'I'm just ready to go in': New Western Heights superintendent eager to return
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Western Heights Public Schools’ newest top official said the district’s decline has been “heartbreaking” but is eager to continue the turnaround.
Brayden Savage will take over as interim superintendent of the troubled district on Tuesday. She spent most of her 26-year career as a teacher and administrator at Western Heights before leaving in 2019.
Three of her children attended Western Heights schools. Her oldest daughter was the valedictorian of the 2011 graduating class.
“Just a real success story, and I think that’s due to (the) education she received there,” Savage said during an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting Thursday. “I want that for all of the kids at Western Heights. Right now, it’s just heartbreaking all the things that have happened.”
The southwest Oklahoma City district of 2,700 students spent much of the past year under scrutiny by state officials and its local community for poor financial management and abysmal academic outcomes, among other complaints.
Nine hundred district residents signed a petition last year to prompt an investigative audit of Western Heights' finances by the state auditor and inspector's office, a request the state school board later echoed.
The state Board of Education forced a takeover of Western Heights in July after district leadership failed to address concerns that landed the school system on probation.
The state board suspended the district’s superintendent, Mannix Barnes. State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister appointed Monty Guthrie to lead Western Heights in the interim.
With Guthrie departing for a school district position closer to home in eastern Oklahoma, Hofmeister chose Savage as a successor. Guthrie’s last day at Western Heights is Monday.
“I know Monty has come in and helped in every way possible,” Savage said. “I certainly appreciate him for all of that work. I’m just ready to go in. I’m excited. There’s a lot, and I know I can’t fix everything all at once. I can’t fix it by myself. I need a team of good people.”
The state Education Department recommended Savage hire a chief financial officer and internal auditor once she’s installed. The district deeply needs more staff and resources to support students and families, agency general counsel Brad Clark said.
Among the chief needs is revamping Western Heights’ alternative education program, which traditionally serves students struggling with academics and behavior issues.
Clark said the district’s former superintendent, Barnes, didn’t identify any students in need of alternative education in the 2020-21 school year.
“We believe, and it’s been said in emails, that the former superintendent (Barnes) was working to eliminate the alternative education program and put it fully online as a remediation service,” Clark told the state school board. “That has been stopped. It has been corrected, but it needs to be a point of emphasis going forward.”
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Savage was the director of alternative education for the state Education Department for 10 months before she was hired in 2020 to be the Shawnee Early Childhood Center principal.
Improving alternative education at Western Heights will be “near and dear to my heart” because of that work experience, she said.
However, some parents, alumni and residents of Western Heights were apprehensive about Savage returning.
Objections to administrative decisions arose while Savage was still assistant superintendent under longtime district leader Joe Kitchens.
Community outrage exploded during the 2018 teacher walkout when Western Heights docked teacher pay and threatened to withhold seniors’ diplomas for those who participated in the statewide protest after its first day.
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Some parents said they had reservations about any superintendent candidate with a history at Western Heights, a district that has struggled after promoting from within.
Savage told The Oklahoman she aims to build trust through open communication with the district’s stakeholders.
“I talked to each of them personally, those people that have those concerns,” she said. “I feel like we resolved some of those things. In the end, they agreed to give me a chance, and I think that the work will speak for itself.”
2011 graduate Brianna Dodd, now a Western Heights parent and community organizer, said her younger brother was one of the seniors whose diploma was in danger during the teacher walkout.
Dodd said she was initially skeptical of Savage but is now supportive after speaking with her multiple times.
Savage met with parents, staff and local residents at a gathering last week — a move Dodd said was meaningful to a community that felt ignored by its former superintendent and school board leadership.
“I feel that she listened and heard everything that I said, and for the first time in four years, I’ve found peace with the situation,” Dodd said. “She gave that option for the community to come talk to her. When have we ever had that chance with Mannix (Barnes) or (school board president) Robert Everman?”
Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New Western Heights schools leader 'excited' to continue turnaround
