History was made Tuesday as the Bartlesville Board of Education named the district’s first female superintendent.

LaDonna Chancellor will succeed Chuck McCauley as superintendent effective July 1, 2026. Chancellor has 28 years of experience as an educator. She started at Catoosa High School in 1997 and came to Bartlesville in 2007. She was principal at Central Middle School until 2011 and returned to Bartlesville in 2013 as principal of Bartlesville High School until 2022.

She has served as the district’s executive director of teaching and learning since 2022.

Chancellor says she is honored to be the next leader of Bartlesville schools.

Chancellor will be the first female superintendent in the history of Bartlesville Public Schools, a fact that she is extremely proud of.

ORIGINAL NEWS RELEASE FROM BARTLESVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Bartlesville Public School District’s Board of Education has appointed LaDonna Chancellor to serve as the next superintendent of schools.

Chancellor will take over July 1, following the retirement of Superintendent Chuck McCauley. McCauley has served as the district’s superintendent for 10 years, and he has served in a variety of administrative roles in the district since 2001. “It has been an incredible honor to serve the Bartlesville Public Schools community,” McCauley said. “I am deeply grateful for the students, staff, families, and board members who have made this work so meaningful, and I have full confidence in LaDonna Chancellor’s leadership as the district moves forward.”

School Board President Scott Bilger thanked board members for a diligent search process through an impressive candidate pool from throughout the region.  “Our candidate pool was reflective of the strong reputation of Bartlesville Public Schools. We had a difficult choice which is a tribute to the applicants that we interviewed,” said Bilger. Bilger was also Board President in 2016 when McCauley was named superintendent. “I am very proud of our process and happy with the result. l know Ms. Chancellor will build on a solid foundation provided by Supt. McCauley”. 

"Ms. Chancellor possesses an exceptional passion and unwavering dedication to public education,” commented Board Vice-President Andrea Nightingale.”Her extensive experience in both classroom and leadership roles provides a solid foundation for her to assume the role of Superintendent of Bartlesville Public Schools. I am confident that she will uphold and enhance our tradition of excellence, and I am eager to support her as she charts the course for the future.”

“The gravity of this decision has been at the forefront of the Board’s deliberations over the past several months,” said Board Clerk Kinder Shamhart. “Ms. Chancellor’s visionary leadership and steadfast commitment to student success distinguished her as the Board’s unanimous choice to advance the District’s initiatives and strengthen its standing as a premier leader in public education. We are confident that Bartlesville Public Schools and our broader community are well-positioned for continued success, and we look forward to working with Ms. Chancellor.”

LaDonna Chancellor has twenty-eight years of experience as an educator, a bachelor's degree from Northeastern State University, and a master’s degree from Southern Nazarene University. She taught in Special Education at Catoosa High School from 1997 to 2004 and was its assistant principal from 2004 to 2007. From 2007 to 2011, she was the principal of Bartlesville’s Central Middle School. After a year as a principal at a school in Claremore Sequoyah, she was named the principal of Bartlesville High School, and in 2022 she became the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning for the district. She serves on the boards of the Bartlesville Regional United Way and Richard Kane YMCA, is a program coordinator for Bartlesville Education Promise, was a member of Leadership Bartlesville Class XXX, and is a past president of the Bartlesville Daybreak Rotary.

Chancellor will work with McCauley to make sure the transition process goes smoothly. She is beginning a 100-day transition plan that will include listening to and engaging with all district stakeholders, conducting a thorough needs assessment, and developing a strategic plan that charts a path to ensure all students graduate with a post-high-school plan and are college, career, and life ready. 

“I am both honored and humbled for this opportunity. I appreciate the Board of Education members' time and commitment to the district and to the search process,” Chancellor said. “Mr. McCauley has been a leader I admire and a mentor who I have been fortunate to work with for almost two decades. I look forward to continuing to work alongside our staff to ensure we are doing our best work for every student, every day.”