Getting Pre-K 4-year-olds to stand six feet apart isn’t easy. Same goes for starting the new fiscal year being down $345,000 in the general fund.

“We’re not going to be able to make up that money,” Hennessey School Superintendent Dr. Mike Woods told school board members Monday, Aug. 10.

School started in Hennessey last Thursday and the new fiscal year began July 1 with $3.3 million in reserves.

It ended July 31 with $3.8 million, a financial report shows.

The school’s gross production income in July was $61,754 compared with $204,184 for July 2019, Woods said, and the August gross production income was $79,010 compared to $329,278 a year ago.

“Money is going to get tighter,” Woods said. “(But) We have a good fund balance thanks to conservative boards.”

The biggest expense is salaries.

“If we have people leave we wouldn’t replace them,” Woods said.

He announced the resignations of classroom aides Madalyn Rojo and Christine Roberts.

Property valuations down

The school district’s property valuations are $81.5 million (personal property down $3,903,112; real property up $925,418, and public service property up $387,744) according to the Kingfisher County Assessor’s office.

That’s down $2.6 million over last year, they reported.

About 84 percent of the gross production money goes to schools.

Personal property includes oilfield equipment, pipelines, wind turbines, etc. and public service property (power lines, transformers, etc.) And homestead exemptions and other exemptions are subtracted from the total valuation to get the net valuation for each school district.

CARES money

The school used federal CARES Act funds for hand sanitizers, masks and facial shields along with thermal imaging cameras to detect temperatures due to the COVID virus.

Woods said all of the cameras are functional in all buildings, but they are being fine-tuned. The results depend on where you place the cameras.

“We took Gov. Stitt’s temperature when he was here last week,” Woods said.

“We’re still wrapping up on a few projects,” he said, then President Dr. James M. Matousek asked about the water fountains.

Woods said they are turning them on to refill water bottle stations.

Matousek said the fountain in the hallway outside the meeting room (in the auditorium) had not been switched over.

Start of school

“Teachers and other staff have been really supportive,” Woods said after board member Luke Lough asked about staff feedback.

“We’ve also had good community involvement” dealing with new requirements due to COVID-19.

Lough also commended Woods and the staff on their presentations Friday for the governor and his staff.

Daycare Center

There are 18 children ages 3 years old and younger in the daycare available to school employees, Woods said. Some of the children don’t attend every day, he said.

There are four workers and one director on staff and employees must pay for the services.

No musical this year

Before the meeting, HHS Choral Director Beth Berkenbile announced that her department will not perform The Newsies this school year, but will have a musical in 2021.

Other business

First-year teachers and their mentors were appointed: Evan Sprayberry and mentors Paul Hix and Angela Avila, and Korey Walker and mentor Allison Hurst.

Again this year students attending Chisholm Trail Technology Center classes will also be eligible for computer, math and science classes.

Present for meeting

All board members were present for this week’s meeting: Vice President Joe Garrison (videoconference), Christopher Choate, Patrick Griffin, Matousek and Lough. Also at the board table were Timberly Jech, minutes clerk and office manager, and Woods.

In the audience were staffers Angela Avila, Stacey Schovanec, Matt Means and Todd Cameron.