By: Amy Francisco
Lamar CISD Superintendent Roosevelt Nivens, Ed.D., has been selected by TASA as Texas’ nominee for 2026 National Superintendent of the Year, an award given by AASA, The School Superintendents Association. Nivens has served as superintendent of Lamar CISD, one of the fastest- growing districts in the state, since 2021. Prior to that, he was superintendent of schools in Community ISD, a district encompassing four communities in a fast growth area in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. He began his career in education in 1996 as a teacher in Dallas ISD before working as an assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent of achievement and organizational management in Lancaster ISD.
Nivens is passionate about ensuring that students have choices and opportunities, and he deeply believes in the power of “speaking life” into others, shaped in part by his own experience of having a teacher believe in him when he was a struggling student.
The son of educators, Nivens earned his bachelor’s degree from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in education from Texas A&M University-Commerce. He also trained at the Harvard Executive Leadership Institute, the Harrison Williams Collins Executive Leadership Institute and the Thompson Executive Leadership Institute.
