Tacoma schools chief Art Jarvis said Wednesday he was “certainly honored and pleasantly surprised” after finding out earlier this month that his peers had chosen him the state’s top school superintendent for 2008-09.

Superintendents of Washington’s 295 public school districts were invited to nominate someone for the honor, and 17 names were submitted. The superintendents then voted on the list of candidates, with Jarvis garnering the most votes. Frank Hewins of the Franklin Pierce School District in Parkland was one of two school chiefs who came within a vote of the Tacoma leader.

The award was sponsored by Neuropath Learning, a Bellevue company whose Web-based programs focus on the brain and early childhood development. The honor was announced Aug. 10 at the Washington State Superintendent of the Year Golf Classic at Snoqualmie Ridge.

Jarvis was named the state’s top administrator by the Washington Association of School Administrators in 2005 when he led the Enumclaw School District.

He is starting his third year with Washington’s second-largest school district, after one year as interim leader and one year as full-time superintendent.

Matt Misterek, The News Tribune