Guthrie Board of Education Names Three New Principals

The Guthrie Public Schools Board of Education filled three Principal vacancies for the 2023-24 school year. Dusty Throckmorton will be the new principal at Guthrie High School, Jeff Ball will take over leadership of Guthrie Upper Elementary School and Lesley Cotton will lead Cotteral Elementary.

Dusty Throckmorton has been an Assistant Principal at GHS for the past eleven years. This vacancy was created when Chris LeGrande recently accepted a position as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals. For more information please see: https://www.ccosa.org/ oassp/media . Prior to joining the GPS staff, Throckmorton, a native of Marlow, served as a teacher and coach at Westville, Tulsa Memorial and Edmond Santa Fe High Schools. The 24 year veteran of education in Oklahoma was named Assistant Principal of the Year in 2017.

Jeff Ball has served as principal of Charter Oak Elementary since the building opened in 2018. He will take over for Susan Davison who is retiring after 39 years in education and 13 years as principal at GUES. A Guthrie native, Ball has spent his entire career of 27 years serving GPS in various administrative and teaching capacities. Prior to leading Charter Oak Elementary, he served for four years as Assistant Principal at GUES.

Lesley Cotton has most recently served as an Interventionist at Central Elementary where she assisted students to improve their reading skills. The Guthrie native will take over at Cotteral Elementary for Scot Graham who is retiring after 11 years with the district. Cotton is in her 12th year in education, all of which has been with GPS. She served as Assistant Principal at Fogarty Elementary for the 201516 school year.

Quotes from Guthrie Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mike Simpson: “Working with the three departing leaders has truly been an honor. We have had possibly the most administrative stability of any district our size over the past ten years. During that time, we have worked to grow the leadership capacity of those within our district. Tonight, you see the fruits of that labor. All three who will begin new roles in the district next year understand our community and the unique needs of our students.”