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Wayside Elementary will have a new principal as of July 2023 according to a press release from the Bartlesville Public Schools.

Wayside’s current principal, Ken Copeland, will retire at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Assistant Principal Eliot Smith move into the position of principal. A replacement for the assistant principal position will be named at a later date.

Smith was named 2018 Assistant Principal of the Year by the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals (OASSP). Superintendent Chuck McCauley has called Eliot "an outstanding leader and an integral part of our leadership team."

Smith joined the Bartlesville School District in 2012. He has previously served as Assistant Principal at the Freshman Academy and at Mid-High. He has been in education for 22 years.