Andrea Eger

Tulsa World Projects Reporter

Gov. Kevin Stitt came to Tulsa on Thursday to introduce Tulsan and retired CareerTech administrator Lindel Fields as his appointee to the office of state superintendent.

Ryan Walters’ sudden resignation two-thirds of the way through his first term as state superintendent gives the term-limited Stitt just under 16 months to try to claim for his own legacy a “turnaround” of the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The state agency that oversees an annual budget of $4 billion saw mass exodus and then perpetual turnover under Stitt’s deeply unpopular, former political ally and Cabinet member.

Inside the library of his own child’s current elementary school, Fields, 54, got his first moment in the spotlight after a 30-year career of working most

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