Oklahoma’s new state superintendent lays out vision for next 15 months in office

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s newly sworn-in state superintendent said he intends his brief 15 months in office to be “more than just a stopgap.”

The coming days and weeks for Lindel Fields, who took the oath of office Tuesday, will center on rebuilding communication and relationships across the state, particularly with educators, families, news media and state officials, including his own employees at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. That will involve a listening tour across Oklahoma, he said.

Fields, a former CareerTech center administrator, aims to move the needle on student outcomes, too, despite his short term in office, he said. During a press briefing Tuesday afternoon at the Education Department, he said he believes his administration “can make a difference in 15 months” and reminded news reporters that New York City’s Empire State Building was built in 14 months.

“No matter who comes after me in this role, I want to leave them with a strong foundation on which to build,” he said.

A cornerstone of that foundation is bringing in a “turnaround team” to help stabilize the Education Department after former state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ turbulent tenure ended with an early exit.

Over the coming weeks, Fields and that team will review all agency finances, vendor contracts, pending lawsuits, “organizational misalignments” and more, he said.

Fields and Gov. Kevin Stitt, who appointed him to complete Walters’ term through January 2027, brought in education professionals and other officials from across the state to lead the turnaround.

Most of them will work at the Education Department full time, relocating to Oklahoma City if necessary, said Tara Thompson, Fields’ interim communications adviser and the chief of communications at Broken Arrow Public Schools.

Thompson will assist with agency communications while the Education Department seeks to hire a communications chief permanently. She said she will work for both the agency and Broken Arrow schools while commuting back and forth from the Tulsa area.

Fields, of Tulsa, is still deliberating with his wife to figure out their living arrangements, Thompson said. They have a daughter in fifth grade in Tulsa Public Schools.

The chief financial officer of Tulsa schools, Kristen Stephens, will move to the state capital to oversee the Education Department’s finances, operations, compliance, federal programs and human resources.

Stephens’ first task is to review the agency’s financial state and to build a 2027 fiscal year budget proposal. The Oklahoma State Board of Education is expected to vote on Stephens’ budget request during its Oct. 23 meeting, Fields said.

Walters presented a budget proposal shortly before he resigned, but the board tabled it without taking any action.

Fields and the board will meet for the first time this week on Thursday to vote on teacher certifications, student transfer appeals and other matters, he said.

The relationship between the board and the state superintendent, which became strained in the late stages of Walters’ tenure, also appears to be changing.

Thompson said Fields intends to collaborate with board members to place items of their choosing on meeting agendas and to give the board ample time to review agenda materials before they meet, two things Walters refused to do.

Fields’ team plans to deliver a yearly budget proposal to the board on Oct. 15, which would give the board members a week to examine it before they meet at the end of the month, Thompson said.

She described the turnaround team’s approach to agency finances as a “trust but verify” method. She said the agency doesn’t intend to hire external auditors, but it would cooperate with any audits that are called.

“We’re looking into everything that we can,” Thompson said. “We’re being very objective. We’re assuming the best. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of great employees at the state Department of Education that work very hard, but everything will be reviewed and anything that’s found to be fiscally irresponsible or not in the best interest of our taxpayers will be brought to light and corrected to the fullest extent possible.”

Another member of Fields’ incoming team is Romel Muex-Pullen, who will take a 15-month leave of absence from Metro Technology Centers in Oklahoma City, where she is an associate superintendent.

Muex-Pullen will lead the Education Department in areas of assessments, instruction, and teacher recruitment and retention.

Fields said recruiting and retaining classroom teachers is one of his top three priorities over the next 15 months, along with improving student literacy and connecting students with career pathways.

Finding a way forward for assessments, also known as state testing, has gotten “messy,” Thompson said.

While districts were welcoming students back in August, Walters abruptly announced his intention to eliminate Oklahoma’s statewide tests this school year and replace them with district-selected benchmark assessments.

Doing so would require federal approval first, but “frustratingly, the status of that right now is unclear,” Thompson said.

The U.S. Department of Education website indicates Oklahoma hasn’t requested any waivers from the federal agency since December 2024.

Statewide testing of public school students is required under federal and state law. Thompson said “it’s an assumption that we can lean towards” that testing will happen this school year.

“It’s hard to say if anything is safe right now with all the different moving pieces,” she said. “But coming from a school district, I can tell you that’s what we’re planning on. We’re planning on state testing happening. We’re just trying to get clarification on is there a different test we’re supposed to be using.”

Office of Educational Quality and Accountability executive director Megan Oftedal will join the Education Department full time to handle data analytics and artificial intelligence initiatives. Fields said she will focus on ensuring data is accurate, accessible and actionable.

While Thompson advises on communications, the only remaining spokesperson from Walters’ administration, Madison Cercy, remains at the department.

Fields hasn’t fired any employees since he stepped into the superintendent role, Thompson said. He also hasn’t removed any of Walters’ appointees to state boards, though she said some might have left their roles through “natural attrition.”

So far, that appears to only apply to Kendra Wesson, a former state Board of Education member whom Walters appointed to the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee. Wesson is no longer listed on the textbook committee’s webpage as a member.

Walters’ other appointees are still listed as current members of the Statewide Charter School Board and the Teachers’ Retirement System Board of Trustees.

Stitt’s chief of staff, Tom Newell, will join the Education Department to take charge of staffing and government relations, Fields said. The governor’s education secretary, Nellie Tayloe Sanders, will leave her position to assist Fields as an adviser on special projects.

As Fields’ 15 months in office begins, he said he and his team will focus on education, not “trying to convince you to vote for me.” He has said he has no interest in running in the 2026 state superintendent election.

“I plan to sprint for 15 months,” Fields said. “My normal way is the tortoise always wins the race, slow and deliberate, but the tortoise is going to have some tennis shoes on for the next 15 months.”

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.