Search for new superintendent set to begin
Oklahoma City Public Schools’ next leader will be a team player and govern in partnership with the school board, panel members told The Oklahoman.
“We have to be clear with our goals, we have to be clear with our vision and we have to find someone to match that,” board member Carrie Coppernoll Jacobs said Friday. “We have to view the superintendent role for what it is — part of a team and not a single deciding factor in the success of the district.”
Aurora Lora called it quits last week, resigning unexpectedly after 19 months as superintendent of Oklahoma’s largest school district.
She butted heads with some members of the board, which set “concrete” goals for the superintendent to assure accountability.
“In my mind, those goals are the same,” Jacobs said. “We still want lower teacher turnover and we still want better outcomes for kids. I think having those explicit, specific goals is going to be critical.”
Board members also have discussed a long-term facilities plan that could shape the future of the district.
“That’s the kind of stuff that’s exciting and overdue,” Jacobs said. “That work must continue, regardless of who the superintendent is or who the board members are.”
The board will meet Feb. 12 to discuss the process for selecting the
district’s next superintendent.
“We’re not going to rush a permanent replacement,” Chairwoman Paula Lewis said. “I don’t know that you can rush finding the right person.”
Lora was the district’s 11th superintendent since 2000 and the sixth since 2003 to not last two years.
“My thought as an individual board member is that we’ve got to get it right,” Mark Mann said.
He said the process needs to be “slow and deliberate,” and the board — with input from parents and other stakeholders — has to examine “every potential candidate that meets those qualities that we’ve identified.”
That was not the case in 2016, when the board hired Lora, an assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum, without interviewing another person.
Since then, the eightmember board has changed considerably, with three newcomers (Rebecca Budd, Charles Henry and Mann) and a new chair (Lewis). The panel will add one and possibly two new members in the coming days. “I think we need to leave no stone unturned, both in-state and out of state,” Mann said.
Not everyone agrees on the need to look for an outof-state candidate.
U.S. Grant High School Principal Greg Frederick, president of a union representing district principals, has offered to assist the board with the recruitment and/or interview process.
In an email to Lewis, board members and school administrators sent Wednesday, Lora’s last official day, Frederick said national searches “have not proven fruitful in providing stable leadership
at OKCPS.”
“We have great local and state talent that are more in tune with the educational culture and conditions in Oklahoma,” he said. “Our school leaders, as a collective, are an excellent resource to identify the best candidates to bring before you. Having stakeholders take part in this selection process creates buy-in within the district and for the candidate selected to lead.”
For now, Chief of Staff Rebecca Kaye will lead the district on an acting basis. Kaye came to the district in January 2017 from Atlanta Public Schools, a 51,000-student urban district where she served as policy and governance adviser to the superintendent.
Kaye is a former middle school teacher who is certified as a superintendent.
“Rebecca is smart and incredibly hard-working,” Jacobs said. “I know that right now she is super capable and super qualified. I’m grateful that we have her and she is willing to step up.”
In a letter to district staff following Lora’s departure, Kaye called the school board “united with us in the belief that we have work to do — meaningful, hard, important work — and we have to find a way to do it together.”
Kaye’s days in her new role, however, could be numbered.
One board member hinted at the possibility of bringing in an experienced superintendent — preferably a recent retiree — to serve on an interim basis for an extended period, if needed. “We have a plan and a vision that we want to implement,” the member said. “We’ve also identified core functions and challenges that need immediate attention.
“We already have the playbook. We just need the person to implement it.”