An edited plan to improve drainage on the west side of Mitchell Road and add angle parking in front of the schools was given a go-ahead last week by Hennessey school board members.

The project is expected to cost about $850,000.

It will be paid from general funds, said Superintendent Jason Sternberger.

Work will start the first of June, said Scott Holtzen, president of Holtzen Engineering, Enid. Parking spaces on the west side will go from 33 to 85, he said.

The work includes improving the parking lot east of the elementary school and removal of the existing paving and some sidewalk, new concrete paving and sidewalk, new storm drainage and additional parking spaces.

They have 105 days to complete the work, “and since it never rains in Oklahoma, we won’t have any rain days,” said Sternberger, who got laughs for that comment.

Board members were given drawings of the plans and Holtzen also walked them through the plans on the smart board in the seminar room.

President Luke Lough said he wanted to make sure their project wouldn’t interfere with the town’s drainage work south of the schools.

Holtzen said he’d been working with the town on the project and would keep them updated.

Other board members present were Clerk David Tillman, Patrick Griffin and Dr. James Matthew Matousek.

The board is expected to reorganize the board next month when Amy Charmasson takes a seat on the board. She was appointed to the board at this month’s meeting.

That seat came open after the resignation of Vice President Cristopher Choate in December.

Summer Building Projects After the meeting, the superintendent provided this list of other projects to the KT&FP that are scheduled to be completed this summer:

• Recarpet four classrooms, HS chorus and three in MS

• Paint and fix up west side of art room

• Add canopy for outdoor classroom stage

• FACS room – redo kitchen and flooring throughout

• 60x30 pavilion/picnic shelter at football field

• Covered walkway between southeast corner

of Eagle Event Center to southwest corner of high school

• Small shade structures in outdoor classroom/elementary • Corner Mitchell Road/ State Highway 51 (former tire store). Need ideas for improvement once concrete is cleared.

• Remodel the old supply room at the south end of the daycare for additional space. (During discussion at the meeting, the superintendent said this work needs to be done because there are now 20 in the daycare and that’s the maximum number of children that can be in the current square footage.)

• Move current supplies at the daycare into space at high school

• Improve lighting on the west side of auditorium Bigger Projects Moving Forward In addition to the drainage ditch issue, Sternberger said, “We are getting cost estimates to see if we can proceed (#2 and #3 on bigger projects), #4 is something we will look into if there is enough money left over, or as new revenue comes in.”

1. Drainage ditch. 2. Extension to existing transportation/district maintenance building on S.H. 51 (mowers, tractors, etc.). Clear out and repurpose existing building.

3. Redo parking north of football/west of baseball. This will not affect current water flow issues, same amount of water headed the same direction as before.

4. Pave parking west of football on street and visitor parking lot.

Other Board Actions

The board approved a band trip to St. Louis, Mo., in May (an exact date wasn’t listed on the agenda); approved these fundraisers: Junior class (chances for prizes during basketball season); elementary school (speed stacks-cup stacking sales, January), and FCCLA Pie-A-Teacher (date TBA), and also approved routine items such as minutes of last meeting.

They also introduced the 2023 Teachers of the Year who were featured in recent KT&FP issues along with hirings after an executive session. See background information on the three teachers hired for the 202324 year beginning on Page 2 of this edition.