The superintendent says he sees the contract extension as a vote of confidence by the board. We do too.
This newspaper was not privy to the evaluation that the board used to judge Stout's first year with the Scotland school system.
But we have seen in words and deeds what the new superintendent has been able to do since he arrived here in July 2009.
Stout promised his administration would be more open.
"I think a big concern for people is that they would like for us to be more transparent — from the county commissioners all the way down to the community," Stout said during his first week. "We should be more transparent as an educational agency. We have nothing to hide."
Stout has pretty much kept his word.
He has been unfailing in his efforts to establish a dialogue with the public about what he hopes to accomplish. The New Jersey native spent his initial weeks meeting with school board members, principals and educators. He branched out from there to civic groups and the community at-large.
That openness has extended to the press as well. He has made it clear that his door is always open to reporters and has gone out of his way to be accessible. When this newspaper decided to print the salaries of top school administrators and principals, Stout helped overcome the red tape that can sometimes stymie such an undertaking.
Of course, the school chief has done more than talk a good game. He has established a number of ambitious goals for the school system.
The most important thing that a superintendent can do is to make sure the district has the best practices and procedures in place so students are learning and achieving at high levels.
Stout has tried to do that "by tweaking" some programs and tossing others.
One of the biggest changes has been his recommendation to the board that it eliminate the Ninth Grade Academy and the School of Business, Finance and Marketing, reducing the number of academies at the high school from six to four.
He has argued that the four-school concept will open the doors for students to take more electives in the past. Stout said the change would retain the advantages of the smaller learning communities because there would still be smaller class sizes than at a single school.
"I think tweaking what they already had instead of scrapping it, was the best approach," he has said.
Stout has also recommended that the system name an executive director of secondary education, director of middle school education and director of elementary education to maintain uniformity across schools of the same level and keep administrators abreast of what is going on in each Scotland County School.
And whether deserved or not, Stout has been given both the credit and the grief for the 2010 Scotland High School graduation ceremony in which the diplomas of some students were withheld after family members failed to observed the restriction on cheering. Supporters say that the change finally gave the event the dignity it deserved.
While he may have little to do with the decision, we do believe that his willingness to step away from precedence has rubbed off on his staff.
On all the factors that one can grade a superintendent — communicator, instructional leader, visionary and risk taker — Stout rates a solid A.
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