All four Hennessey building principals and the assistant high and middle school principal were rehired for the 2025-26 school year by the Hennessey Board of Education.

Rehired Monday night after about a 20-minute closed session were: Stacey Mack, early childhood center; Barry Crosswhite, elementary; Ricardo Tarango, middle school; Josh Faulkner, high school; and Mark Cox, assistant principal at the high school and middle school.

Mack, an HHS graduate, is in her 10th year as an HPS principal and her sixth year at the early childhood center.

She was the middle school principal for four years before the center was built.

Crosswhite, also an HHS grad, is in his 11th year as the elementary school principal.

Tarango and Faulkner are both in their fourth years as HPS principals.

Cox returned to coach and teach in Hennessey when he was rehired in February 2023 as the head football coach and assistant principal for the middle and high schools.

He first coached football and taught in Hennessey for 10 years and left in 2016, to become head football coach at Okeene.

After two seasons he started coaching track and became Okeene’s elementary school principal in 2018.

$1.7M Building Bond Sale

The board approved a resolution for the sale of $1.7 million in taxable building bonds Wednesday, March 5. That meeting will start at noon in the conference room at the Eagle Event Center, 605 E. Oklahoma Ave.

Those funds will be used to help payoff “The Dome, “Superintendent Jason Sternberger told the KT&FP.

Superintendent’s Report

In his monthly report, Sternberger said he talked with Fire Chief Brandon Scott about firefighters possibly using the school’s purchased property at 519 E. Kansas “for training purposes before it’s demolished.”

The property is located across the street west from the school’s auditorium. It’s the only structure in the school parking lot.

It was purchased for $50,000 last month from the Jo Anne Greenfield Estate and Nathan Greenfi eld was paid $5,000 for asbestos removal.

Personnel

• Sternberger reported that elementary school teacher Maribeth Boettler had submitted her resignation.

• Christina Gonzalez De Roman was hired as a bus monitor for the remainder of this school year.

• Jennifer Ullery was approved for speech and debate extra-duty assignment at $500.

Solar Panels

Board members were given information from Brightwell, a solar panel installation company, in an online presentation at the start of their meeting. Members asked questions and were told by a salesman that it could give the school lots of savings over the next few years.

Dover Public Schools had reportedly signed up with that company.

( Ed. note: Dover is currently in the process of having solar panels installed on its campus.)

Teachers of the Year

The agenda called for recognition of the 2024-25 Teachers of the Year, but that didn’t happen due to scheduling issues.

It will be rescheduled in coming months, board members were told.

At the Meeting

All board members were present: President Patrick Griffin, Vice President Dr. James Matousek, Clerk Luke Lough, Amy Charmasson and Dakota Semrad. Also present, and invited into the closed session, was Lance Painter, who will take his seat on the board in coming months.

In addition to the superintendent, other staff at the meeting were Timberly Jech, office manager and board minutes clerk, as well as Mack and Crosswhite.