As the calendar closes in on the start of school, Henryetta school board members were filling the last of their classroom positions Monday night.
Board members hired Booklyn Furer as the PK3 assistant, Sierra Brake to help with kindergarten, Megan Clawson as elementary reading tutor and assistant librarian and Amanda Easter for a high school paraprofessional. Also hired was Laura Black as a full-time bus driver.
“One thing exciting about this year, we have three things happening,” said superintendent Dwayne Noble. When classes start, the school will have a new FFA program and wrestling program. “This is the first year we will have a high school STEM class,” he said. We had a vision a few years ago and are bringing it to fruition.”
The STEM program in middle school will be affecting the fifth graders while students in the seventh and eighth grades will be eligible to start working on 3D design and modeling.
Classes will be starting Aug. 24 but teachers will be reporting the Monday before. They will kick off the year with a breakfast and getting their classes ready for an open house on Tuesday, Aug. 22. That will run from 4 to 7 p.m. and all students and parents are invited to attend.
Nobel said he will be working with students and coaches this year to improve attendance at the summer sports and life skills camp. “We have to support this camp as a community,” he said. “There are 16 college coaches who come to town an that is an opportunity for our kids to network with them.”
He met with camp organizer Ken Heupel earlier this month and was told the coaches named Henryettan Yvonne McLaughlin as the best cook from all the camps they held across the nation. She provided the meal at the First United Methodist church one evening during the three-day camp.
Recent rains have caused a delay in completion of the gymnasium parking lot paving project. “We hope to get it done by next week,” he said. “If not completed by the time school starts students will have to park somewhere else.”