Newnan High School students helped kick off Dr. Steve Barker’s holiday break, with a banner of congratulations for being named Georgia’s 2018 Superintendent of the Year.

The students and teachers presented the banner to him Tuesday at the Superintendent’s 237 Jackson Street office. “This has made my Christmas,” said Barker, thanking the students who brought by a banner signed by hundreds of Newnan High School students and staff.

“By far, this visit was the highlight of my year,” said Barker.  “To know that you all organized this effort and took the time to make me feel special is very humbling.”

Newnan High teachers Susan Quesinberry and Courtenay Stillwell organized the congratulatory gesture.  Mrs. Stillwell created the banner and hung it in the media center so that students and teachers could sign it.

“It was from all of us,” said Quesinberry. “We wanted to do something to honor him for his recognition as Georgia Superintendent of the Year.” The visitors who delivered the banner to the Jackson Street offices included students Brandon Rasch, Nazir Strong, Malik Echols, Molly Towns, Cortez Collier, D’Ondre Garcia, Cody Ronig, Kameron Parham, Maggie Callaway, Gage Morelock, Marilee, Hickman, Riley Overstreet and Hadley Jackson, teachers Lauren Bettis, Elizabeth Lozano, Christen Cameron and Braden Griner, and paraprofessionals Sue Ballard, Bethany Tucker and Sarah Dean.

Barker said that seeing the bus carrying the student ambassadors pull up to the Board of Education office, and then watching the students fill his office with excitement “meant more to me than words can express.”

The banner “will forever serve as a reminder of the generosity that is part of the Newnan Cougar legacy.”

Barker served as Principal of Newnan High School from 2003 to 2007, and has served as Coweta’s superintendent since 2011.  He was announced as the 2018 Georgia Superintendent of the Year by the Georgia School Superintendent’s Association on December 1, and is now under consideration for National Superintendent of the Year.