OKC district loses another principal
Oklahoma City Public Schools is losing another principal, its seventh in two months.
Michelle Seybolt has resigned from Hayes Elementary School to accept a position with the state Education Department, the district confirmed Wednesday.
Seybolt is the second first-year principal to resign since April, when Katherine Price, the interim principal at Jackson Enterprise Elementary School, resigned to accept a similar position with Bridge Creek Public Schools.
“When your young talent is leaving the district, it’s a bad sign,” said one board member.
Since April, seven principals have left the district for other jobs, including Alisa Stieg (Edgemere Elementary), Neal Johnson (Greystone Elementary), Ashley Davis (Classen School of Advanced Studies), and Mylo Miller (Harding Charter Preparatory High School).
Earlier this month, Adams Elementary Principal Heather Zacarias left the district to take a job as director of elementary education at John Rex Charter Elementary School in downtown Oklahoma City.
“It’s always a concern,” school board member Charles Henry said. “We can’t lose great principals.”
By comparison, the district replaced principals at 19 schools after the 201617 school year.
Zacarias will join another former Oklahoma City Public Schools principal on the John Rex staff when she begins her new role next month.
Patrick Duffy, formerly the principal at Jackson Enterprise Elementary, was hired earlier this year to be the director of secondary education for John Rex, which is adding a sixth-grade class in the coming school year and future middle school grades.
Green Pastures Principal Kelley Coleman will succeed Zacarias at Adams, a district official said.
Several other principals, meanwhile, have switched schools within the district, some to fill vacancies.
Victoria Echols moves from assistant principal to principal at Webster Middle School, following Scot McAdoo. McAdoo succeeds Davis at Classen SAS.
Principal vacancies remain at Green Pastures and Hayes, spokeswoman Beth Harrison said.