Administration / Board Members
On-line Documents
Organizational Chart
Board Election Districts
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Superintendent:
Keith Ballard, Ed.D.
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
Pat Poindexter - email
Before becoming the Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, Dr. Keith Ballard was Executive Director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA). He has more than 36 years of service in public education. Dr. Ballard began his educational career in 1972 as a teacher in Coweta Public Schools. He moved to Oologah, Oklahoma, in 1974 where he taught and served in several administrative positions including Superintendent from 1986 until 1992. Dr. Ballard then moved to Claremore where he served as Superintendent of Claremore Public Schools before assuming the position with OSSBA on January 1, 2000.
Although Dr. Ballard has lived in Oklahoma during his entire professional career, he is a native of Kiowa, Kansas, where he attended kindergarten through the twelfth grade. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Speech from Kansas State University in Hays, Kansas; a Master’s Degree as a Reading Specialist from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma; and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Dr. Ballard has served as an adjunct professor of school law for Southern Nazarene University, Tulsa and Oklahoma City branches, and Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. He currently serves as a professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Oklahoma, but is on a leave of absence while serving as Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. In addition, Dr. Ballard currently serves on the State Superintendent’s Advisory Council and is past chairman of the Oklahoma Education Coalition and of the Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust. He served on the United Suburban Schools Association Executive Committee where he was the 1996-97 president and was on the executive committee of the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators where he served as president in 1997-98. Dr. Ballard has served on the American Association of School Administrators and the National School Boards Association Liaison Committee representing executive directors on the National School Boards Association (NSBA) Board of Directors.
Dr. Ballard has also been active for several years with the Oklahoma State Legislature regarding educational issues. He meets regularly with key legislators and other state leaders to help shape educational legislation and policy. Dr. Ballard has been appointed to the state-wide Race to the Top Commission. The commission serves to advise legislators in the development of the Teacher/Leader Effectiveness and Evaluation System. Dr. Ballard has served on several committees to study state-wide educational issues, including School Funding Formula, All-Day Kindergarten, Mid-term Adjustment, Hold-Harmless, Gifted and Talented, and English as a Second Language.
Dr. Ballard has been honored as being named one of NSBA’s “Executive Educator 100” in 1988, “Who’s Who in American Education” and “Who’s Who Among Top Executives.” Dr. Ballard was named COOSA District 5 Administrator of the Year for 2010. He has also been asked to serve as a 2011 Brock International Prize in Education juror.
His wife of 39 years, Christie, is a retired school librarian and has worked part-time as the executive director of the Rogers County Literacy Council. She is now fully retired and baby-sits their grandchildren. They have three children: son Matthew, an attorney in Tulsa, and his wife Traci, also an attorney who works in the Educational Leadership program at OU-Tulsa; daughter Michelle, a fourth grade teacher in Verdigris, Oklahoma; and son Michael, a coach and Spanish teacher in Claremore Public Schools. Keith and Christie have three grandchildren, Ashton Lewis Andrews and Kizer Isabella Ballard and Keaton Castle Ballard.
Board of Education Members
Board of Education ... Board Clerk - Peggy Young (918) 746-6302 / email
Members of the Tulsa Public Schools' Board of Education serve four-year terms.
District 1 - Gary Percefull / email
Mr. Percefull was elected to the Board of Education in February 2003. His term will expire February 2011.
Mr. Percefull is president of a Tulsa public relations firm, The Scissortail Group Ltd. The company, based in a renovated house along Historic Route 66 in southwest Tulsa, specializes in events, media relations and government affairs. Mr. Percefull previously was employed at the Tulsa World. He is a graduate of Tulsa Memorial High School (Class of 1972) and the University of Oklahoma where he earned a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Mr. Percefull and his wife, Linda Jordan, reside in the Riverview Neighborhood near downtown. They both are active volunteers with several community organizations and initiatives. He serves on the boards of the Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa and the Southwest Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, and the steering committees of the East Tulsa Prevention Coalition and Tulsa Volunteer Center. He is past president of the Riverview Neighborhood Association.
The Scissortail Group is a Partners in Education/Adopt-A-School partner with Park Elementary School and Mr. Percefull mentors students through the Going-to-Bat for Tulsa Kids program.
Schools in Mr. Percefull's election district include Addams, Chouteau, Emerson, Eugene Field, Lee, Park, Remington, Robertson, Roosevelt and Mark Twain elementary schools; Clinton and Madison middle schools; and Central and Webster high schools.
District 2 - Oma Jean Copeland / email
Mrs. Copeland was elected to the Board of Education February 2005. Her term will expire February 2009.
Mrs. Copeland is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School and currently serves as the vice president of the 1967 alumni class. She graduated from the Hillcrest Medical Center School of Radiology. Mrs. Copeland has been an employee of the Cedant Corporation for the past 24 years.
Schools in Mrs. Copeland's election district are Burroughs, Kendall-Whittier, McKinley, Mitchell, Owen, Sequoyah and Springdale elementary schools; Carver and Cleveland middle schools; and Rogers and Washington high schools.
District 3 - Lana Turner-Addison (President) / email
Dr. Turner-Addison was elected to her post in April 2005. Her term will expire February 2009.
Dr. Turner-Addison is married to Dennis Addison and has two daughters and one granddaughter.
Dr. Turner-Addison earned an Associate Degree at Oklahoma Junior College; has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Master’s Degree in Urban Education from Langston University. She recently earned a Doctoral degree at Oklahoma State University. She was formerly employed at OSU-Tulsa as the Community Relations Manager and is currently working in the Mayor’s office as the Director of Human Rights. She also owns and operates Business & Bookkeeping Services, Inc.
