If Dr. Daniel Craig was going to get back into education at a school, this was the time.

The place just happened to be his hometown.

The Kingfisher Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved Craig as the district’s new superintendent, ending a search that spanned nearly two months.

A 1989 graduate of Kingfisher High School, Craig returns to Kingfisher after about a two decade stint working in education at the state level, most recently as executive director of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability.

His experience as a former teacher, coach and administrator at the public school level as well as that with the State Department of Education made him an attractive candidate, according to the president of the school board.

Being a Kingfisher native also didn’t hurt.

“We are excited to welcome Dan home to Kingfisher Public Schools,” said Dana Golbek, president of the board and also Craig’s Algebra I teacher at KHS.

“Dan brings a lot of experience and knowledge to Kingfisher from his time at the SDE, as a teacher in the classroom and as an administrator.

“As a graduate of KPS, he understands the culture and high expectations to provide a well-rounded education to all students.”

After KHS, Craig earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Oklahoma in 1995 and earned his teaching certificate the following year at the University of Central Oklahoma.

That led to a stint at Tecumseh from 1996-2000 where he served as a coach in the football, wrestling and tennis programs while also teaching U.S. History.

Craig garnered his master’s degree in school administration from East Central University in Ada in 2000.

That immediately led to a position as the principal for all grade levels at Sasakwa.

Craig points out he was also the athletic director and transportation director at the small district in Seminole County.

He said he envisioned himself eventually succeeding his superintendent, Jim Matthews, but fate had other plans.

Craig landed a position with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. He served as the coordinator for student preparation from 2001 through November 2005 and earned his doctorate in education in leadership from Oral Roberts University in the process.

That led to a position with the Office of Accountability where he was the senior coordinator for school improvement from 2005-10.

Craig then served as the state director for AdvancED, which is now Cognia.

It was housed at the SDE, but eventually lost its state appropriation before the company closed and combined a number of its state offices, including Oklahoma’s.

Craig then spent time working with different nonprofits before Joy Hofmeister was elected state superintendent.

She called Craig and asked him to serve as a regional accreditation officer with the SDE.

Eventually, the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (a merger of the Commission for Teacher Preparation and the Office of Accountability) called about its open executive director position.

Craig interviewed and was almost immediately offered the position.

He served in that position for nearly five years.

“Working for the state’s been good,” Craig said Monday night from his home in Edmond. “It’s taken care of me and my family. But I really figured I’d be back in a superintendency and I got to the point that if I’m ever going to do it, it’s got to be now.”

Craig will succeed Jason Sternberger, who earlier this spring accepted the same position at Hennessey.

Sternberger has served in the position for 10 years.

“I knew of Jason when he was at Medford and at Clinton and he’s done a great job,” Craig said.

A focus of the board of education and administration has been to push back up Kingfisher’s state test scores and other areas in academics.

Craig said that was relayed to him during the interview process as well as by others with interest in the school system.

“All of them across the board, praise Kingfisher athletics, ag, the buildings, cheer, you can’t beat it,” he said.

“All of them said, ‘Hey, we need to get back to academics.’”

Craig said achieving those expectations is attainable.

“Kingfisher, for the most part, is above average,” he said in reviewing the data. “Sometimes there can be an anomaly and can lead to lower scores, but I know that’s where they want to focus.

“And I feel I can bring in some of the things I’ve learned in performance review and, working with the state the last 20 years, I know a lot of people who work in the different areas who can help us put into practice some things that could help.”

Craig will serve out a notice with his current position but also get to work on filling a number of positions within the KPS administration.

He and his family will also be searching for a home in Kingfisher.

His wife, Kaycie, and youngest daughter, Ava (who will be a high school senior next year) attended the meeting with him.

His oldest daughter, Aubrey, is a freshman at Oklahoma State.

“My family was on board faster than I was, really, which surprised me,” he said. “We spent of lot of time there with my parents when my girls were younger and they know the town. They said they loved it.”

His peers in the educational field also told him he should jump at the job.

“All my friends who are superintendents now or in education said it’s the best job in the state,” he said “They told me that if it was offered, I had to take it.”

So he did.

“It was really too good to pass up.”

Golbek said the board agreed Craig was the right person for the job.

“He has a passion for students, KPS and the community,” she said.“We as a board expect Dan will be a strong leader who will help Kingfisher Public Schools grow and excel in all areas, giving our students the education they need to prepare them for the future.”