The Utah Public Education Coalition Monday named Alpine School District superintendent Vernon Henshaw the 2008 Utah Superintendent of the Year.

"This represents a culmination of years of experience and years of support from those helping me," Henshaw said. "This is really a reflection of those who have supported me and helped me in my profession."

But the past few years have not come without bumps in the road.

In the past two years, Henshaw's 55,000-student district has come under fire for its elementary school math curriculum, Investigations in Number, Data, and Space, and its related secondary program, Connected Mathematics.

So-called Investigations Math is designed for students to "discover" math solutions rather than memorize math facts. The program was unpopular with many parents. They wanted Alpine to ditch Investigations for a more traditional curriculum and turned to lawmakers for help.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, characterized the program as "a disaster," and a committee convened to overhaul the state's math curriculum. The secondary curriculum, in the end, was altered.

Throughout the ordeal, Henshaw, a Virginia native, never lost his temper or became emotional in public.

"He's got a lot of the fine qualities, in spite of the challenges, and he's handled them pretty well," said Steve Peterson, executive director of the association. "I think people respect him."

Beginning this school year, Alpine only uses Investigations as a supplement to traditional math.

Aside from being named Superintendent of the Year, Henshaw is also one of 30 university and school district educators in the nation designated as an Agenda for Education Scholar for his "ongoing scholarly leadership in developing educators who are committed to a deeper understanding and implementation of the principles needed to strengthen the quality of education for all students."

Henshaw has spent 31 years in the education arena and was appointed superintendent in 2000 after serving for a year as the 7-12 schools assistant superintendent, 11 years as a high school principal, four years as an assistant principal and seven years as a high school teacher.

He said what drew him to education was his passion in working with young people. Now his passion is working with teachers to ignite that same passion in them, he said.

He will go on to represent Utah in the National Superintendent of the Year program.

The Utah Public Education Coalition is comprised of leaders from the Utah Elementary Association, the Secondary Principals Association, the Utah Education Association, the Utah School Superintendents Association, the Utah PTA, the Utah School Boards Association, the Deans Council and the Utah School Employees Association.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com