New OKC superintendent expects to duplicate success
NORMAN — Incoming Superintendent Sean McDaniel is predicting big things for Oklahoma City Public Schools.
On Wednesday, after being recognized by his peers as the state’s top superintendent for his work at Mustang Public Schools, McDaniel said his new employer has the pieces in place to be “crazy successful.”
“The talent is everywhere, at all levels, and that is probably the most exciting thing to me right now after 10 days (as a consultant),” he told The Oklahoman.
“It’s not just nice people. We have nice people, but they are really, really talented, nice people. I am close to being overwhelmed with the number of talented people that we have in our district.”
McDaniel, 55, was named Oklahoma Association for School Administrators Superintendent of the Year for his work in Mustang, an 11,400-student district located about 18 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
He was recognized at a leadership conference hosted by the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration.
“It is his belief that if you find great people, establish standards and expectations and provide adequate training and support, then accountability will follow,” said Carolyn Thomas, the administration’s past president.
McDaniel said the individual recognition is representative of “a larger team.”
“I think it says that I am pretty good at recognizing talent and putting talent around me,” he said. “I have the great fortune at Mustang of being able to pull a team together.
“It also says that in my district I have great teaching going on in the classroom, I have great community support. It says a lot about me in that I’m a beneficiary of some great things.”
McDaniel said there’s no reason that recipe for success can’t be duplicated in the Oklahoma City district.
“I believe that everybody in the organization has a role to play,” he said. “If we play it to the best of our ability — everybody does it, everybody pulls in the same direction — then we’re going to be crazy successful.”
McDaniel is under contract to the Mustang district through June 30. He officially begins his new role the next day.
“It’s a matter of time,” he said. “I think that there is some tightening, some connectivity that needs to take place, and I am excited to get to work and maybe tighten things up a little bit.”