ACHILLE

About Rick Beene

Welcome to Achille Public Schools and the home of the Eagles! My name is Rick Beene and I am the superintendent of Achille Public Schools.

I am a graduate of Fort Cobb High School, Fort Cobb, Oklahoma. I attended Southwestern Oklahoma State University and Fort Hays State University. I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education/Social Studies from Southwestern, a Master’s in Administration from Fort Hays, and a superintendent’s certificate from Southwestern.

I am in my 12th year as Achille superintendent and being a part of the positive improvements at Achille School has been a highlight of my educational career! This will be my 42^st year in education and 28^th in school administration. I have been blessed to be a part of many success stories in schools the past 40+ years. There is no greater blessing than working with young people! I was both president and vice-president of the Southwest Oklahoma Administration in the early 2000’s. I also was named the Bryan County Administrator of the Year in 2015. Before going into administration, I was a teacher and a coach. I coached several sports, but most of my success was in boys’ basketball where I won over 400 games. My coaching career included eight state tournaments and a state championship. I was blessed to be named Coach of the Year at the county, district, regional, state, and national levels. Honors included being named Oklahoma Coaches Association and Daily Oklahoman Coach of the Year in 1989.

My wife Dana (Dempsey) Beene and I have been married for 40 years. We are both Christians and are members of the Durant Church of Christ. We have raised four sons: Nick, Alex, Nate, and Austin. All four played college basketball and have been a teacher/coach in Oklahoma. Currently Nick is a teacher/coach at Quapaw and Austin is a teacher/coach at Maud. Nate is in real estate/private business in Fort Smith. Alex is an Assistant Coach/Analytics with 905 (Toronto Raptor’s G League team) in Toronto, Canada.

My hobbies include family, the Bible, and sports. I also enjoy reading articles, books, and anything on education and children.

The Achille Story

We have had one of the best turn around stories in the state of Oklahoma, with Achille showing major improvements in test scores and overall academics! We have gone from Priorities Schools to Reward Schools. Our High School is the the only school in Bryan County to have back to back A's on our State Report Card and multiple years in the past decade. We have a staff that cares for our students and has a positive attitude. Our students are the best thing going at Achille School and our school staff is very proud of them! We are very blessed to have an excellent group serving on our Achille Board of Education: Daniel Howard, David Kelly, Keith Alexander, Kasey Ervin, and Michael Johnson. 

It is our academic goal for Achille Schools to provide the best educational opportunities possible for the students, to prepare each student for life after high school, to instill in our students the belief that knowledge is a person’s greatest potential power, and to help our students understand that trust, honesty, and integrity are the substance of virtue.

Our goals for Achille extracurricular activities are to be competitive and for each student to have a positive experience; also, for our students to experience the thrill of victory; and when faced with defeat, show good sportsmanship. Our extra-curricular activities are showing good improvement.

Our communities in our Achille School district have been a big support for our school! In 2011, we passed a $350,000 transportation bond by 76% of the vote. In 2015, our district patrons passed a $2.9 million bond for a new elementary building and the demolition of our old gym. It passed with 79.2% support. We are very appreciative of all our patrons! In addition to a new elementary building, we have many new additions and remodeling projects in the past ten years. We have added a playground, P.E. gym, cafeteria, H.S. pavillion, H.S./M.S. flooring, trophy cases, bus shed, and an awning from the elementary to the cafeteria. We have remodeled the library, auditorium, and middle school. We also demolished our old, condemned gym and added a basketball court. All of our buildings have been recently painted. We now enjoy some of the nicest facilities in the state!