The 2023 Kansas Teacher of the Year will be announced Saturday, Sept. 24, during the Dale Dennis Kansas Teacher of the Year Banquet in Wichita. 

The event begins at 4 p.m. with a reception, followed by dinner and an awards program at 5 p.m. at the Wichita Marriott Hotel, 9100 E. Corporate Hills Drive. 

The 2023 Kansas Teacher of the Year will be named during the awards program. Selected from a pool of more than 110 nominations, the 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); Brian Skinner, an interrelated special education and English teacher at Newton High School (Newton USD 373); 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). 

Several dignitaries will be in attendance, including Kansas Commissioner of Education Dr. Randy Watson; Jim Porter, chair of the Kansas State Board of Education; State Board of Education members; business representatives; and veteran Kansas Teacher of the Year team members.