Kingfisher Public School once again received a glowing report after its annual audit.

“Overall everything went well. The school is in excellent financial shape,” said James Kuykendall, president of Britton, Kuykendall & Miller CPAs, the district’s auditor.

It’s much the same message Kuykendall has been giving KPS board members for several years.

He went over the district’s financials, which were reviewed in the late-October audit.

“We feel it was a good audit for the school district. There were three minor things, but they’ve mostly already been taken care of.”

Kuykendall delivered his report Monday during the board’s December regular meeting.

He mentioned the district’s continued large carryover, which was about $7.5 million from the last fiscal year.

That, plus several other fac tors, led the board to hire Joe D. Hall General Contractors as a construction manager and LWPB Architecture for architectural services for “phased construction and renovation projects” in 2022-23.

The district will have about $600,000 in bond money remaining once the new junior high building and other projects surrounding it are finished.

As tax money rolls in, the district will have about $2 million in its building fund.

And the district also has Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund money to spend.

On top of that, if the district doesn’t “spend down” some of its carryover, it could be penalized by the Oklahoma State Department of Education by having state aid withheld down the road (potentially June 2025).

“From my perspective, you have a unique opportunity,” said Van Storm of Joe D. Hall. “You can take the ESSER money and pool it with the other funds you have and really do some things that give you more bang for your buck.”

Storm’s firm is serving as the construction manager for the current junior high project and has worked with the district on several projects in the past.

The same goes for LWPB, who was represented by Jeff Wegener at the meeting.

“We have these pots of money in different places and a lot of different projects we could do,” Superintendent Dr. Daniel Craig told the board. “And we need to start prioritizing those projects.”

Monday’s vote to hire Joe D. Hall and LWPB comes at no cost to the district until projects are approved by the board to move forward.

Potential projects touched on at the meeting included renovating Gilmour Elementary, moving forward with the construction of an ag barn, a new administration building, paving the parking lot west of the football field and locker rooms near the new junior high building.

“We would want to get with focus groups and people who are stakeholders in our school and determine our real needs,” Craig said.

Garnering the most discussion during the meeting was Gilmour, the oldest portion of which was built in 1964.

“It’s still a great building,” said Storm, who toured it with administration recently. “It just needs a lot of love.”

Storm said the district could “spend $100” on it “or millions.”

Added Wegener: “We would want to talk with the users and the principals and then give our professional advice” on how to move forward with renovations.

“The building hasn’t been touched for a long time and whatever we do, it probably won’t be touched for a long time again, so you want to spend the money wisely,” Storm said.

Among several deficiencies is outdated electrical systems.

Most classrooms “only have a couple of outlets, which with today’s technology is nowhere near enough,” Craig said.

“We could make it a modern building with the old shell that’s there,” said Shane Hood, the principal at both Gilmour and Heritage.

After a 48-minute executive session, board members approved filling six open positions: Amy Lorenz as the KHS Family and Consumer Science teacher; Davin DeVilbiss as a second grade teacher; Nikki Young as the districtwide dyslexia specialist; Gary Sewell as the districtwide part-time bus mechanic; Jacob Farrell as a Gilmour paraprofessional; Karolina Davila as a Heritage paraprofessional; and Yolanda Padilla as a KMS custodian.

In other moves Monday, the board approved:

• A membership with the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce for $100, the same level at which it had been a member previously;

• Creation of a junior high library sub-account;

• A clinical/internship agreement with Jacksonville University to host Madison Pyle as a speech pathologist candidate. Pyle is a KHS and Oklahoma State graduate currently attending Jacksonville University; and,

• Updating a board policy regarding classroom capacity and student transfer policies.