State Superintendent Lindel Fields, right, speaks at a press briefing Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Department of Education in Oklahoma City while his communications adviser, Broken Arrow Public Schools Chief of Communications Tara Thompson, listens. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s newly sworn-in state superintendent said he intends his brief 15 months in office to be “more than just a stopgap.”
The coming days and weeks for Lindel Fields, who took the oath of office Tuesday, will center on rebuilding communication and relationships across the state, particularly with educators, families, news media and state officials, including his own employees at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. That will involve a listening tour across Oklahoma, he said…