Dr Roach to stay at OISD thru 2025
The Olney school board accepted the resignation of superintendent Dr. Greg Roach at its Jan. 27 meeting, noting that he will be under contract to the Olney Independent School District until December.
Dr. Roach said he hoped to hand over his superintendent duties to his successor by the end of the spring semester and help his successor transition into the role he has held since 2014.
“It was just time,” he said of his decision to retire. “I’ve got a wonderful board, good folks working here. I’ve got children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren that we will focus in on a little more.”
He noted that his granddaughter, Sophie, is a sophomore and she will graduate from Olney High School before he and his wife, Nancy, retire to their home at Lake Kemp. Dr. Roach came to Olney from the Seymour Independent School District, where he worked for 20 years as a mathematics and physics teacher, technology director, high school principal, middle school principal, and UIL/ TMSCA math instructor.
He submitted a letter of resignation for Dec. 31, 2025. I will remain acting superintendent until May 30.
“If they have a suitable candidate that is a good fit for the community by then, that candidate will take over in June as the superintendent and I will go on consulting status until my retirement in December,” he said.
He plans to “spend a lot of time with transition activities with the new person … show- ing them how the district operates … on the current finances of the district.”
He also said that if needed he would help the new superintendent write the 2025-2026 budget and with the bond project that will start next month.
“We are going to be very busy with construction and the Board may want me involved with that. If they need a class taught, I will do that,” he said. “I will be at the beck and call of the board and the new superintendent … until my final actual retirement date in December 2025.”
“I’ve got a huge interest in the welfare of this district and this community. I love the place,” he said. “This is a wonderful job, a wonderful board, a wonderful community. It’s a great place to work and it was legitimately the best thing professionally that ever happened to me.”
Among his favorite projects, he pointed to the junior high and high school renovations, the vocational building construction, the baseball complex refurbishing, and the current storm shelter project. He also worked with his high school staff to expand the high school dual credit and AP programs, created a machining/manufacturing program, and improved the FFA’s facilities.
“There were lots of things that were going well that we got to improve on, there were facilities improvements where I got to be involved with that, and that was a lot of fun,” he said.
Although “there are still a lot of things you can have fun with … there’s a lot of issues to address – state and federal government right now are not public education’s friend,” he said. Gov. Greg Abbott has prioritized passing a $1 billion school voucher program this session that rural districts say will suck much-needed funding from public schools, and President Donald Trump has ordered the Education Department to use discretionary money to prioritize school choice programs and give states new guidance on how they can use federal money to support K-12 voucher programs.
“[Those issues] need to be addressed by someone who is going to be there to see how it all worked out 10 years from now,” he said.
Dr. Roach leaves his post with gratitude for the welcome he and his family received from Olney.
“This is one of the most giving, progressive places I have ever lived in my entire life,” he said.
The OISD Board of Trustees will begin the search and hiring process this month with the help of Region 9 officials, board president Summer Branum said.