Kingfisher’s Board of Education made sure one administrator sticks around for a while and brought another one aboard.

Members voted unanimously Monday night to extend Dr. Daniel Craig’s contract as superintendent through June 30, 2024.

The move came after about 70 minutes of executive session. Craig joined the board for part of that session, but members also met without him present before voting.

The board also approved Makylah Tollefson as the new Gilmour Elementary principal, effective immediately.

A 2004 Kingfisher High School graduate, Tollefson, started the year as an assistant reading specialist at Gilmour.

She owns a bachelor’s in elementary education and a master’s in educational administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

She was previously a fifth grade teacher at Kingfisher Middle School from 2008-10 and also taught first grade at Gilmour from 2010-13.

“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to take on this new role as principal,” said Tollefson. “I look forward to continuing to work with all of the staff and students.”

In recommending Tollefson, Craig said she was “by far” the best candidate of several interviewed.

Shane Hood has been serving as the principal of both Gilmour and Heritage since Clifford Benson was reassigned to be the transportation director and also work at the alternative school at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.

The plan, said Craig, has been to hire a new full-time principal for Gilmour, but school leaders weren’t sure when was the right time.

“We were thinking we could wait until the new new junior high building opened and we moved the grades around,” Craig said.

Originally the school was scheduled to be ready for the start of this second semester. However, a delay in receiving some materials pushes the likelihood of it being student-ready back several more weeks.

“There was never a perfect time to make the hire,” Craig said. “In the end, we decided to make the move now. That way the person could learn the system and help with the second grade moving to Heritage.”

Craig was hired by the board in May to succeed Jason Sternberger, who took the same position at Hennessey after 10 years in Kingfisher.

Craig was originally hired on a twoyear contract that ran through June 30, 2023. Monday’s motion, made by Charles Walker, extended that by a year.

“I think you are doing an excellent job and the board is unanimous in agreement,” said board President Dana Golbek to Craig after the vote.

Craig is a 1989 KHS graduate.

“I truly appreciate the school board and district for embracing me,” he said. “It’s been a real blessing to return to Kingfisher and I’m excited to see where we are headed in the future.

“We have great staff and unbelievable community support.”