An added $5 per hour in hazard pay was approved for Hennessey school cooks, custodians, secretaries, business office personnel and other hourly employees required to work March 23- May 8.

The school board took that action and other personnel matters after a three-hour executive session closed to the public during its on-site meeting last Monday.

Three new teachers were hired on temporary contracts:

Kindergarten – Amanda (Bossa) Luper returns to teaching in her hometown of Hennessey. She is a certified teacher and has taught third grade at Mustang’s Centennial Elementary 2013-17 and 2019-20; third and fourth grades at Mustang Lakehoma Elementary, 2011-13, and second and third grades at Hennessey, 2009-11 (which means she taught the

HHS 2020 grads back then). Centennial is a Title 1 School and she was named 2017 Teacher of the Year. She and her team worked to bring third grade test scores from the lowest in the district to one of the highest, she wrote in her work profile. Luper is an HHS grad and earned a bachelor’s in elementary education from Oklahoma State University in 2008 where she was a Top 10 Senior that year. She is a Life.Church volunteer and lives in Tuttle.

Special education/ wrestling coach – Korey Walker is scheduled to graduate this month from Oklahoma City University. He is a religion major and is on the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll there. He is also a two-time NAIA wrestling All-American (2019 national finalist), a three-time national qualifier and 2019 Sooner Athletic Conference champion. His university involvement includes Fellowship of Christian Athletes (president), OKCU Baptist Collegiate Ministry and Black Student Association. He currently works for Security Services, OKC (2016-present), and has been umpiring at elementary-high school baseball games since 2015. He has also worked at the college bookstore, been a guide at Riversport Adventures and other summer jobs while working on his degree. He lives in Midwest City.

Alternative education/ football coach – Evan Sprayberry graduated this year with a master’s degree in sports management from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. He graduated from Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., in 2018 with a bachelor’s in histo ry secondary education. Since 2019 he has served as Baker University’s running backs coach. He is also the college’s social media and graphics coordinator where he operates the school’s Twitter page and takes and edits team photos and videos. He was also a varsity All-American defensive end and lists his permanent address as Harrah.

Certified Teachers Rehired

In addition to the 54 certified teachers hired in March, the board rehired these seven this month: Cheyenne Baxter,Taylor Black, Patrick Courtney, Randi Simpson, Stacy Ward, Haley Martin and Chelsey McArthur.

Temporary contracts for these 15 certified personnel for the fall were also approved: Emily Bellinger, Maribeth Boettler, Renee Curry, Kaylena Grellner, Brady Johnson, Lee Linsenmeyer, Jenna Matousek, Ragen Newman, Nathaniel Parker, Adam Ray, David Redus, Heather Russell, Amy Sheltie, Tammy Tillman and Kylee Warne.

Coaching pay

The board also approved $145,850 in coaching pay for 2020-21, but the only names listed were that of Athletic Director Paul Hix and athletic trainer Kylee Warne. This year’s total include $7,500 for the new wrestling program and a $5,500 reduction since powerlifting was taken off the schedule.

Last year’s coaching duties totaled $142,650.

Summer help

Approved for April 20- June 30 employment at $10 an hour to help in the computer department were students Aaron Guzman and Humberto Velasco.

Executive Session

All personnel matters were voted on after the board’s executive session attended by President Dr. James Matthew Matousek, Vice President Luke Lough and members Cristopher Choate and Patrick Griffin. Board member and clerk Joe Garrison was absent.

Also in the closed session was Superintendent Dr. Mike Woods.

Present in that session at different times were Hix and principals Angela Avila, Barry Crosswhite and Stacey Schovanec.