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Superintendent Dr. Terry Oatts honored by Georgia School Superintendents Association
Phoot of RCPS Superintendent Dr Terry Oatts and GSSA President's AwardConyers, Ga. – Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) Superintendent Dr. Terry Oatts was awarded the 2023 Georgia School Superintendents Association (GSSA) President’s Award. Dr. Oatts was surprised with the presentation of the award this week at the 2023 Spring Bootstrap Conference in Savannah, Georgia.   

“We are proud of Dr. Oatts for receiving the GSSA President’s Award,” said Rockdale County Board of Education Chairwoman Pam Brown. “He consistently demonstrates exemplary leadership and works tirelessly for the students and staff of Rockdale County Public Schools.”

“I am honored and delighted to receive such a meaningful recognition among my peers from across the state,” said Dr. Oatts. “I am an active member of GSSA and strive to lend my leadership skills, knowledge and experience for the betterment of the association and public education. I am proud to lead RCPS on its journey of continuous improvement and of the collective work of our Board of Education, faculty and staff, and students that this award represents.”  

The GSSA President’s Award is given each year to superintendents for outstanding leadership in their districts. Dr. Oatts was nominated by Dr. Leigh Ann Putman, Executive Director for the Metro Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA). The nomination read in part, “It is with great enthusiasm that I nominate Dr. Terry Oatts, Rockdale County Schools Superintendent, for the 2023 GSSA President’s Award. Dr. Oatts currently serves as the Board Chair of the Metro RESA Board of Control and as our GSSA Legislative Liaison representative. Dr. Oatts has continued to add value to the lives of the RCPS family and to Metro RESA.” The selection of the award recipient is made by the GSSA Board and the GSSA Executive Director.

Dr. Oatts is in his 29th year of public education and his fifth year as Superintendent of Rockdale County Public Schools. Prior to his tenure as Superintendent in Rockdale County, Dr. Oatts served as Assistant Superintendent of Student Achievement in Fayette County Public Schools from 2014-2018. Prior to his district office tenure, Dr. Oatts was a Title I elementary school principal, middle school principal, high school principal, high school assistant principal, elementary special education teacher-assistant, middle school counselor, and elementary school counselor.

Dr. Oatts, a 2016 graduate of the American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) inaugural cohort of the National Aspiring Superintendents Academy in Alexandria, Virginia and a participant in Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2017 National Institute for Urban School Leaders in Cambridge, Massachusetts, previously served on the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) National Advisory Board. Dr. Oatts is also a 2014 graduate of the GSSA District Office Professional Development Program, and he is also a 2019 graduate of GSSA’s 13th Cohort of the Superintendent Professional Development Program (SPDP). From 1997-2018, Dr. Oatts taught graduate studies within the College of Education at both traditional and proprietary institutions of higher learning across the state including his alma mater, Georgia Southern University, and at Troy University, Argosy University, Mercer University, and Piedmont University.  

Dr. Oatts holds a B.S. degree in Communication Arts and three graduate degrees in education all from Georgia Southern University. His doctoral degree is in Curriculum Studies with an emphasis in Educational Leadership. Dr. Oatts is married to a middle grades administrator, and they have two high school-aged children and an adult son.