Dr. James Matthew Matousek was elected president of the Hennessey Board of Education during its meeting Monday night.

This will be his fourth time to serve as president and it’s in his blood. ( Ed. note: See upcoming editions about his father, David, and grandfather, Ernest.)

Elected vice president was Dakota Semrad and Amy Charmasson was elected clerk.

After the election of new officers and the annual moving over to a different chair, Hennessey Board of Education members quickly disposed of an eight-item agenda.

There are water damages in the administration offices at the Eagle Event Center caused by rains about two weeks ago, Superintendent Jason Sternberger told the board.

There are also similar water issues in the conference and training rooms, he said.

Blackman Moring was called for restoration and Keith Dobbs is replacing sheetrock.

The construction bond doesn’t cover the flashing installation, Sternberger told the board, and responsibility for that problem is unclear.

Both parties are pointing fingers, he said.

Sooner Recon applied a temporary water treatment with a five-year warranty, and Sternberger said the current plan is to wait until after all of the spring rains, then deal with it.

Resignations

Sternberger said the district’s athletic trainer, Chelsea Hensel, had resigned.

He said they will post that position now because it took two years to find her for that job.

Also resigning is Shelby Petty, an elementary paraprofessional.

Hirings

The superintendent recommended, and the board unanimously voted, to hire Steven Brisco as the special education director and his wife, Shonda, as a high school language arts teacher.

The hirings are for the 2025-26 school year on temporary contracts.

Steven Brisco has taught special education at Chandler since 2023 and, prior to that, at Stillwater.

Shonda Briscoe has been teaching English I/English III at Chandler since 2023. Among her other stops, she also taught AP English, at Stillwater High School from 2016-22.

Shelly Hladik was hired as a paraprofessional for the rest of the 2024-25 year.

New Auditor

Before the board approved the 11-item consent agenda, Sternberger pointed out that it included a contract with Bledsoe, Hewett & Gullekson of Broken Arrow, to handle the district’s 2024-25 audit of financial records.

He said that firm was recommended by the Angel, Johnston & Blasingame auditing firm in Chickasha, which had been the school’s auditor for several years.

It turns out that Angel, Johnston & Blasingame had been the Hennessey school’s auditing firm since 2001.

That’s according to the archives of The Hennessey Clipper available at the Hennessey Public Library.

In April 2001, a new superintendent, William Stokes, recommended the Chickasha group over the school’s auditing firm for the previous five years (Storm & Hauser of Kingfi sher).

The then-school board president was Leon Hill, and he asked Stokes: “You’re not related to any of these people, are you?”

Stokes said no and the new firm was hired for $5,700 in a 5-0 vote. Storm & Hauser had been charging $4,140.

May Board Meeting at 5 p.m.

The superintendent reminded members that the Monday, May 12, board meeting will start at 5 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m. start.