The Oklahoma A+ Schools Institute at UCO recently accepted Hennessey Public Schools’ Early Childhood Center’s application into the OKA+ Schools Network.

That will give Hennessey pre-kindergarten and kindergarten faculty and staff support and professional development services over the next three years, according to a letter from OKA+ Director Sandra Kent to Superintendent Dr. Mike Woods.

The nearly $76,000 in support is being provided at no cost to the center and school, Kent wrote.

Kent also commended ECC Principal Stacey Schovanec and the staff for their dedication to quality education.

Schovanec has signed up the school staff to attend a New School Summit at UCO July 27-31.

They are also scheduled to attend a “Not Your Average Conference” June 9 at UCO.

OKA+ will formally welcome the school and staff to the network at a celebration at the Hennessey site near the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, Kent said.

The web page for OKA+ shows its goal is “to coach schools through a process to create an educational environment that gets kids excited about learning and produces better achievement. We do this by preparing teachers and principals to think more creatively about how to present their curriculum in collaborative and hands-on ways.”

Their history: “The OKA+ Schools initiative was conceived in North Carolina where it began as a research model sponsored by the Kenan Institute for the Arts. In 1998, the Kirkpatrick Foundation provided support through the DaVinci Institute to identify the country’s most successful education reform models.

“A joint research team from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University identified the North Carolina A+ Schools Program as one with great potential for replication, and the Oklahoma A+ Schools initiative was born. In 2003, the University of Central Oklahoma stepped up to provide a permanent home for Oklahoma A+ Schools.”