TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education extended Superintendent Deborah Gist’s contract through the 2024-2025 school year.
According to a statement on behalf of Board President Stacey Woolley, "the last 18 months have been a time of uncertainty and struggle for so many, and Superintendent Gist’s relentless focus on keeping our team and students safe, healthy, and whole has carried us through it."
Here is the full statement below:
"While it is easy to look back at the 2020-2021 school year as “the pandemic year,” Tulsa Public Schools saw some extraordinary accomplishments even as Superintendent Gist and her team managed the pandemic:
- Sustaining the district’s focus on social emotional learning and wellness with the addition of school-based Wellness Teams providing direct supports to families;
- Planning for expanded college- and career-ready programming that launched this year, including our early college high school programs at McLain and Memorial high schools, a new Montessori program at Grissom Elementary School, the addition of dual language learning at Cooper Elementary School, and the new Construction Academy at Hale High School;
- Launching a successful pre-K-12 virtual school that served 4,000 students across the 2020-2021 school year and became a standalone school this year; and
- Securing support for $415 million in bond programs and projects with a 73% approval rate from Tulsa voters.
As we move forward together, we are navigating through teaching and learning experiences that look and feel quite different from where we were even six months ago. With the challenges that lie ahead for Tulsa Public Schools as we work through teaching and learning safely in-person, continuing to support our teachers and team, and starting to make our way toward a new sense of “normal,” it is more important than ever to have stability in our school system. Our team, students, and families need and deserve Superintendent Gist’s strong leadership, and we are excited to continue our work with her and the Tulsa Public Schools team to build brighter futures and expand access to opportunity for Tulsa children."
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