Spokane Public Schools superintendent recognized with statewide award | news

SPOKANE, Wash. – Washington state’s most outstanding superintendent is from Spokane.

dr Adam Swinyard, superintendent of Spokane Public Schools (SPS), was named 2023 Superintendent of the Year by the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) at the associations fall meeting in Spokane on Friday.

According to WASA, the award recognizes the outstanding leadership of active, front-line superintendents and pays tribute to those who lead Washington’s public schools.

“Dr. Swinyard is a champion for equity, as he brings a consistent and unwavering commitment to achieving more equitable outcomes for all students in the Spokane Public Schools,” said WASA Executive Director, Joel Aune. “A districtwide focus on addressing disproportionality in student discipline through implementation of a multi-tiered system of support model and the use of restorative practices is making a substantive difference for students.”

In conjunction with the award, Swinyard will receive a $1,000 check from DA Davidson & Company to use toward a school or educational program of his choice.

Spokane Public Schools, the state’s third largest district, set a record high graduation rate of 90.2% in 2021, and since 2018 has expanded their early learning opportunities from 70 Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program seats to more than 600.

Swinyard joined SPS in 2013, where he worked as a principal at Sacajawea Middle School before becoming the district’s associate superintendent for teaching and learning and director of secondary schools.

This isn’t the first time Swinyard has been recognized for his leadership in education. In the spring of this year, Swinyard was recognized for his leadership by the Washington School Public Relations Association with its Crystal Apple Award. He was also previously nominated in 2015 and 2016 by the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP) for its Washington State Middle School Principal of the Year Nominee and was a recipient of the AWSP Regional Principal of the Year in 2015.

As the state’s Superintendent of the Year, Swinyard will be a candidate for the 2023 American Association of School Administrators’ National Superintendent of the Year Award. The national award will be announced in February during the AASA National Conference on Education in San Antonio, Texas.

Swinyard is the first superintendent from Spokane to receive the award since Gary Livingston did so in 1997. SPS’s only other superintendent to receive the award, Jerry Hester, was also a national superintendent of the year finalist.

You can find a complete list of Washington state’s Superintendents of the Year, click here.