Stillwater, Ok May, 26 (The Oklahoma Post) –
The Stillwater Board of Education announced today that former track and field legend Uwe Gordon will be the next Superintendent of Schools. His long-time support of athletics, providing advanced education to high schoolers, and advocating for the arts has made him a community favorite. Generally, he’s a great guy. Here’s to hoping he provides transparency, thus keeping the parent’s trust, in a town desperate for ethical leadership.
Read the entirety of the press release below.
SHS Principal Uwe Gordon to step into superintendent role
Longtime Pioneer educator, administrator excited for new opportunities as district leader
(Stillwater, Oklahoma) During a special board meeting Thursday night, the Stillwater Board of Education approved the hire of Uwe Gordon, longtime Pioneer educator and administrator, as the district’s next superintendent.
Gordon is currently the principal at Stillwater High School, where he has served for 16 years. He will begin his duties at the end of the school year, taking over for Interim Superintendent Gay Washington.
“I am very excited for the opportunity,” Gordon said. “I know, having been here most of my professional career, that it is a big jump, and I appreciate the board giving me the opportunity to take on that challenge. Having lived in Stillwater this long, I think I have some insight into the needs of the district and community, and I hope to help make Stillwater a better school system. I’m also excited to work with a dedicated, hardworking team of teachers, staff and administrators.”
Board members partnered with the Oklahoma State School Boards Association to help facilitate the superintendent search, including hosting a community survey and conducting focus groups. According to Stillwater Board President Tim Riley, input from the community was incredibly valuable as the board navigated the search process and narrowed down the candidate pool.
“Mr. Gordon has been with the district for decades and knows the Stillwater community very well,” Riley said. “He is a well-respected leader at our high school and has built a wonderful culture there. We think his demonstrated commitment to the student experience, his connection to the community, and his understanding of the unique challenges of the times will translate well on the district level.”
After earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in science from Oklahoma State University (OSU), Gordon began his career as an educator in 1984 as a junior high social studies teacher at Stillwater Public Schools. He also gained experience as an administrator at SPS, serving as the junior high ISSP and Athletic Director from 1993-1994 and as a junior high assistant principal from 1994-2000.
After 16 years with Stillwater Public Schools, Gordon left the district in 2000, accepting the position of principal at Yale High School. He would also go on to serve as principal of Hennessey High School from 2002-2003. Gordon accepted his first job as a superintendent in 2003, leading Hennessey’s school district for three years.
After earning six years of experience as an administrator at Yale and Hennessey, Gordon returned to Stillwater Public Schools in 2006 where he currently serves as the high school principal.
Gordon is dedicated and heavily involved in the Stillwater community. He was an adjunct professor for the college of education at OSU from 1996-2015 and is also a member of the Stillwater Community Resiliency Committee, Stillwater High School Alumni Association, Stillwater High School PTA, and the OSU College of Education Advisory Committee.
“I’m looking forward to serving this amazing community in a new way,” Gordon said. “I love Stillwater.”
OSSBA has helped facilitate superintendent searches across the state, working with other school board associations throughout the country to ensure a competitive candidate pool. The non-profit organization has partnered with several Oklahoma school districts of all sizes to perform superintendent searches, including El Reno, McAlester, Cordell, Eufaula and Woodland.
End Press Release
View the original content on the Official Stillwater Public Schools “Hub” Website
We will continue to follow the Stillwater Board of Education as changes are made to improve the parent’s trust in the administration.
Here are your rights as parents in Oklahoma that are codified; you actually have far more rights than what are listed in the documents below.
If you’ve been targeted please read about more of your rights below. Please contact us HERE to share your story.
A parent may contact the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) which is responsible for enforcing federal laws which prohibit educational institutions from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, disability, sex, and age.
You may make a complaint under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) which provides certain rights for parents regarding their children’s education records.
We encourage Stillwater, Oklahoma readers who have been targeted by the school district to also fill out and submit their complaints. Most of these families providing information have had different conflicts at some time with the city. The retaliation can include actions such as keeping school reports, social worker reports, religious preferences, report cards, denial of meal plan, etc.
The Oklahoma Post has provided the forms below for your convenience.
OCR requires complaints to be filed in writing. You can email, mail, or fax the complaint form or you can submit an electronic complaint form.
You can fill the forms out on a desktop or print them out and fill them out by hand. After you complete the form, you will need to send the form via email, mail, fax, or email to OCR.KansasCity@ed.gov
For more information about FERPA and to file a FERPA complaint, please visit https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/.
For more information about FERPA Click Here
Additional information about the laws OCR enforces is available on the government website at http://www.ed.gov/ocr.
The electronic complaint form is available at ocrcas.ed.gov.
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