State’s top principal leaving OKC district
One of Oklahoma's top principals is leaving Oklahoma City Public Schools for Tulsa, where she will head an effort to design better high schools, The Oklahoman has learned.
John Marshall MidHigh Principal Aspasia Carlson has been offered the position of project director for Reimagine High School by Tulsa Public Schools.
"We have made an offer to Dr. Carlson and look forward to the possibility of benefiting from her experience and vision at Tulsa Public Schools," Emma Garrett-Nelson, the district's communications director, told The Oklahoman on Wednesday.
The Tulsa school board meets Monday night and is expected to approve the hire. Reimagine High School is a design process for teaching and learning that includes equitable options for students, meaningful relationships between students and adults, and opportunities to learn beyond the walls of the school, according to the Tulsa district.
Carlson is credited with establishing rigorous academic and cocurricular programs at John Marshall aimed at developing the "whole child."
For her efforts, she was named 2017-18 Oklahoma High School Principal of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of Secondary Schools Principals.
Carlson could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
A spokeswoman for Oklahoma City Public Schools said the district had not received a resignation from Carlson.
Carlson was an assistant principal at John Marshall, 12201 N Portland, before being named acting principal in June 2011 by then-superintendent Karl Springer. She was elevated to full-time principal about a month later.