Lifelong Owasso educator honored

Principals sometimes are not the most popular person on school campuses, but that is not the case at the Owasso Mid-High School. <br/><br/>Alger Flood is so beloved; the whole student body went to great

Thursday, April 28th 2005, 9:50 am

By: News On 6

Principals sometimes are not the most popular person on school campuses, but that is not the case at the Owasso Mid-High School.

Alger Flood is so beloved; the whole student body went to great lengths to say good-bye. News on 6 reporter Ashli Sims has more on the "flood" of students that rushed to show their appreciation for a life-long educator.

It looks like a war hero's welcome or the kind of fanfare you would see if a rock star was coming to town. But all of this is for a man they see just about every day. 9th grader Jasmine Paul: "We're out here for Mr. Flood, because he's the best principal that I know of every school I've been to. And he's leaving. He's retiring this year and we just wanted to congratulate him."

Owasso Mid-High's 1,200 students flooded the streets in matching t-shirts, waving posters to welcome the coolest guy on campus. He was led by a police escort through crowds of cheering students. And you could tell the life-long educator wasn't used to all of the fuss. "You guys are all getting detention you should be in class." But this is the kind of love you earn after 32 years of touching young lives.

10th grader Renee: â€œhe'll do anything for you when ever you need it. He'll give you money if you donâ€™t have lunch money. He'll be there for you when you need it, he'll just be the best principal ever." Student Jennifer Cleveland: "no matter what he does, he's always been there for everybody no matter what you're going through, no matter what's going on, he's always been there." Student Abbey Burton: "he's more of our friend than our principal we don't really think of him as a higher authority he acts like us that's what makes him cool."

Flood was taken by complete surprise and the outpouring had him fighting back tears. "Indescribable overwhelmed I mean humble.â€ As if the welcome wasn't enough to open the flood gates, these ninth and tenth graders had another surprise up their sleeve for their favorite principal.

A special assembly just for him. About three slides into the show, it was clear just how much these kids would miss Mr. Flood. Student Kate Palmer: "oh a whole lot cause all the freshmen have gotten to know him and we're just kind of sad to see him leave because we want to spend another year with him.â€ 9th grader Richard Deberry: "more than we can say we're going to miss him a lot thatâ€™s why we don't what we did we're going to miss him a lot.â€

And he's going to miss them too. You have to wonder if retirement could be this sweet. Flood says he's looking forward to some rest, but beyond that, he's not sure what he will do with his retirement. He says he will definitely keep up with his students.