Hennessey Board of Education members took no action Monday night on the notice of Superintendent Dr. Mike Woods June 30 retirement/resignation.

“I told them I’d get them through the next year and work part-time if they want,” Woods told the Times & Free Press Tuesday morning in a phone interview.

“This was a family decision,” Woods said. His wife, Cindy, teaches at Hennessey, and will continue to teach “because she started later than I did,” said Woods, who turns 62 this month.

“We have a great team in our office,” said Woods. “We have worked together from the start. Timberly (tech, office manager) and Ginger (Cox, treasurer).”

He is in his fifth year as superintendent with a $145,155 salary, and was hired in March 2016 out of 40 applicants. He was the superintendent at Drummond for nine years before his move to Hennessey.

He succeeded former superintendent McCully.

“I absolutely love Hennessey,” Woods said. “It’s the people, the organizations - the Ministerial Alliance, Hennessey United, the CAT team - who’ve made it possible for us to do what has been done. We don’t take credit for that. It took much more than the school and the board. It took the community. Did I tell you we have 37 signed up to walk at The Dome?”

In April 2017, Hennessey voters approved a $15.49 million bond issue that included the $8.4 million two-story Dome that seats 1,711 and includes basketball/volleyball courts, locker rooms, training and therapy rooms, and coaching offices. It also includes the administration offices, and serves as a safe room for mid-and high school students.

Woods was the driving force in the completion of The Dome that was first used for the Class of 2020 graduation, and last month became home to the 2020-21 basketball team.

“We’ve lived up to the promises we made to the community,” he said.

The Woods live in Hennessey and also own some land east of Waukomis where they plan to build a home in the next year, he said.

They may also run some cattle again. He said he had to give that up after he suffered a back injury in a one-vehicle accident in November 2019.

He and his wife also have eight grandchildren, with ages spanning 6 months to 9 years.

Other plans?

“I’ve had a soft spot for foster kids for a long time,” Woods said. “I’ll look into doing something there aboutbetter educating those kids before they age out of the system. They deserve it.”

He said he regrets not being able to finish some of the plans at The Dome and that’s mainly due to the pandemic.

“We’d planned to have tables and chairs on the mezzanine, and in the lobby, but that’s something we couldn’t do due to social distancing. There are other projects we hope to complete this year.

“I just can’t say enough about this community. We were able to serve about 800 to 1,000 meals a day for about six months, and it took more than school staff to do that. It took the community.”