New Direction

After leading the Kingfisher High School cheer squad to three consecutive state championships and then helping build the nation’s top FFA chapter, Lori Burns is moving to a new school and new subject next year.

The Kingfisher school board voted unanimously and with regret to accept her resignation Monday night a week after Dover’s school board voted to hire her as a junior high science teacher.

Burns will have completed nearly 20 years as a Kingfisher teacher at the end of her current contract on June 30.

“I have had the opportunity to teach and coach some of the best students in Oklahoma and have thoroughly enjoyed my experience here and the families and community I have had the honor to serve,” she wrote in her resignation letter.

As co-advisers of the Kingfisher ag program, Burns and her husband Ryan modeled and instilled a work ethic in their students that involved countless hours outside the classroom working on all the components of a 21st century FFA program – writing and honing speeches, drilling down on parliamentary procedure, developing marketing plans and researching current agricultural issues, in addition to more traditional ag skills involving animals and crops.

Her talent at honing national champions in team and individual public speaking events drew the attention of the Oklahoma Farm Report, where she was featured in a 2010 article that noted “you will find very few ag educators that are any better at coaching young people and getting them ready for the rigors of a National FFA Speech Contest than Lori Burns.”

Burns was recognized in 2014 by the National Association of Agricultural Educators as one of its six outstanding teachers selected nationwide.

“Lori is continually providing her students with learning opportunities. If a student has a passion for something, you can count on Lori to help that student reach their maximum potential,” Travis Bradshaw, Burlington FFA adviser said of Burns in 2014. “I have not met another teacher who even comes close to matching Lori’s passion for her program.”

Over the years, the Kingfisher FFA program not only has attracted the best and brightest students, but Burns’ challenging leadership style also has helped struggling students excel in her program.

FFA students routinely are included among KHS valedictorians and top college graduates and many have become leaders in chosen professions as varied as law, government, business, animal and plant science and teaching.

“It’s no secret we moved our family here to be a part of this (FFA) program,” Kingfisher school board President Mark Squires said after Monday’s meeting.

(Squires’ son Gatlin and daughter Jentry have each participated on more than one of Kingfisher’s national champion FFA teams and won individual national honors and Gatlin was elected to a state FFA office.)

“She’s been one of the great teachers, not only in our state, but throughout the entire country,” Squires said. “It’s been great for our family and we wish nothing but continued success for hers.”

“Lori has created a program that is second to none at a national level,” Supt. Jason Sternberger said after the meeting. “She has proven that she brings out the best in kids at whatever she is doing with them.

“How many people create a three-time championship cheerleading squad and then do what she has done with our FFA program? She will be missed greatly and will excel in her new endeavor.”

Her new endeavor will include sponsoring student leadership classes at Dover, where Burns will have the opportunity to continue teaching parliamentary procedure, public speaking and other character-building skills to a new crop of students.

“I leave here with no hard feelings, just an opportunity to try something new and different,” Burns wrote in her letter to the Kingfisher board. “Thank you for the opportunities you have provided me throughout the past several years.

“Kingfisher Schools is very dear to my heart and has been an important part of my spiritual growth.”

Burns is one of several incoming teachers with Kingfisher ties hired by the Dover school board at its recent meeting. (See related story.)

But that change doesn’t happen until July 1. Until then, Burns is continuing to work with her Kingfisher students to finish out a strong year, including preparing individuals and teams for the state convention and proficiency contests at the end of the month.

“I think it’s very commendable that she’s continuing to work as hard as she is right now,” Squires said. “A lot of people in her situation would just coast to the end, but she’s working just as hard with kids right now as she ever has.”

Sternberger said the school will advertise for another agricultural education teacher to join Ryan Burns and keep Kingfisher a two-teacher program.

The Burns family also includes three sons in the Kingfisher school system – Peyton, a senior; Braden, a sophomore, and Colton, a fourth grader.