Jamie Polk was quite comfortable working at Lawton Public Schools, having spent 25 years in the Comanche County district and rising high in that district’s leadership. But on a trip to the Oklahoma City metropolitan area while participating in the Leadership Oklahoma program, she learned about the struggles of the Oklahoma City Public Schools district .
The district had 30 schools on the Oklahoma State Report Card’s “F” list at the time. Polk went home to Lawton and told her boss, Thomas Deighan, that she could make a difference for Oklahoma City. Deighan, now an East Central University professor, called then-Oklahoma City district Superintendent Sean McDaniel, and within a few weeks, Polk had joined McDaniel’s staff as the assistant superintendent for elementary education.
“It was just a list of Fs and it kind of was intriguing to me,” Polk recalled. “I kind of deem myself a ‘systems leader,’ meaning that I can look at, analyze and try to find a pattern or a trend where I can jump in. … I told (McDaniel), ‘You’ve got a pattern here. Perhaps if someone just came in and did a disruption … By the time I was headed home, he was offering me a job.”
In May, the district’s Board of Education selected her to succeed McDaniel , who’d spent six years in a job that’s had an exceedingly high turnover rate over the past four decades.
On the most recent state report card , only 10 district schools made the “F” list and only two of those were elementary schools. Polk told The Oklahoman in a wide-ranging interview that she wants a continual focus on improving student outcomes to be a hallmark of her administration, which officially began July 1.
“What I plan to do, and add to, will be student outcomes,” Polk said. “I kind of like the data. Now I want to add that layer of student outcomes, even to the point where the school board will actually have training … in regards of what’s the board’s role in student outcome governance?”
That focus is “most importantly for the students, the student voice, student empowerment. They need to know where they are. In order for them to know, I need my teachers to know, the principals to know. As leaders, we have to be able to tell that story.”
What is plan for better student outcomes, especially at the secondary-school level?
The Oklahoma City district is sprawling , with 58 school sites scattered across 135 square miles. With more than 33,000 students, it’s the state’s second-largest district. About two-thirds of those students are of Latino origin, and there are 71 languages spoken by students within the district, providing an extra layer of challenge for the district’s 5,000 or so staff members. About 16,500 students are bilingual.
Given the complexity of the district, what was Polk’s secret in improving outcomes at the elementary level? And can that be translated to the district’s secondary schools? Four Oklahoma City high schools ― Capitol Hill, John Marshall, Northwest Classen and Star Spencer — received an “F” grade on the most recent report card for the first time since the currently used criteria was established.
Opinion: Everyone can make a difference by reading to a child | OKCPS Superintendent Jamie Polk
A key in Polk’s work, she said, is “knowing exactly how you’re measured. There are six indicators. At the high school level, it (includes) graduation, postsecondary, academic achievement ― it’s actually helping others see, ‘This is how you’re measured.’ You can do a whole lot of things, but the work has been done in order for us to know what would be a successful citizen, in order to be contributing to society — these are the things you need. That’s done. This is how you measure it.
“Once our educators see this … it all makes sense.”
Polk was on the committee that helped create the current standards for the Oklahoma State Report Card, “so I kind of understand a little bit” about what’s being measured.
“Let me know how you’re going to use the measurement so that I can train my people,” she said. “That has been the thing that has meant the most. When it was elementary schools, ‘These are the things that you’re going to be measured over. How are you tracking them throughout the year?’ … What does the learning plan look like? You have a team work on that problem of practice to get the desired outcome.
“It’s a cadence of expectations,” from principal supervisors to principals to teachers, Polk said. “In turn, we will do that cadence with secondary (school leaders).”
In addition to student outcomes, Polk faces another monumental task in overseeing the implementation of projects being paid for by a record $955 million bond issue approved by voters in late 2022. The district has said it wants those projects to be ready for students by the 2026-27 school year, which has led to district board meetings where multiple projects often are presented , all in different stages of design and/or construction. Polk praised the district’s chief operations officer, Scott Randall, who’s the point person on bond projects.
“Thank goodness for a Scott Randall, who … has, with Dr. McDaniel, have actually created this pathway for us to follow in regard to the bond,” she said. “With him at the helm, he’s getting me up to speed on a different level and I’m very grateful for that. I have a standing meeting with Scott. What you see (in public) is only a tenth of what he’s done behind the scenes with different groups … His team spends a lot of time ensuring we know where each project is, financially as well as in regard with where the facilities are themselves.”
Fate of historic Capitol Hill building still to be determined
Arguably the most contentious of those projects has been the planned construction of a new building at Capitol Hill High School. The current high school building — designed by famed architect Solomon Andrew Layton and opened in 1928 — will be used through the 2025-26 school year. But the eventual fate of the current building remains a mystery.
Concerns about the school, while not yet targeted for demolition, date to renderings by MA+ Architects released in late 2022 that showed the campus cleared of its historic fieldhouse (which dates to the mid-1950s) and the 1928 building. One rendering showed the ornate entrance of the school as the only portion of the school to be retained and for it to be repurposed into a gateway for an alumni plaza.
Renderings shown during an early June board meeting , however, included a master plan with the 1928 building intact, with just the fieldhouse gone. A vocal group of Capitol Hill alumni have campaigned for the old building to be saved, if not as a school, then for another, to-be-determined community purpose. The district’s COO, Randall, said publicly in April that the demolition of the current school building is not in the scope of work for the contractors on the project.
The leader of the Capitol Hill group, Michael Smith, said he appreciates Polk being willing to communicate with its members, after Smith felt that McDaniel would not. Polk said it’s too early in her tenure to know exactly what might happen.
Polk did say she’s met with the Capitol Hill group “and it makes a world of difference when you sit down at the table with people and listen. I am so grateful for that. I’m just getting up to snuff on it … but in this process, I have learned the heart of different community members and I honor that heart. But in order for me to sit here and say if something’s going to be torn down, yes or no — I don’t know.”
Smith and others — including current members of the district’s Citizens Oversight Committee for the Bond, members of the school board and media members — also have complained about what they perceive to be a lack of transparency within the district , in regards to communication from the district office, open records requests or simply availability. The Oklahoman, for example, sought on multiple occasions in May and June to speak with Polk, McDaniel and Board Chair Paula Lewis for a story about the transition in district leadership. Those requests were denied and it wasn’t until mid-July that district communications professionals allowed for Polk to be interviewed.
Polk promised to be transparent going forward and said she will address the issue “day by day.” During a recent speech at the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber's State of the Schools event, she had her phone number and email address posted on a big screen inside the room at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in which the event was held.
“I’m going to ask others to hold me accountable to that,” she said. “In my 100-day plan, in order to apply for this position and receive it, communication was number one. That was just not communication with the community or the board or with staff — that’s everyone. … I plan to do a cadence and have focuses. Am I going to get it right 100% of the time? No. But I am going to attempt to do better.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: In new role, OKC superintendent's priority is to improve students' academic performance
Local News
