Stevens receives Marshman-Hall award

NORWICH – It’s not often that an organization has the privilege of working with the long-standing leadership of individuals so focused on quality, continuous improvement, community collaboration, and, most importantly, students – individuals who absolutely epitomize the vision, beliefs and quality standards of the BOCES organization.

Dan Marshman and Bob Hall, both former members of the BOCES Board of Education, served their communities and our BOCES in an exemplary fashion. They believed deeply in the power of education. They were convinced that our work at BOCES prepares our youth and our adults to make this area a better place. They gave unselfishly of their time, their ideas, their support, and of themselves. We miss them for what they gave us as Board Members, but more importantly for what they gave to us as people. The DCMO BOCES Board of Education is commemorating their service through The Marshman-Hall Commitment to Education Award to both memorialize their contributions to our area and to serve as a vehicle for BOCES to annually recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to education in our BOCES region.

The purpose of this award is to recognize, annually, an individual who exemplifies the ideals of former BOCES Board Members Dan Marshman and Bob Hall. These ideals include:

• A commitment to what is in the best interest of students,

• An orientation of service to the community, and

• A focus on the continuous improvement of the educational enterprise.

The recipient of the second annual Marshman-Hall Commitment to Education Award is Grayson Stevens. Stevens received a joint nomination from Richard Dansingburg and Gerald Griffith.

Stevens has been a very successful and respected educator in our area for more than 30 years. From 1973 to 1985, Stevens served as the Guidance Counselor in the South New Berlin School District. He then moved to the Oxford Academy and Central Schools to be their Middle School Counselor. Several years later Stevens become the Middle School Principal at Oxford and in 1993 became the Superintendent of Schools. He served as Oxford’s Superintendent until his retirement in 2005. After just three weeks of retirement, Stevens answered the call of the Bainbridge Guilford Central Schools to be their Interim Superintendent for the 2005-2006 school year.

As Counselor, Principal, and Superintendent, Stevens has always kept the best interests of students first and foremost. Always well liked and respected by students of all ages, he is a hands-on administrator who knows his students and is active and involved in their education and lives. Not one to be an “office administrator,” Stevens has always been highly visible in the school, interacting with students, attending their games, events, and activities. He is always a student advocate practicing the philosophy that schools exist for students. His positive attitude, compassion, sensitivity, and caring qualities in working with students are models for all.