YAKIMA - Steve Myers, superintendent of Educational Service District 105, which serves the Royal and Wahluke School Districts, has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Washington Association of School Administrators' Leadership Award.

The award was presented on June 30 in Spokane during the awards luncheon of the 34th annual Summer Conference of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) and the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP).

The WASA Leadership Award is presented to a WASA member who demonstrates and exemplifies outstanding leadership abilities and who has made significant contributions to the field of education on a statewide level.

During Myers' four years as ESD 105 superintendent, the agency has partnered with Heritage University to develop a teacher preparation program that now serves as a national model for the way it immerses prospective teachers with field experiences in local classrooms.

ESD 105 has also become a statewide leader in communicating school issues to state lawmakers by regularly organizing three-day schedules of visits by area school leaders each week to Olympia during legislative sessions - the first region in the state to do so.

ESD 105 supports 25 public school districts and 23 state-approved private and tribal schools in south central Washington. The agency serves the expressed needs of those schools in coordinating and conducting cooperative programs to benefit the approximately 62,000 K-12 students.

ESD 105 carries out liaison activities between local school districts, the Washington State Office of Public Instruction, and the State Board of Education.