TPS administrator Millard House to leave district for post in North Carolina
BY ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
7/10/12 at 7:35 AM
Tulsa Public Schools' deputy superintendent has accepted a post in North Carolina, making him the second of Superintendent Keith Ballard's top advisers to leave this summer.
Millard House was introduced as the chief operating officer designee at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district at a Monday morning news conference in Charlotte, N.C.
The Tulsa native had been considered a likely candidate to succeed Ballard as Tulsa superintendent when Ballard leaves at the end of his contract in mid-2013. Last week, the Tulsa school board extended the application period for the superintendent's post, announcing that it would not review and assess the applications until after Aug. 15.
"I will dearly miss my many TPS friends and Tulsa community members," House told the Tulsa World. "It has been an honor and a privilege to serve (the school district) over the course of the last 17 years. Tulsa will always have a special place in my heart."
Ballard said that "words alone are not enough to express how proud we are at TPS of our own Millard House."
"He has been instrumental in the current transformation taking place at Tulsa Public Schools, and I have no doubt that he will do many great things at Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Not only is it a tribute to Millard's considerable talents, but it is also a powerful sign when others outside our state - especially when one of the top urban school districts in the nation - takes notice. This speaks highly to the reform efforts underway at TPS and the fact that we are on the right track.
"We wish Millard our very best. He will be very, very difficult to replace. I will miss him both personally and professionally."
After Kevin Burr, the third-ranking administrator in Tulsa Public Schools, departed for Sapulpa Public Schools in May, Ballard called a press conference at which he noted that he had been asked to develop leadership within the district's administration and urged the school board to launch a search for his successor sooner rather than later.
The board posted the superintendent's position just three weeks ago, and the organization assisting in the search, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, has reported that applications already have been received.
When he was hired in 2008, Ballard said he would be willing to stay for as long as five years, and he has made public his plan to return to his post as a professor at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa when his contract expires June 30, 2013.
House was Tulsa's associate superintendent as well as area superintendent before serving in his most recent post as deputy superintendent.
In 2003, he was voted the school system's Principal of the Year after leading Anderson Elementary School from among the state's lowest-performing schools to one of the highest-performing Title I schools in the state. He was then tapped to be the founding principal at KIPP Tulsa College Preparatory, where he remained for four years before moving to a district-level administrative role.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board is set to approve House's hiring and salary in the coming weeks.
The school district is one of the nation's largest, serving more than 141,100 students in kindergarten through 12th grade in 159 schools throughout the cities and towns of Mecklenburg County.
In comparison, the Tulsa district has about 41,000 students.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district was singled out as one of the best in the nation when it was selected as a 2011 Broad Prize for Urban Education winner. House will be working alongside incoming Superintendent Heath Morrison, who was named 2012 National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.
Original Print Headline: TPS deputy to leave for post at East Coast school
Andrea Eger 918-581-8470
andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Millard House: He is the second of Superintendent Keith Ballard's top advisers to leave this summer.
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