Dr. Turner-Addison is a Leadership Tulsa graduate. She serves as Board Chair
for Rotary Club of North Tulsa and as Public Relations Chair for the Martin
Luther King Commemorative Society. She has extensive experience and involvement
working with community organizations and Tulsa school children at McLain High
School for Science and Technology, Sam Houston, Academy Central, Roosevelt
Elementary and Madison Middle schools. In addition, she is involved and/or
volunteers with CARA, YMCA, Modern Woodsmen of America, Salvation Army North
Mabee Center, Urban League, Tulsa Talks, Junior Achievement and Going to the
Arts for Tulsa Kids.
Schools in Dr. Turner-Addison’s election district include Academy Central, Alcott, Anderson, Bryant, Celia Clinton, Cherokee, Greeley, Hawthorne, Houston, Jackson, Penn, Whitman, Gilcrease, Hamilton, Monroe and McLain High School for Science and Technology.
District 4 - Anna America / email
Anna America has long been committed to helping make Tulsa an even better place to raise her family, and has worked toward that end in both her professional and personal life.
Anna is married to Michael Patton, executive director of the Metropolitan Environmental Trust. They have two children, Braden, 11, and Eva, 8, both Tulsa Public Schools students.
Since 2007, Anna has been executive director of Up With Trees, a Tulsa non-profit promoting urban forestry education that has planted some 25,000 trees in the Tulsa area. The organization has flourished under her leadership, more than doubling the number of trees it plants annually and greatly expanding its educational programs.
A graduate of the University of Tulsa, Anna began her career as a reporter for The Tulsa Tribune. She worked for two decades as a journalist, writer, editor and communications consultant – including a two-year-stint in Washington D.C. before coming back home to Tulsa. Before taking the Up With Trees position, she worked in the administration of Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.
A long-time community volunteer, particularly with youth programs, in February 2010 Anna was elected to a four-year post on the Tulsa School Board. She is a Girl Scout Troop Leader, has coached more than 10 seasons of youth soccer, was president of her former neighborhood association for more than a decade, and has been a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and Meals on Wheels, and many other Tulsa community programs. She and her family and their two dogs and a cat live in the Mingo Valley Neighborhood.
Schools in Anna America's election district include Columbus, Cooper, Disney, Kerr, Lindbergh, Mayo, ECDC Reed, Peary, Sandburg, Skelly, Zarrow, Foster, Franklin, Lewis & Clark, and East Central.
District 5 - Brian Hunt / email
Mr. Brian Hunt was elected to serve District 5 in February 2008. His term will expire in 2012.
Mr. Hunt is a product of Tulsa Public Schools, graduating from Edison. He has a Masters of Regional and City Planning and a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma.
Mr. Hunt and his wife, Katy, have three children; two are in Tulsa Public Schools and one attends preschool.
Mr. Hunt is employed by CBRE/Oklahoma as a vice president. He represents clients in industrial property sales, leasing and corporate services. Prior to CBRE, he was with the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and Tulsa Industrial Authority. Brian has managed the Partners in Education program creating partnerships with local businesses and Tulsa Public Schools and has also worked with business leaders across the state designing and implementing local workforce development programs.
In addition, Mr. Hunt has a history of community service. He has served as Chairman of Goodwill Industries, Division Chair for Tulsa Area United Way, Division Chair for Community Investments, 2007 Chairman of Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors Urban Affairs, member of the 2006 Step-Up Tulsa Economic Development Committee, and member of the 2007 City of Tulsa Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee. He is president of Henry Zarrow International Education Foundation and serves on the Asbury United Methodist Board of Trustees.
Schools in Mr. Hunt's election district include Barnard, Eisenhower, Eliot, Lanier, and Wright elementary schools; Wilson Middle School; and Edison Preparatory School (Grades 6-12). His district also includes part of the attendance areas for Patrick Henry, Lee, and Marshall elementary schools.
District 6 - Ruth Ann Fate / email
Ms. Fate was first elected to her post in April 1996. She served as president of the Board of Education from February 1999 through February 2002. Her term will expire February 2012.
Ms. Fate is a life-long Oklahoman, graduating from high school in Miami, Oklahoma, and attending Oklahoma University. She married Martin Fate, Jr. in 1954 and was widowed in 1995. Ms. Fate’s three children, Gary Fate, Steven Fate and Mary Ann Davis, graduated from Tulsa Memorial High School.
Ms. Fate is a charter member of Bethany Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and a founding member of the Bethany Community pre-school where she taught for ten years.
An involved community volunteer, Ms. Fate is on the Board of Trustees for the National Conference for Community and Justice and currently serves as a Docent for the Philbrook Museum of Art. She served as the president of that organization during 1993 and 1994. Ms. Fate is now a trustee of the Philbrook Museum Board, is the past president and a member of the Board of Arts and Humanities Council, is the president of OU College of Education Board of Advocates, is an advisory board member for the Center for Counseling and also for the Tulsa Arboretum and serves on the Phillips Theological Seminary board.
Schools in Ms. Fate’s election district include Bell, Hoover, MacArthur, Phillips and Salk elementary schools; Byrd and Whitney middle schools; and Hale High School.
District 7 - Lois Jacobs / email
Lois Jacobs completed her B.S. Pharm D.D.S. at the University of Iowa. She completed her residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa. She completed her Pharm D at Oklahoma University. She was Director of Dental Anesthesiology holding joint appointments in the colleges of Dentistry and Medicine at Oral Roberts University.
Dr. Jacobs has lectured at numerous professional seminars and prepared and written test questions for national boards. She has taught numerous clinical courses approved by the Oklahoma State Board of Dentistry.
Schools in Dr. Jacob’s election district include Carnegie, Grimes, Grissom, Patrick Henry, Key, Marshall, McClure, Nimitz, Thoreau, and Memorial.
