Yes, we are in the midst of a pandemic.

Yes, every school in our area is returning with in-person instruction.

Yes, there will be a lot of masks in schools.

Yes, schools may be forced to moved to virtual/ distance learning one or more times during this term.

COVID-19 has dominated the headlines, halted school and forced a change to the way of life since it introduced itself to us mid-March.

There’s been a lot of ink on our pages over the last couple of months dedicated to laying out schools’ plans to reopen and the safety measures they’re taking as students, teachers and other staff return to school.

And there will be more written about it in the future as we find out if the right decisions have been made to this point.

So, with the full understanding that – yes – we are still living in an uncertain world when it comes to our students and teachers, we want to turn our focus to something else – more cheerful news, if you will – for our annual back-to-school edition.

And that focus is the improved educational settings our local voters are providing for our students.

The six schools of Kingfisher County - and let’s throw in Logan County’s Crescent while we’re at it – provide us the full range of “before, during and after” when it comes to major construction projects.

A combination of necessity and favorable financial situations have seen every school in this area embark – or began that attempt – on projects. Here’s a brief look:

Before

Dover is looking to dramatically change the look of its campus when it puts its bond issue to voters later this month.

If it passes, there will be a new elementary school built at the north end of the campus and the old, aging structure that has stood for multiple generations will be razed.

The election was initially set for April, but postponed to later this month due to COVID-19.

For more on Dover’s potential project, see the story on Page 2B.

During

That’s the case in Cashion, Crescent, Kingfisher and Lomega.

In Cashion, the building never seems to stop and doesn’t appear that it will anytime soon.

The district is seeing a new track and fieldhouse, show barns and greenhouse being constructed.

The baseball facility is getting a major overhaul and new classrooms are being added to the elementary.

The elementary as a whole is being remodeled and the middle school will be next. New parking lots? Those are on the way, too.

Crescent is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for projects that were passed by voters in 2017.

A number of delays - for various reasons - have kept the new elementary and cafeteria (also a FEMA safehouse) from being completed, but the district is counting down the days until those are finished.

In Kingfisher, it won’t be long before patrons start to see a new structure going up on the former APB parking lot (far south end of the high school campus).

That will be the site of the new seventh and eighth grade center, but right now is nothing more than a bunch of dirt.

To make way for that site, the high school parking lot had to be moved, which was the first major project of the plan.

That lot, on the west side of the north end of the high school, is all but complete and will be ready for high school students when school opens Wednesday.

Lomega is in the middle of having its brand new high school constructed.

That facility sits just south of the current high school and is part of a bond issue that also allowed for major renovations at the elementary gym in Loyal.

After

Perhaps the only exception - right now - is Okarche.

For the first time in a handful of years, there isn’t a major ongoing project. That’s because all of those that came with a $26 million bond issue - a new gym, a new elementary, a new vo-ag room among others - were finally completed last year.

That allowed new superintendent Josh Sumrall to take over a mostly-new campus.

However, there are talks of more potential projects in the works in the county’s southernmost district. Stay tuned…

After a handful of delays, Hennessey voters can now boast the newest gym and event center in the county.

The Eagle Event Center hosted graduation earlier this year and has seen a number of dignitaries - including Gov. Kevin Stitt last week - take a tour of the spacious, state-of-the-art facility that puts it among the tops in the region.