The price tag was the main driver behind Hennessey school board’s split decision last week not to call an election for annexation to a career tech district, Superintendent Jason Sternberger said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Chisholm Trail Technology Center Superintendent Max Thomas issued a statement explaining his district’s decision to take itself out of annexation consideration after nearly three years of educating Hennessey tech students for a deeply discounted tuition.

A motion by board president Dr. James Matthew Matousek at last Monday’s board meeting to “cease any further vote on joining a vo-tech” was supported by Vice President Luke Lough and Clerk/ Member Patrick Griffin.

Board members Cristopher Choate and David Tillman voted no.

“Everyone is in agreement that career tech provides great skills to kids,” Sternberger told the Times & Free Press Thursday. “It’s just the longterm debt obligation that was the number one concern.”

Annexation process

By statute, school districts may annex to one of the state’s 29 technology centers if a majority of voters residing within the school district approve an annual property tax levy to support the tech center.

Had the district joined CTTC, that annual levy would have amounted to about $1 million, while joining Autry Technology Center in Enid would have carried a total price tag of $1.38 million.

Annexation allows high school students from the district to attend classes and earn career certifications tuition free, although larger districts like Autry have a competitive application process and available enrollment slots aren’t guaranteed.

That tax continues to be collected annually unless and until the school district calls another vote to detach from the tech center, which also requires majority approval.

Hennessey/CTTC history

In his statement, Thomas said CTTC’s relationship with Hennessey began in the fall of 2018, when both CTTC and Autry presented their program’s offerings at a Hennessey board meeting.

According to the Dec. 3, 2018, Hennessey Board of Education minutes obtained by the Times & Free Press, the board unanimously approved two separate motions under the agenda item “discussion and possible action regarding career tech participation.”

The first motion was “to allow students to attend Chisholm Trail Tech Center for the spring 2019 semester,” and the second was “to allow juniors and seniors of Hennessey Public Schools to attend Chisholm Trail Tech Center for the spring 2019 semester.”

The unanimous votes included four current board members – Matousek, Griffin, Choate and Lough – plus former board member Joe Garrison.

“This agreement was entered into for a two-year trial period at a reduced cost per student with the intent that a resolution be called by the Hennessey School Board for the community to vote on the annexation with CTTC,” Thomas said.

“Part of the agreement included CTTC providing a satellite campus on Hennessey school grounds; this satellite campus would house programs ed by the Hennessey community.”

Due to the economic downturn, then Supt. Dr. Mike Woods requested and CTTC agreed the trial period would be extended for a third year “with the understanding that a vote would be taken in October 2021,” Thomas said.

“In place of calling for a resolution in October 2021, the new Hennessey leadership asked CTTC and Autry to present again to the board, with both technology centers being considered as options.”

HPS takes second look

Although the agreement between Thomas and Woods is not in writing and was not formalized by a school board vote, Sternberger told the Times & Free Press he was aware of it.

“He [Thomas] mentioned that at a meeting and I talked to Dr. Woods and they did have an agreement of taking that [annexation to CTTC] to a vote,” Sternberger said.

“Dr. Woods felt like Chisholm Trail was accommodating Hennessey in a better fashion than Autry.

“But when I came up here as the new guy, people were coming in and talking to me about how it was like car shopping and we needed to compare what was available at Autry.

“Even though Autry is more expensive, they offer more programs. I was asked to reach out to them to see if they were interested in presenting to us and they were.”

Sternberger said the request to reconsider Autry came from both school patrons and board members.

At successive meetings last fall, CTTC and Autry again made presentations to the Hennessey board, followed by a community meeting where school patrons were given more time to ask questions and express opinions.

Although concerns were raised by one teacher about “losing students” from his elective classes who chose to go to CTTC instead, Sternberger said the financial obligation for tax-paying property owners appeared to be the most frequent objections to annexation.

The board votes

Last Monday night’s Hennessey school board agenda included an item to “approve, amend or take other action on Resolution requesting approval of election for purpose of annexing to either 1. the Chisholm Trail Technology Center School District or 2. Autry Technology Center School District.”

However, Thomas sent a letter to Sternberger and board president Matousek on Feb. 11 stating CTTC was “removing ourselves from consideration for annexation.”

Thomas provided this explanation in his statement to the Times & Free Press:

“CTTC has honored the original agreements, educated 117 students and helped students become employed in different industries in the Hennessey community.

“Despite these factors, CTTC was having to prove our technology center worthy once again.

“Based on the lack of commitment and perceived interest we were shown by Hennessey leadership and board this year, CTTC determined it would be best to remove ourselves from consideration for annexation.”

Plans moving forward

With tech district annexation now off the table at Hennessey, Sternberger said he sees two priorities moving forward for the district.

“Our first priority is to figure out how the Hennessey kids currently enrolled at CTTC can finish their course of study and what needs to happen for that to occur, whether that’s us paying full price for their tuition or what,” he said. In his written statement, Thomas said:

“We have thoroughly enjoyed educating Hennessey students and feel we have made a positive impact on their future success.

“CTTC will continue to place priority on student enrollment from partner school communities (Dover, Kingfisher, Lomega and Watonga).

“If a Hennessey High School student or adult wishes to attend CTTC, they will be required to pay either the secondary out-of-district rate set by the state or the post-secondary out-of-district rate.

“All out-of-district students are admitted on a space-available basis once in-district enrollment is complete.”

Sternberger said Hennessey’s second priority is to develop its own in-house career-oriented programs, with input from administration, faculty, local businesses and the community.

“I talked about it this week with the high school principal (Josh Faulkner) and counselor (Jill Moery) and we’re getting literature about what other schools are doing,” he said. “We have a small workstudy going on now, but we want to do more.

“I’ve got one board member, Cristopher Choate, who is very adamant that we need to do something to expand tech options and it’s a work in progress.

“We want to find a point person there at the school that can be a liaison for local businesses, maybe have kids going to Enid to do job shadowing and see what we can develop from this and what works best.

“We won’t have anything to present to the board by the March meeting, but maybe by April or May we’ll have something.”

Meanwhile, CTTC has just started its enrollment process for next fall and is seeing increased applications from its sending dis tricts, school administrators reported.

According to numbers requested by the Times & Free Press, 43 students have applied from Watonga (25 attend this year); 13 from Lomega (10 currently); a record 24 from Dover (15 currently), and 31 applications from Kingfisher juniors, with senior enrollment still pending (48 total attended this year).

In-district adult enrollment also is still pending.

“The leadership, principals, and counselors at all four sending schools have been very engaged this year in supporting students in career tech education,” Kurt Thomas, CTTC’s assistant superintendent and administrative manager, said.

“We believe this has led to the enrollment increase we are seeing.

“We are appreciative of their support as we work together to do what is best for students and our communities.”