Board Report - March 9

Board Reports

Board Hires Deputy Chief Financial Officer

Jeff M. Landes was named Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Union Public Schools after a formal vote by the Board of Education Monday night. He will replace Dr. Trish Williams, Union’s current CFO, who is expected to retire June 30, 2026, having served in the role since 2017.

Landes will start at Union effective April 1 and work with Dr. Williams to oversee the financial operations of the district, including development and maintenance of the annual budget and long-range financial projections. At Union, the CFO holds the central role in district planning and analysis of current programs, support systems and expenditures, and reports directly to the Superintendent. The Chief Financial Officer is an integral member of both the Superintendent’s Cabinet and Executive Cabinet, and supervises human resources, federal programs, accounting, financial reporting, payroll, budgeting and treasury.

“We are delighted to have the exceptionally talented Jeff Landes joining the Union Public Schools leadership team as Deputy Chief Financial Officer,” said Superintendent Dr. John Federline. “He has a statewide reputation for excellence in school finance and information technology, and I can think of no one better equipped to succeed our own Dr. Trish Williams.”

Landes has more than 20 years of experience in school finance and technology environments, having served as Chief Financial Officer for Mustang Public Schools and Newcastle Public Schools. He has been serving as senior manager of Project Services for SylogistEd, Inc., where he oversaw enterprise resource planning and student information systems platform implementations for K-12 school districts, guiding cross-functional teams through project planning, data conversion, training and product development.

Landes served as CFO for Mustang Public Schools from 2022-2025 before transitioning to a financial consultant for the district. He also served as CFO for Newcastle Public Schools from 2017 to 2022. Landes is currently a statewide trainer for the Oklahoma Schools Advisory Council, training individuals in school finance how to understand their job and perform with excellence. Previously, he served as a contract technology director through his firm, Jeff Landes Consulting, for five districts and numerous businesses in southwest Oklahoma and helped with the transition to a single district as Newcastle Schools. He has experience managing school teams including business, technology, operations, student transportation and child nutrition.

Landes received his master’s degree in educational leadership from Southern Nazarene University and his bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations from Oklahoma City University. He has served as a member for the National Association of Schools Business Officials, the Oklahoma Association of School Business and the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators.

Williams, who is retiring at the end of the school year, joined Union in 2017 after serving as CFO for Tulsa Public Schools since 2008. Williams earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and her master's degree of business administration from Baylor University. In May 2014, she graduated from the Educational Administration, Curriculum and Supervision Ed.D. program at the University of Oklahoma Tulsa campus.  In 2014 and 2015, she was named District #5 Asst. Superintendent/Central Office Administrator of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators (OASA). Under her guidance, Union has earned the Meritorious Budget Award for excellence in the preparation and issuance of its budget for fiscal year 2024-25, the seventh year in a row that Union’s Finance Division has achieved this honor; the honor is bestowed by the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO), and reflects the district’s commitment to “sound fiscal management and budgetary policies.” 

Union Girls Wrestling Team Wins State Championship

Athletic Director Emily Barkley welcomed Coach Gerald Harris and the Girls Wrestling Team, celebrating them for their recent win of the State Championship. “This is the first championship we’ve won in five years,” said Harris. “We weren’t supposed to win, but we beat the #2 team.” In addition to the Junior High and High School teams winning 1^st place, several of the girls won individual awards as follows:

Junior High: Ki’morah Cathey – 1^st Place; Corey Harris – 1^st Place; Liyah Tennial – 2^nd Place; and Malea Hawkins – 4^th Place.

High School: Kylee Tran – 2^nd Place; Dakota Harris – 2^nd Place; Mckenna Harris – 1^st Place; Terrilan Banner – 2^nd Place; Corey Harris – 1^st Place; Kelice Luker – 1^st Place; and Paige Wainscott – 3^rd Place.

Early Release Fridays Help to Improve Students’ Essential Skills

Chasity Gray, director of Professional Learning, provided the Board with an update on how schools and teachers are using Early Release Fridays to improve student performance.

They use four guiding questions to focus their time:

1. What do students need to know and understand in order to meet an essential skill?
2. How will we determine if students will reach the goals of these essential skills?  (Determined by End of Unit assessments).
3. What happens when students don’t acquire the essential skill? (Intervention is required).
4. When students do learn the essential skill, how do we enrich their learning and keep the student moving forward? 

Please see the video for specifics on how students at Rosa Parks Elementary used the “Power Half-Hour” to achieve significant growth.  Early Release Fridays are definitely moving the needle for our students by giving teachers this extra Planned Learning Time!

Board Approves School Calendar for 2026-2027

The Union Board of Education on second reading approved a calendar for the 2026-2027 school year. The Board first offered it up for consideration during a first-reading last month.

The calendar, which closely mirrors this year’s, calls for the first day of school to start August 13, with the last day tentatively set for May 25, 2027, with five snow days built into the calendar. If no snow days are used, the last day of school would be May 18, 2027.

Early Release Fridays will also continue under the calendar for next year, starting in September and running through April 9, 2027.

View approved calendar.

Changes Made to This Year’s School Calendar

The Board approved changes to this year’s calendar after Union Public Schools used four of the five snow days in January that are built into the calendar. The last day of school will be May 22, 2026.

To make up the lost time, Union will use three of the district’s built-in snows and it will reschedule the Virtual Learning Day from Thursday, April 2 to Friday, April 3. The parent-teacher conference originally slated for April 3 will be moved to May 26.

In other action, the Board of Education:

• Approved a resolution providing for the issuance of general obligation building bonds in the amount of $32 million. Union received sealed bids for the sale of these bonds, with UBS Financial selected as the low bidder who complied with the notice of sale and all the requirements at an interest rate of 2.49560%. Eight bids were received, in all, which CFO Trish Williams said was “a record.” She attributed it to the district’s strong AA+ rating from Standard & Poor’s, indicating a strong financial position.
• Approved the purchase of Geocomm Indoor Safety Solution for $132,280. This purchase will provide the district with electronic maps for school buildings for use with public safety organizations.

Video