “absolute dynamo.”

“I have never known anyone so knowledgeable about all aspects of education,” said Callaghan, praising Godin for keeping board members, school staff and the community engaged in school improvement.

This was critical during the campaign to get voter support in 2010 for a major renovation and expansion of South Portland High School. That project is expected to go out to bid in December.

“Suzanne’s leadership in the school department, her dedication to the project and her willingness to provide information at all hours and at a moment’s notice were crucial to the passage of the bond measure,” said Jeffrey Selser, the spokesman for the group that backed the project.

Selser said Godin brings the same dedication and professionalism to championing the school district’s budget and educational programs.

Godin said her greatest accomplishment was developing both adult education and preschool programming in South Portland.

“I feel these two programs were in response to community needs. Both are serving populations of our community that are looking to better prepare themselves through education,” she said.

Her greatest challenge, Godin said, is “balancing all of the various needs of the community, the students, the teachers and the financial realities we all are facing right now.”