Watonga School Board Approves Contracts with Firms Ahead of Possible Bond Issue

WATONGA – The Watonga Public Schools Board of Education approved contracts with two firms Monday as the district explores a possible bond issue for building construction or renovation.

Joe D. Hall General Contractors was approved as the project’s construction manager, while Renaissance was retained as the architect.

Both are Oklahoma firms.

The decisions come after a special board meeting on Nov. 2 in which board members heard presentations from various firms. The district now aims to convene community groups and get feedback on what projects, if any, should be tackled at this time.

Among the projects under consideration are a new gymnasium and a remodeled elementary school cafeteria.

The district faces a Dec. 9 deadline if it wants to put a bond issue on the February 2022 ballot, the earliest vote at which it could do so.

Holiday cheer

The meeting was attended by all school board members – Aaron Clewell, Shawn Cox, Mayra Flynn, Dwight McGee and Andy Wigington – as well as by Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran and district principals Ashley Stewart, Joel Zehr and Todd Overstreet of the elementary, middle and high school, respectively.

During the meeting, board members approved a $1,500 employee stipend that will be distributed before Thanksgiving. “I want to tell you something: Our teachers have worked their tails off this year,” Hilterbran told the board. “… Whenever we have money, we need to reward our teachers so they’re some of the highest-paid teachers in the state, and not the ones in the middle.”

“There are so many times the schools have to ask staff to sacrifice,” Clewell agreed. “I, for one, feel a lot better about asking for sacrifice in hard times if we’ve been as generous as we can be in good times. And we are in good times.”

During the meeting, the board also voted to hire a new aide and a new assistant band director, who will begin next semester. They acknowledged the resignations of aide Maisha Arthur and custodian Yuliana Acevedo.

Watonga Elementary will host a Veterans Day program this Thursday morning at 8:30, while the middle school/high school program will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The school board will meet again on Dec. 13. at 7 p.m.