A suburban superintendent in upstate New York who has deftly handled recent challenges to the school district’s diversity, equity and inclusion work was named the 2023 National Superintendent of the Year at AASA’s National Conference on Education in San Antonio, Texas.
Kevin McGowan, 48, is superintendent of the Brighton Central School District, a first-ring suburb of Rochester, N.Y. He has been Brighton’s superintendent since 2009 and a superintendent in 2006.
The announcement came Thursday afternoon at the conference’s 1st General Session.
The three other finalists were PJ Caposey, Meridian Community Unit School District, 223, Stillman Valley, Ill.; Matthew Hillmann, Northfield Public Schools, Northfield, Minn.; and Trent North, Douglas County School System, Douglasville, Ga.
Sponsors of the annual recognition program, which began in 1988, are First Student and Corebridge Financial, formerly known as AIG Retirement.
Read Conference Daily Online’s profile of McGowan and a collection of distinctive sidelights about him as well as the official AASA press release. To view a video of the announcement and McGowan's remarks, click here.