Northside ISD Superintendent Dr. Brian T. Woods has been selected by TASA as Texas’ nominee for 2019 National Superintendent of the Year, an award given by AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
Woods has served as superintendent of Northside ISD in San Antonio for six years, but has worked in the district since 1992, when he began his career as a social studies teacher at Marshall High School. As an assistant principal, he helped open O’Connor High School and later served as vice principal and principal at Clark High School. His career with Northside ISD also includes service as assistant superintendent for secondary administration and deputy superintendent.
Woods says he is proud that Northside ISD, despite rapid growth during the past 30 years and a student population of more than 106,000, has retained the feel of a much smaller district with a strong sense of community.
“In Northside, engagement of our stakeholders has played a crucial role in our success,” he says. “At the campus and district level, we involve our whole community as a means of keeping them informed, eliciting their input and support, and fostering an environment of shared responsibility and accountability. I have no doubt that the success of our students and the quality of our programs depends greatly on this engagement.”
Woods currently serves as vice president of TASA and as a member of the TASA Executive Committee. A TASA member since 2010, he is part of TASA’s Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Network and has served on a number of TASA committees. He is also a past chair of the Regional Advisory Executive Committee for the Region 20 Education Service Center, a member of the Go Public Steering Committee, on the board of the P16Plus Council of Greater Bexar County, and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as president of the Board of Texas Academic Decathlon and is a member of the Superintendents Advisory Board of the Principals’ Institute, the steering committee for the Fast Growth School Coalition, the Superintendent’s Advisory Council for the Holdsworth Center, and is an officer in Texas School Alliance. He has been a member of AASA since 2012.
Woods has a bachelor’s degree in political science from The University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree and doctorate in educational leadership from The University of Texas at San Antonio. He and his wife Meredith have a son who attends a Northside ISD high school.
In September, following his selection as Region 20 Superintendent of the Year, the Texas Association of School Boards named Woods the 2018 Texas Superintendent of the Year. Now, as a state nominee for AASA National Superintendent of the Year, Woods will be considered by a panel of judges from across the U.S. that will select four finalists to be interviewed in Washington, D.C., in January. The 2019 National Superintendent of the Year will be announced and the state nominees honored at AASA’s National Conference on Education in Los Angeles February 14.
