Geneseo superintendent Scott Kuffel recently was honored as “Superintendent of the Year” by the Blackhawk Division of the Illinois Association of School Administrators.

The Blackhawk Division represents 24 school districts in Rock Island, Henry and Stark counties as well as portions of Mercer and Whiteside counties. 

Joe Buresh, superintendent of the Annawan School District, presented the award to Kuffel, and said, “I am proud to be part of a division where a leader like Scott Kuffel is recognized not only for his work as superintendent of the Geneseo School District, but also for his service to his colleagues.”

Buresh cited Kuffel as “a credit to his school board, his community and to all of us who work as superintendents. He is definitely a very deserving recipient of this award.”

Doug Ford, president of the Geneseo School Board, echoed praises for Kuffel and said, “Geneseo
District 228 is very lucky to have Scott Kuffel as our superintendent. He has done a great job of moving our district forward even in a time when the state continues to cut our revenue but not our mandates.”

Ford commented on Kuffel’s 2010 initiative which is a program to help students earn college credit while still in high school.

“He has done a great job of preparing our students for post-secondary education and their choice of careers,” Ford said.  “His focus on student achievement has positioned this district to make educational improvements at all levels throughout the district. We are very lucky as a district and community to have him as our superintendent, and he is very deserving of this honor.”

Kuffel graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, and earned a master’s degree with additional graduate studies at Illinois State University, Normal.  He was superintendent of Oregon School District 220 for two years before being named superintendent of Geneseo Schools in July of 2003.

Kuffel said, “Our family is proud and blessed to be able to work and serve in the District 228 community.  I'm fortunate to work for a supportive board of education, with a progressive and professional faculty and staff, and am very lucky to count our administrators as colleagues.”  

He said the school district may face some challenging financial times in the next few years because of the state of our State of Illinois, “but we know we can count on the multitude of partnerships and collaborative work of our businesses, parents and entire school community to do more than just keep us afloat, but to actually improve our district during this time.”