Eufaula School Superintendent Monty Guthrie announced at Monday’s School Board meeting that he is retiring effective June 30, 2026, the final day of this school year.
He stated he will finish his career with the Eufaula School District.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” Guthrie said.
Since his hiring in August, 2022 he has commuted from his Stigler residence.
Guthrie has had a distinguished career. Shortly before arriving in Eufaula, he was appointed by former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister to be interim Superintendent of the troubled Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma City.
“Monty is a visionary leader with a track record of unifying staff and developing positive relationships within the school community,” Hofmeister said at the time. “He is a problem solver with a heart for kids, an experienced fiscal manager who values innovative programs that consider all students. Guthrie holds a master’s degree in school administration and a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
He began his career in education as a teacher and coach for nine years before moving into school administration as a principal and later as a superintendent.
Guthrie was one of three district superintendents chosen to serve on the state’s Funding Formula Task Force, served as treasurer for the Oklahoma School Advisory Council and is an at-large board member for the Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools.
He spent two years at the Oklahoma State Department of Education overseeing the divisions of School Accreditation, Federal Title Programs and Child Nutrition Programs. His duties also included working with the U.S. Department of Education to keep local school districts in compliance with federal and local entities.
He is a native of Stigler, where he lives with his wife Lisa, so he understands
the needs of small school districts.
On his desk in his office at the headquarters of the Eufaula Public Schools sits a plaque.
The plaque states his feelings about students: “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“That’s what I go by,” he said.
