Dallas County Superintendent Don Willingham is in the running to be named the superintendent of the year.

The School Superintendents of Alabama named Willingham one of nine finalists Wednesday.

“I’m really flattered and honored to be considered,” Willingham said of his nomination. “I think anybody in our district could have been nominated and represented us well. I would have felt comfortable with anybody of our 12 superintendents to be named. It means a lot.”

Willingham said his nomination came as a surprise about two weeks ago at a quarterly meeting with the other 11 superintendents from the Black Belt region.

“Tyrone [Yarbrough] is the president of our association this year, and he asked me at the start about being nominated,” Willingham said. “I told him no, that I felt like there were a lot better candidates from our district, but I appreciated the thought. So of course they nominated me and did it anyway.”

Dallas County’s region includes Autauga County, Butler County, Choctaw County, Demopolis, Linden, Lowndes County, Marengo County, Perry County, Selma, Sumter County and Wilcox County.

“Just looking across the room, John Heard was superintendent of the state last year, I saw Dr. [Daniel] Floyd from Lowndes County and Tyrone Yarbrough from Sumter County,” Willingham said.

“All of those are people who have represented our district in the past, and I just have so much respect for them and some of our new superintendents like Dr. [Angela] Mangum and some of the other systems that are in there.”

While Willingham is honored to be named a finalist, he said every superintendent deserves recognition for his or her work.

“Every superintendent in the state probably deserves some recognition because every job is different, but those in District Two do have some issues that all systems don’t have,” Willingham said. “We’re a rural part of Alabama, and funding is always a problem and finding certified teachers is always a problem. We deal with some issues that are unique, so looking at the room that nominated and voted for me, I’m really flattered by it.”

Willingham has been in the Dallas County School System for 11 years. He spent eight years as assistant superintendent, and he has been superintendent for the last three years.

Willingham said there are several improvements he has seen during his tenure as superintendent that he is proud of.

“I’m pleased with our graduation rate increase. It went from 73 percent to 92 percent in one year,” Willingham said. “New results won’t be announced until December, but I think we’re on track to be close to maintaining our improvement.”

Willingham said he is also proud of the job he has done with the school system’s limited finances and its part in the 50th anniversary of the voting rights movement.

“We had 30 buses riding up and down the streets of Selma as the shuttle for the rest of the world visiting our town, and we had so many activities all year long about the civil rights movement and Selma and Dallas County,” Willingham said.

Willingham will find out if he is the Superintendent of the Year in October at the School Superintendents of Alabama fall conference.

The winner is determined by each finalist’s career achievements and success in progressing public education. The winner will be presented a plaque and honored at the Superintendent of the Year Luncheon in February.