A special education and English teacher at Newton High School has been named as the 2023 Kansas Teacher of the Year. Brian Skinner was presented with the honor during a weekend event in Wichita.
Skinner was chosen from a field of eight finalists. He has taught at Newton High School for nine years and he is currently the chair of the Special Education Department at the school. He graduated from Clay Center Community High School and received his bachelor’s degree from Bethel College in 2012, with a master’s in teaching and learning from Friends University in 2017.
Selected from a pool of more than 110 nominations, the other 2023 finalists are Jessica Gazzano, a sixth through eighth grade teacher at Woodland Spring Middle School (Spring Hill Unified School District 230); Erica Huggard, a biology and anatomy teacher at Emporia High School (Emporia USD 253); Mallory Keefe, a preschool teacher at Cheney Elementary School (Cheney USD 268); Pamela Munoz, a kindergarten teacher at McCarter Elementary School (Topeka USD 501); Kendal Norberg, a fourth grade teacher at Broadmoor Elementary School (Louisburg USD 416); Jaimie Swindler, a special education teacher at Ottawa High School (Ottawa USD 290); and Carly Torres, a fifth grade teacher at Wiley Elementary School (Hutchinson Unified School District 308).
The finalists will all work as a team in the next year to advocate for education and teaching.
The finalists were recognized Saturday at the 2023 Dale Dennis Kansas Teacher of the Year Banquet, which was held at the Marriott Hotel in east Wichita.
