Published On: February 3rd, 2020By Leticia Fehling

Young Audiences of Houston Selects Superintendent Goffney as 2020 Arts Education Awardee

The award recognizes Dr. Goffney’s many years of support for education, the arts, and children.

Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney is seen speaking at the State of the District on Jan. 15, 2020.

The nonprofit Young Audiences of Houston named Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney as the 2020 Arts Education Awardee. Goffney will be honored at the 64th Anniversary Gala Benefiting Young Audiences of Houston. The event will take place on Thursday, April 23, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the St. Regis Hotel.

According to Mary Curry Metterbrink, executive director for Young Audiences of Houston, the organization’s board selected Goffney for her many years of support for education, the arts, children, and during her tenure in Aldine, with Young Audiences of Houston.

“Dr. Goffney’s work in supporting area children through a whole-child approach to education is inspiring to our board and community leaders,” Metterbrink stated. “We rarely find individuals so deeply dedicated to the arts and education and being an ambassador for something that so often becomes secondary as budgets are cut. You understand first-hand the importance of creativity in the classroom and a part of the curriculum. You grasp how learning through arts integration can be transformative in helping children become great human beings and well-rounded future leaders of our city.”

Under Goffney’s administration, the district arts program earned honors. The Texas Art Education Association, earlier this school year, named Aldine ISD a District of Distinction. Aldine was one of only 20 school districts in Texas to earn this honor.

“Dr. Goffney is an advocate of the arts in education,” Dr. Michaelann Kelley said. “Art is not only a means of self-expression and a way to help students find their voice. She understands and supports how we, as educators, can inspire students and expand their learning through the visual arts.”

Goffney has also shown support for the district’s performing arts. She worked with Refugio Rodríguez, director of music education, to establish the district’s first mariachi ensemble. The group, known as Aldine’s Mariachi Acero, is only in its second year. Acero will perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at Go Tejano’s Mariachi Invitational at the Arena Theatre on Saturday, March 7.

The YA Award is one of several honors Goffney has earned since taking the helm of Aldine ISD. In 2019, VYPE magazine named Dr. Goffney Administrator of the Year. Later that same year, Sam Houston State University presented her with the Distinguished Alumni Award. In fall 2019, AASA, The School Superintendents Association, named Dr. Goffney, a finalist for the 2020 Superintendent Award. The National Superintendent of the Year will be announced on February 13 during the AASA National Conference on Education taking place in San Diego.

The Young Audiences Gala benefit dinner provides strategic support for the organization, and more than 221,000 children served each year. In addition to Goffney, Linda and W. Carl Glaw will also be recognized. This year’s theme is “A Night in Oz.”