Oklahoma City Public Schools promotes Jamie Polk to superintendent role

Jamie Polk speaks at a news conference on Saturday after being hired as the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY — A longtime school administrator credited as a “catalyst” for positive change in Oklahoma City Public Schools will take on the district’s top job.

Jamie Polk, the district’s assistant superintendent of elementary schools, will succeed departing Superintendent Sean McDaniel on July 1. The Oklahoma City Board of Education voted unanimously on Saturday to hire Polk through June 30, 2027. 

Her contract states she will earn a base salary of $250,000, along with insurance benefits, a vehicle, a $10,000 technology and vehicle stipend, and the possibility of an annual performance bonus worth up to 10% of her salary.

Polk joined McDaniel’s team of senior administrators in July 2019. She came from Lawton Public Schools, where she spent 25 years as an assistant superintendent, principal and teacher.

Oklahoma City, the state’s second-largest school district with about 33,000 students, is where Polk will step into the superintendent role for the first time.

She didn’t appear daunted by the responsibility while speaking with reporters after Saturday’s board meeting. Polk said she’s been “at the table” for all of the district’s major challenges and decisions since she came to Oklahoma City five years ago, a period that saw significant school consolidations, the COVID-19 pandemic and the passage of the district’s largest-ever bond issue.

“What’s exciting is because I have been here for the last five, almost six years, I have had the opportunity to see behind the curtain,” Polk said.

Born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, Polk came to Oklahoma by following her husband to Lawton, where he was stationed at the Fort Sill U.S. Army base. She earned her undergraduate degree from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.

Board Chairperson Paula Lewis said Polk was a lead applicant for the superintendent position from the beginning. She said the board received 20 applications, interviewed six or seven candidates, and believed three or four besides Polk “could have stepped in and done the job well.” 

“They just wouldn’t have known the inner workings of the job,” Lewis said.

Lewis credited Polk as a “catalyst” for improving the culture, staff retention and academic achievement in the district’s elementary schools. During her tenure, 11 schools have elevated off of the “F list,” which designates the lowest-performing schools in the state.

The district has placed heavier emphasis, particularly in struggling elementary schools, on boosting teacher and principal training and helping students track their individual academic progress.

“I look for systems and I look for where perhaps it has broken down and that’s where we plug in,” Polk said. “That’s what we have done in the elementary department is looking at systems in order for teachers to look at the data and then look at what each individual child needs and go from there.”

Polk said she spoke with McDaniel before applying to be his successor. She described their relationship as “solid.”

McDaniel didn’t attend Saturday’s meeting. He announced in February he will leave the district after six years in charge. 

The superintendent cited “irreconcilable differences” with an unnamed school board member as his reason to leave. His tenure, one of the longest of any Oklahoma City superintendent over the past three decades, will end June 30.

McDaniel’s departure came as a shocking disappointment to many in the school district and wider community, but the vote on Saturday carried a more cheerful tone. Several district administrators and local residents joined Polk’s family in celebrating her promotion.

The board’s newest member, Jessica Cifuentes, said she was “incredibly excited” to see Polk step into the top role.

“You have shown nothing but excellence,” Cifuentes told Polk before voting in favor of her contract. “You are data driven. You have been so incredibly kind, and I am excited to have somebody who really cares for everybody in the district.”

State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a statement congratulating Polk’s hiring.

“She has big challenges ahead of her, but she has shown herself to be extremely capable and hyper-focused on outcomes for the district,” Walters said. “I’m excited as we will be working together for the parents and kids of the district.”

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