Local school leader wins top national honor

Shannon Cox, superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center, has won one of the four national awards given annually by the Association of Educational Service Agencies.

Cox is the 2021 winner of the Justus A. Prentice Award, which specifically honors contributions in “executive leadership” among regional educational service agencies.

Each of Ohio’s counties has an educational service center, and those agencies offer a wide variety of training, planning and support services to all of the schools in their county.

Cox is in her third year as MCESC superintendent, serving as a liaison between local schools, city and county governments, public health, philanthropic groups and others.

In the past two years, she coordinated COVID vaccinations for thousands of the region’s school staff and students, helped lead statewide task forces in building remote learning models and helped provide schools with needed technology and protective equipment during the pandemic.

Cox expanded the ESC’s social-emotional learning options via new partnerships and led the implementation of the ESC’s unique preschool classroom for certain at-risk children.

The Justus A. Prentice Award will be presented to Cox at the AESA Annual Conference in Houston in December.

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