Even though there are two months left in the current school year, Henryetta officials are planning ahead.
The school calendar for the 2020-21 school year was approved Monday night at the monthly school board meeting. That calendar sets the classes to start August 13 with end of school planned for May 13, 2020.
“We worked our calendar around the vo-tech calendar since so many of our students go there,” said school superintendent Dwayne Noble. He pointed out the calendar has provisions for snow days and said the current calendar actually used those days. “This is the first time since I have been here that we had to use our snow days,” he told the board. He was talking about the decision last month to close school due to a brief snow storm.
Noble went on to tell the board repair work on the gymnasium is, “not going real fast.” He expects the floor to be finished in 30 days seven months the facility has been out of commission since a water leak in September destroyed the floor. Workers have the wood flooring down and will have to spend a week cleaning before painters can add the logo and lines.
At the monthly meeting, board members accepted resignations from Sarah Duncan-Brown and Oscar Davis. Duncan-Brown will be leaving her first grade when she and her husband move to Texas after the school year. Davis was a custodian at the school.
Board members approved a plan to work with Dewar allowing a student from that school to be part of the HHS golf team. “We are not recruiting,” Noble said. “Golf is not offered in Dewar.”
Elementary principal Jayme Matlock praised Rachel Bourne and the grade school students involved in “Shrek, the Musical” that was performed last week. “Some kids are shy and this gives them confidence,” she said, talking about several of the cast members. The two performances provided entertainment for a near-capacity crowd.
High school principal Kelly Furer said benchmark testing started Monday and will continue through the week. She praised the high school power lifters that will be going to state this week and added praise for HHS wrestler Madison Byroads who won a state wrestling title recently.
“We have several students going to state in music and the honor choir will be competing there,” she said.