After a marathon executive session, Kingfisher Board of Education members unanimously voted Monday night to extend Superintendent Andy Evans’ contract for another year.

“Andy’s the guy,” board President Mike Copeland told the KT&FP. “Andy’s the guy for us.”

The vote came after a closed session that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes that saw Evans leave and enter the room with board members multiple times and also saw all of the district’s principals called in.

Then, about 20 minutes before the midnight hour, board members Brad Wittrock, Bill Reitz, Copeland, Charles Walker and Dana Golbek moved to extend Evans’ contract through the 2027-28 school year.

Evans was originally hired as interim superintendent in October 2023 after the passing of David Glover.

The board made the move permanent last year and hired Evans on a twoyear contract that paid him $150,000 annually.

His new contract has the same financial terms, said Copeland, and will remain a two-year deal.

“It’s been a difficult five years with the school, financial-wise,” Copeland said. “With Andy’s guidance, we’re climbing out of that hole and we’re going to be there sooner rather than later.

“He’s very strong in that area and that’s really what we’ve needed after the last few years.”

Evans told the KT&FP that his primary focus has been the district’s budget since he was hired.

Declining revenues coupled with a settlement in a civil lawsuit and having the district’s estimate of needs amended last year by the county excise board saw the district go from flush with funds a handful of years ago to a reduction in force last year.

The district’s financial situation has been precarious at times.

“To this point, my primary concern has been balancing the budget and moving towards getting to a more manageable carryover,” Evans said.

At each board meeting, Evans has provided board members with a financial report that has included month-to-month comparisons to previous years in both revenues and expenditures as well an outlook for the months ahead.

While the board has expressed appreciation for Evans’ role in reversing the district’s financial situation, Evans said there are also other areas they’d like to see him focus his efforts.

“I need to concentrate more on my role as an instructional leader,” he told the KT&FP as to some of the feedback he received. “The board has the desire for us to continue to build an effective instructional team of administrators and teachers. Our test scores have improved in my tenure, but we do need to continue to repair the academics and apply the principles that have always made Kingfisher a wonderful school.”

Board members entered into the executive session at 7:54 p.m. and were joined by Alberto Sanchez.

Sanchez will be taking over Copeland’s board seat in April. He was the lone person to file for the seat opening during last month’s filing period.

Evans was initially in the executive session until 8:34 p.m.

At 8:43 p.m. Walker had to leave the meeting.

Some 30 minutes later, Copeland asked the principals to come into the executive session.

Joining the board members were Makylah Tollefson of Gilmour, Lisa Meier of Heritage, Miran-da Shelton of KUE, Chris Farris of KJH and KHS and Colby Connel of KHS.

“As board members, we have limited contact with the superintendent, yet we are the ones who have to evaluate them,” Copeland said. “So we wanted the input of people he works with everyday. We were pleased to get that input from the principals and what they told us.”

Evans agreed with the decision to talk with the principals.

“In evaluating a superintendent, the board does need to talk to those who report to the superintendent,” he said.

Principals were in the room with board members for just under an hour.

Then, about 20 minutes after they exited, Evans was called back in at 10:33 p.m.

Walker was able to return to the meeting at 10:47 p.m. Evans left the executive session at 11:04 p.m. and was asked back in at 11:26 p.m.

“That was just for us to fill in Charles on some things that he missed, so there were some things we needed to discuss with him both while Andy was in there with us and without Andy,” said Copeland. “The optics may not have looked good, but it was just the right thing for us to do to fill in Charles. That’s all it was.”

The meeting returned to the regular session at 11:34 p.m.

Among the other actions approved before the meeting adjourned at 11:38 p.m. was seeking a new evaluation system for the superintendent.

“The system we have in the board packet is from 2005,” Copeland said. “And on all the criteria, it only gives you the opportunity to grade a 1, 2 or 3. That doesn’t give you much room to grade someone.”

Wittrock made a motion for the board to adopt a system provided by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA).

It will come with a $500 initial fee which includes training for the board and a $200 annual fee.

Wittrock told the KT&FP that the new system will allow board members more accurate and frequent feedback throughout the year as opposed to once a year and will also allow board members to set more precise goals and expectations for the district’s leader.

The OSSBA’s website claims its system accomplishes that.

“One way to maintain healthy board-superintendent communication about performance and expectations is to engage in an on-going (formative) evaluation process that encourages growth and provides opportunities for improvement,” according to the website. “OSSBA’s ongoing superintendent evaluation tool transcends the traditional annual evaluation approach and uses an online platform to streamline the process. The OSSBA believes that in order to intentionally impact district and student achievement, district leadership should frequently engage in conversation surrounding areas of improvement. For the superintendent, this can occur with the board members through an ongoing evaluation process that occurs throughout the year and provides an opportunity for growth.”

The site said the evaluation too is designed to provide board members with the opportunity to provide more frequent feedback to the superintendent in the following areas:

• Board/superintendent relationship

• Human resources/ staff relations

• Operations

• Finance

• Teaching, learning and assessment

• Personal qualities

• Community relations

• District goals “We as board members need to make sure we’re doing what’s right,” Copeland said. “This is another way for us to do that.”

Evans said he wants to ensure the relationship with the board remains strong in the future, which includes keeping the board apprised of all that pertains to the district.

“There doesn’t need to be a filter to occlude the vision of the board. That causes issues in the long run,” he said. “I am committed to transparency. We can’t move forward to improve our academics or anything else until that transparency exists.”