Pat Gougler, former principal at Oologah Elementary School in the late 1990s, is returning to Rogers County to be the new superintendent of Foyil Public Schools. She will be taking the place of Mike McGregor, who is retiring after 19 years with the district.

Gougler is currently completing her sixth year as superintendent of Glencoe Schools near Stillwater. Previously, she was superintendent at Braman Schools in the Ponca City area for two years.

“At my first superintendent job at Braman, I was only the 32nd female superintendent in Oklahoma out of more than 548 school districts,” she said.

Gougler said one of her strengths as a school administrator is dealing with money and the budget.

“Finance is my strongest area. You have to be creative!” she said.

Gougler began her career in education as a classroom teacher in Tulsa for five years before spending five and a half years as a school counselor.

After leaving Tulsa in January of 1995, she served as Oologah Elementary School principal for five and a half years.

“When I heard Mike McGregor was going to retire, I knew I’d like the chance to go to Foyil,” Gougler said. “It brings me back to my home area. I’m really comfortable and familiar with the area.”

Gougler attended graduate school at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. She received her undergraduate degree at the University Center at Tulsa (now OSU-Tulsa) and is a graduate of East Central High School in Tulsa.

“I’m one of those who started college but quit after a couple of years to get married,” she said. “I later went back to school to finish my college career. I started out as an art major — planning to teach — but at that time there were no teaching positions available in the arts. It was during the budget cuts in fine arts education. I went from there to elementary (education), knowing I would head to administration.”

Gougler is a member of the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators, the Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools and the Oklahoma Association of School Business Officials.

While at Braman, she served as president of the North-Central Oklahoma Administration Association.

Gougler has one daughter, Courtney, a junior Division 1 Field Athlete at the University of Wyoming at Laramie.

Gougler will assume her duties at Foyil on July 1.