OKC FRIDAY Vol. 58 No. 2• One Section • 14 pages • May 17, 2024 $1 per copy
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving affluent far north Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills and The Village for 50 years
STATE CHAMPIONS Heritage Hall ends Clinton’s streak in 4A The Heritage Hall boys denied powerhouse Clinton a fifth straight soccer championship with a 3-1 win over the Red Tornadoes in the Class 4A title game. See story in Sports, Page 4
- Photo by Kimberly Richelle, kimberlyrich
elle.myportfolio.com
Casady tops Crooked Oak in 3A OT thriller
- Photo by Johnny Holland, jhollandphotography.com
The Casady boys soccer team, at left, celebrates winning its first-ever state championship with a 2-1 overtime win over Crooked Oak. See story in Sports, Page 4.
NHills Garden Tour OKCPS promotes Dr. Jamie Polk to superintendent to feature 5 homes By Rose Lane Editor The 2024 Nichols Hills Garden & Outdoor Living Tour is to showcase five gorgeous gardens and outdoor living areas, as well as the opportunity to hear from a garden guru and tour a structure which was formerly atop the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This tour portion of the events is set for Saturday, June 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance tickets are $20 and may be purchased at the following locations: TLC, Calvert’s, Paper & More, Trochta’s, No Regrets, Mockingbird Manor, CK & Company, Bebe’s, Soup Soup and Rutz Salon. Tickets may also be purchased on the day of the tour, $25 at each house on the tour. The locations for the five homes on the tour are: 1501 Drury Lane, 1512 Drury Lane, 6603 NW Grand Boulevard, 1525 Glenbrook Terrace and 1800 West Wilshire Boulevard. Sponsors of $1,000 and above receive two tickets to the patron party at the home of Christian Keesee on May 31 at 5:30 p.m., featuring Chris Olsen, a nationally-recognized garden guru, author, television personality and public speaker, known for his infusion See TOUR, Page 2
FRIDAY’s Cat of the Week Gandalf the Gray, cat executive officer (CEO) of the Alexander household. This lovable rescue cat is kind enough to share his home with Patrick and Linda. Gandalf’s hobbies include eating, sleeping on the nicest furniture, eating some more and singing the song of his people often and off key. Email Dog of the Week, Baby of the Week and Cat of the Week submissions to rose@okcfriday.com.
The Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) Board of Education selected Dr. Jamie C. Polk as the district's next superintendent. During a special board meeting on Saturday, May 11, the board voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Dr. Polk as superintendent effective July 1, 2024. Since joining the district as the assistant superintendent for elementary education in
2019, Dr. Polk has leveraged her more than 33 years in education to drive significant improvements to both the culture and academic achievement of the district. Her emphasis on innovation, building leadership capacity at all levels and fostering strong partnerships with the teachers and leaders who work directly with students has yielded tangible results, including the removal of 11 schools
from the “F” list, 12 schools are now eligible to exit state designation and has increased the retention of highly skilled educators at a time when most district’s are facing significant staffing shortages. “As OKCPS remains steadfast in its commitment to providing a world-class education for every student, the board looks forward to collaborating with Dr.
DR. JAMIE C. POLK
See SUPER, Page 7
Kirkland principal receives top honors from OAESP By Rose Lane Editor D.D. Kirkland Elementary School Principal Ashley Hoggatt was honored by the Oklahoma Senate after the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals (OAESP) named Hoggatt
Principal of the Year. The veteran administrator has also been named as the National Association of Elementary School Principals’ (NAESP) Distinguished Principal from Oklahoma. Colleagues and family members joined Hoggatt in the Oklahoma Senate where she was presented with a Citation of
Congratulations from Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City. “The leadership, commitment, and energy of our school principals directly impact our children’s learning environment, and Ashley Hoggatt exemplifies the very best of those attributes See PRINCIPAL, Page 7
OKC FRIDAY: Fabulous at 50
Relationship goes back to beginning By Deborah Senner Make a Wish Interim Executive Director My relationship with FRIDAY newspaper goes back to high school days in 1974. I always wanted to be the student who covered McGuinness news for FRIDAY in Irish Items! The school would always post the FRIDAY articles on a bulletin board so the entire student body could enjoy and they covered all of the major events including sports, assemblies, academics, homecoming, McGuinness olympics, theatri-
cal productions, pep club and cheerleading. Each week there would be great interest to see the scoop and which students made FRIDAY paper that week. But I really got to know the folks at FRIDAY when I worked in advertising for the upscale specialty store, Rothschild’s. I am pretty certain Rothschild’s was one of their biggest advertisers at the time and each week someone from FRIDAY would be stopping by the Penn Square location to pick up See 50, Page 7