Jenks school board names four finalists for superintendent position

BY KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
12/11/12 at 7:22 AM


JENKS - The Jenks school board named four finalists Monday in the running to become the district's next superintendent.

The new administrator will replace current Superintendent Kirby Lehman, who is retiring June 30.

Those selected for formal interviews with the board are Stacey Butterfield, Jenks deputy superintendent; Kathy Dodd, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at Union Public Schools; Dan Stiffler, superintendent at Buhler Public Schools in Buhler, Kan.; and Gary Quinn, longtime superintendent at Bartlesville Public Schools.

The board did not reveal the number of candidates from which the four finalists were selected or the reasons behind the selections.

The candidates will be invited to interview with the school board in executive session during the week of Jan. 7-11, district spokeswoman Bonnie Rogers said.

She anticipates that the new superintendent could be announced at the district's regular board meeting Jan. 14 if all goes well.

Lehman has been superintendent at Jenks for nearly 24 years. He has been an outspoken advocate for public schools, arguing against a number of recent state education changes, such as high-stakes testing and state-funded vouchers to send special-needs students to private schools.

He also has been at the forefront of the push for the Legislature to provide more funding for public education after years of declines in state aid.

"Observing governmental leaders making a conscious decision to minimize the funding of core services for Oklahoma has been incredibly frustrating," Lehman said when he announced his retirement. "Those core services are the very foundation of what attracts businesses from other states."

The school board enlisted McPherson and Jacobson LLC, an executive search group based in Omaha, Neb., to conduct the search for Lehman's replacement earlier this year.

Original Print Headline: Jenks school board names four finalists for top post
Kim Archer 918-581-8315
kim.archer@tulsaworld.com

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Stacey Butterfield (left), Kathy Dodd, Dan Stiffler, Gary Quinn: The four candidates for Jenks superintendent will have formal interviews in January.



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