After weeks of interviews, the Geary Public Schools Board of Education finally hired a new district superintendent. Turns out, the board didn’t have to look far to find its new leader.
Sean Buchanan, the former principal of Geary Elementary School, will now be tasked with leading the entire district. Buchanan’s hire was announced after his final-round interview during a special school board meeting on Wednesday, June 9, at Geary High School.
“I want to congratulate Mr. Buchanan,” said school board president Jason Bernhardt.
“We’re excited for new leadership to take us in a positive direction and take the school district in a positive direction.”
Board member Virginia Lou Richey said the board “didn’t take the hiring of the superintendent lightly.”
“We went through a very strenuous process that we followed in partnership with the OSSBA (Oklahoma State School Boards Association),” Richey said. “It was through working with them and their guidance, and following a very strenuous process, that we finally came to this decision. We went through two rounds of interviews before we decided that Mr. Buchanan was going to be our selection. So for those who have concerns as we move forward, I just want you guys to know that we, as a board, decided this in unity.”
She said the school board had been guided by public input, including a public survey, throughout the process.
Buchanan told The Geary Star he has experienced tremendous community support since arriving in town four years ago.
“Our families are looking for teachers and administrators who want to be here, and who want to be involved,” Buchanan said after his hire. “I’ll shout it from the mountaintops: Our parents have supported me, and my staff has supported me, more here than any place I’ve ever been.”
Buchanan said he has great communication with parents and hopes “that communication continues” in his new role.
Buchanan was born and raised in Fort Cobb and attended Cameron University after graduating. He was inspired to enter the teaching field, he said, after working in an after-school program while in high school.
“When I started out, I was going to do computer stuff,” Buchanan explained. “But I missed people. The human interaction piece of education was just – I’m crazy about kids. I love working with kids. I love the excitement they show whenever they learn something, or can do something.”
Buchanan’s first teaching job was in Mountain View, where he stayed for seven years before transitioning into administrative roles in the Weatherford school district.
Buchanan said his move into the principal’s office was spurred by his desire to help more children, rather than just one classroom at a time. But he found that being a principal meant seeing lots of kids who “weren’t having a good day.”
His solution? To recognize students for doing good.
“I made it a thing to come to the office for good things,” Buchanan said. “That was a big thing for me. We put in a system here in Geary of, if we catch you doing something good – like holding the door open for someone, or being respectful to a friend or teacher – we reward those kids with stickers, special slips to take home to their parents. And then they can collect those and win prizes with those things.”
He said that effort fundamentally “changed the perception of what the principal was.”
“Instead of being this person you were scared of, or this person you didn’t like,” Buchanan said, “I tried to become this person that kids were respectful of, but didn’t want to disappoint. Because I was someone that cared about them.”
And Buchanan said office referrals have decreased 98% since he arrived at Geary Elementary, from more than 300 to six. “And I tell people it’s because of the work our teachers were doing,” Buchanan said. “Our teachers bought in wholeheartedly.”
Now that he is superintendent, Buchanan said one of his biggest challenges will be to rebuild the “stamina” required for success after the strange year of COVID-19. “Our kids have had 18 months now of unusual learning,” he explained, and need to relearn the commitment, focus and work ethic required to graduate and go on to college, the military, or the professional world.
“We’re going to have to build back to that,” he said.
Personally, Buchanan is married and has three children, two of which will be attending Geary schools this fall. Buchanan said he enjoys spending time with his family and traveling – whenever there’s not a global pandemic going on, that is.