WATONGA – The Watonga Public Schools Board of Education met on Monday, Aug. 23, to hear updates from district administrators and consider several agenda items for the first time since the new school year began.
All five board members – Aaron Clewell, Shawn Cox, Dwight McGee, Andy Wigington and Mayra Flynn – were present for the meeting. During their general business agenda, the board voted to approve the purchase of a new Ag trailer to support agricultural education and help Ag students compete.
Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran told the Watonga Republican the trailer is a 2021 Sooner livestock trailer that will cost about $69,500.
Hilterbran said the trailer has everything they need “to make our program successful.”
“We have a ton of animals that are entered in competitions every weekend, almost, and we’ve had a lot of success with them. We recently had a winner this week at the Hydro Fair, his pig won.”
Stetson Phillips was named grand champion for barrow hogs at the Hydro Fair.
“This is an investment in our program and in our future,” Hilterbran continued. “It’s a great trailer, and I think it will represent us well, especially when it gets our ‘W’ and our eagle on it.”
Hilterbran thanked the board for investing in Ag education after their unanimous vote to purchase the trailer.
Later in the meeting, the school board also voted to allow Hilterbran to form a “school facilities planning committee.” Hilterbran said the committee will help the district “start planning for our future.”
“We’ve done a lot of really great things as far as remodeling the elementary school, remodeling the middle school, remodeling classrooms, remodeling coaches’ offices,” he said, “but I think we need to think bigger-picture than that. We have some things that need to be fixed that we could probably all name off together: Our gym is getting older, our maintenance building is getting older, we have a need for possible stuff for other extracurricular activities. So we need to look at that and figure out what that’s going to look like.
“And if we do get in a situation where we can build something like that, where are we going to put it, or what are we going to do with it? What does our community want?”
Hilterbran began assembling the committee on Tuesday right after the vote, he told the board, with members from across the community.
At the beginning of the meeting, Hilterbran acknowledged Duwane Crites for his help with the remodeling of Watonga Elementary school, as well as the entryway, bathrooms and classrooms at Watonga Middle School and High School. He presented Crites with a certificate of appreciation.
“He was always there, always answering the phone, always doing his job to the best of his ability,” Hilterbran said.
The Watonga school board will meet again on Sept. 13.