City school district can perform again
In a recent editorial in The Oklahoman, I was mentioned as having the longest tenure of any Oklahoma City Public Schools superintendent in the past 40 years. When I departed, however, my 7 ½-year tenure there was ranked fifth in the country for large-city superintendents, demonstrating that the length of superintendent tenure isn’t a recent issue and not confined to Oklahoma City.
At the time, Oklahoma law limited the length of superintendent contracts to one year.
The brief length of the contract term was why I left — to give my family more stability. My superintendent colleagues may not appreciate my stating this, but the length of the superintendent’s term isn’t on my top five list of concerns for education. Who really cares if the superintendent stays for five or 10 years, if the district is not getting anything done or continuing to slide backward?
When I was recruited to apply for Oklahoma City’s superintendent opening:
• It was perceived to be one of the worst districts in the state and a typical urban system, i.e., dysfunctional.
• State funding for education was pathetic (and still is).
• The district had one of the highest poverty rates in Oklahoma (and still does).
• There was no coherent k-12 curriculum in place, nor any clear and consistent instructional methodology or professional development.
• The state ranking system for schools had earmarked 32 OKCPS schools as failing.
These were the same kinds of real problems to be resolved as now — 30-plus years ago! My team systematically tackled and resolved these matters and generated the necessary community support. A few samples follow:
• Student achievement advanced in every subject, grade, school and student subgroup.
• We went from 32 “F” schools to only three “D” schools.
• ACT scores rose from 15 to 19.3 (currently 16.9).
• All indicators improved to the point that the district had better student achievement through the ninth grade than 19 neighboring districts (except for Deer Creek) and Tulsa.
• We won a landmark desegregation case at the U.S. Supreme Court, due in part to reducing the gaps between white and black student achievement.
Unfortunately, according to the student data, the Oklahoma City district has mostly slid backward over the years regardless of the superintendent’s tenure. Longer time in the superintendent’s seat by some occupants would have been worse.
I wish the new superintendent, Sean McDaniel, all the best and can appreciate that he would like to stay 10 years. To do so, he will have to make difficult decisions that will raise student achievement and otherwise enhance the district. We did it once in Oklahoma City; it can be done again, as the community is eager to have a great school system.
Stellar, Oklahoma City superintendent from 1985-92, now lives in the Boston area.