When the Watonga School District met April 8 in regular session, the first order of business was to swear in the newest old board member.
Aaron Clewell was seated by acclamation as he was unopposed and was duly sworn in. He had also served as board president for the last year, and the board was reorganized. In Clewell’s stead, Dr. Dwight McGee was named president. Mayra Flynn became vice president and Andy Wigington was named board clerk.
With the reorganization taken care of, the board turned to other business. It heard from middle school principal Ty Hussey that Mrs. Turney had taken 14 students to the academic tournament of champions and the entire school was working on statewide testing preparations. In order to do that the children are split into prep groups during their academic hour every day for two weeks or more. The younger students work on math, English and language arts and test strategies. The eighth grade, meanwhile, deals with the same topics as well as science.
At the high school, principal Lauren Coleman noted that two students had received scholarships while at the Oklahoma Youth Expo livestock shows at Oklahoma City. The high school students were also preparing for statewide testing and reviewing for the ACT college placement tests.
Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran noted that while the schools are winding down the academic year, the staff and administration is preparing for the upcoming summer pride programs for student athletes and summer food program in the district, through which any person less than 18 years of age can receive a free meal.
He also gave an overview of the building projects going on around the district. The schools are being reroofed to replace metal damaged during a storm last year. The gym and end zone facility projects are also moving full steam ahead, but Hilterbran pointed out that soon it would seem that not much was being done, because the work would move indoors to build out phase.
The superintendent also went over the gross production tax. It had come in for the month around $260,000. His belief is that the tax will drop below $3 million for the year. Last year that income to the district was more than $4 million.