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Union Employees

Employee Statistics 

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Notable achievements for the 2024-2025 school year.

Union employed 1,015 teachers, 913 support personnel and 81 administrators. Of the district’s administrators, 89 percent had a master’s degree or higher. Of the teaching and administrative staff, 40.8% held graduate-level degrees – 422 with master’s degrees and 19 with doctorates. 

The district welcomed 140 new teachers for the 2024-25 school year.

The ethnic diversity among the staff was 8 percent African American, 6 percent American Indian, 19 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian and 64 percent Caucasian/other. There were 467 male employees and 1,562 female employees.

Employee Achievements

Union Superintendent Dr. John Federline

Dr. John Federline was named Superintendent of Union Public Schools. He assumed his new role on  July 1, 2024, and was named “People to Watch in 2025” by the Tulsa World. 

Cory Allen, Andersen Elementary fifth grade teacher, was named District Teacher of the Year.

Billy Roe, Union district network administrator, was 2024-25 Support Employee of the Year. 

Union Public Schools received the Glenn Snider Human Relations Award by the Oklahoma Education Association. This award is presented to the school district, individual or organization best exemplifying the practice of effective human relations and concerns for human rights. 

Christine Gonzales, director of Federal Programs, and Chasity Gray, director of Professional Learning, were recognized as “Difference Makers” at the 2025 CCOSA Conference. 

Kirk Fridrich resigned as head football coach after 18 years in the position. He led the team to win five 6A state championships in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2016. In 2011, he was named Tulsa World State Coach of the Year and Tulsa World Metro Coach of the Year in 2008. He was a four-time winner of the Oklahoma Region 7 Coach of the Year and an 11-time winner of District Coach of the Year. Fridrich was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 2024. 

Antonio Graham returned to Union as the new head football coach for Union Public Schools on December 11, 2024. A Union graduate, Class of 2005, Graham started his coaching career as an assistant to Fridrich. As a Bill Blankenship-coached Union linebacker, Graham won championship rings in 2002 and 2004. Graham collected additional rings as a Union assistant in 2009, 2010 and 2016; and as a Blankenship assistant at Owasso in 2017 and 2019. Before he came to Union, he was head football coach at Owasso High School. 

Scott Norris was named the new head boys basketball coach on April 21, 2025, following the retirement of legendary coach Rudy Garcia, who led the program for 30 years. Most recently, Norris served as the head boys basketball coach at Edmond North High School and helped them capture back-to-back 6A State Championships in 2022 and 2023, a state runner-up finish in 2024 and a state semi finalist appearance in 2021. 

Athletic Staff Achievements

  • Stephanie Blackwell, CMAA, Athletics Coordinator
    Oklahoma and Section 6 Selection – Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award
  • Dan Newman, Athletic Trainer 
    Promoted to Associate Athletic Director of Sports Medicine and Performance
  • Emily Barkley, CMAA, Athletic Director
    National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Citation Award
  • Joe Redmond, Associate Athletic Director
    OIAAA Newcomer Athletic Director of the Year - East