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Freedom Public Schools board approves superintendent hire, staff hires, 2025-26 calendar and audit-related policies
Summary
At a regularly scheduled board meeting the Freedom Public Schools Board of Education approved hiring Freda Burgess as superintendent, authorized hiring of principals, certified and support staff pending letters of intent, accepted a retirement, adopted the 2025–26 school calendar and approved policies needed for state audits.
The Freedom Public Schools Board of Education voted Jan. 15 to hire Freda Burgess as superintendent and to approve multiple personnel actions, the district’s 2025–26 school calendar and policies required for upcoming state audits.
Board members first moved into executive session under Oklahoma Statute 25, Section 307(b)(1) to conduct a superintendent evaluation and to discuss hiring, promotion and resignation of salaried employees; the board returned to open session and then voted on the items described below.
Why it matters: The actions set leadership and staffing for fiscal year 2026 and ensure the district can meet state audit requirements for special education and child nutrition.
The board voted to hire Freda Burgess as superintendent for fiscal year 2026. The board also approved hiring a principal (recorded as Bridal Weber in the transcript) as district supervisor for fiscal year 2026 and authorized immediate hiring of certified staff and hiring of current support staff whose letters of intent are turned in to district administration by Jan. 15, 2025; the board specified that, if needed, individual hires would be brought forward for a separate vote. The board approved any resignations and retirements submitted for Freedom Public Schools, including accepting a retirement letter submitted by Mrs. Provinc, who indicated she will retire at the end of the current school year.
The board adopted the 2025–26 school calendar, which it described as “pretty much the same as this year,” and approved a package of policies the administration said were needed to complete state audits in special education and child nutrition and return audit materials to the State Department. The board approved the consent agenda (items A–E) earlier in the meeting.
Procedural notes: The board entered executive session at about 7:05 p.m. and returned to open session at about 7:47 p.m.; the board announced the session complied with the cited statute and that no vote was taken in executive session. After returning to open session the board took the formal votes recorded in this meeting.
Votes and motions: The meeting record shows motions made and seconded for each item and roll-call voting in which members answered “yes” for the motions described above. The transcript records unanimous affirmative votes on the consent agenda, the motion to enter executive session, the superintendent hiring, the principal hiring, the motions to hire support and certified staff as described, the acceptance of the retirement, adoption of the 2025–26 calendar, and approval of audit-related policies.
What the board did not decide in public session: The meeting notes that executive session covered the superintendent evaluation and personnel matters; no substantive details of evaluations or individual personnel discussions were announced in open session beyond the motions and outcomes listed above.
Looking ahead: The board set Jan. 15, 2025, as the deadline for letters of intent for current staff considered for hire; it did not provide further dates for implementation or the effective start date for the superintendent in the open record.
