Donna Ronio

Area 1 Board Member
President

Donna Ronio was elected to Lawton Board of Education in February 2006, and was re-elected without opposition to a second term in 2011. She represents Area 1, which includes Geronimo Road, Pat Henry, Pioneer Park and Sheridan Road elementary school districts, along with the Medicine Park area.

Ronio is a service order dispatcher for Professional Contracting Services, Inc. at Fort Sill. She and husband Steven are also the longtime owners of Lasting Impressions, a home retail business. She received her education in the Lawton Public Schools, along with Great Plains Technology Center and Cameron University.

Ronio is active in community affairs, serving on the board of the Lawton International Festival Committee. She is the Secretary for the Zone 1 North, Longview Heights Neighborhood Watch and is past president of the Jefferson Elementary PTA, a position she held for two years.

Helena John

Area 2 Board Member

Helena John took her seat on the Lawton Board of Education in February 2007 and is in her second term on the board. She represents Area 2, comprised of the Eisenhower, Jackson, Ridgecrest, Swinney and the former Country Club Heights elementary service areas, along with the southern portion of the area served by Cleveland Elementary.

John is a product of the Lawton Public Schools, having attended Pecan Grove Elementary, Tomlinson Jr. High and Eisenhower High School. She is an alumna of the University of California-Los Angeles. Four of her children graduated from EHS and one currently attends Oklahoma State University. Two are OSU grads, and one is continuing studies in the University of Oklahoma’s Medical School. A fifth child attends Eisenhower Middle School.

John and husband Brent own Lawton’s Game King franchise.

John has been active in booster clubs, coaching, mentoring and in parent-teacher associations (PTA) for many years, including past local, council, state and national PTA executive board positions. She is currently the Lawton PTA Council’s treasurer and the Oklahoma PTA’s state treasurer. She is a sustainer of the Junior League of Lawton and president of the Lawton Business and Professional Women's Club. She currently serves as a member of Chapter FW of PEO, Leadership Lawton Class XXIII, the education committee of the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce and the Lawton Community Theatre board of directors.

Eric Sharum

Eric Sharum joined the board in 2008. He serves Area 3, which includes the Carriage Hills, Park Lane and Sullivan Village elementary districts.

Originally from Iron River, Michigan, Sharum is a graduate of West Iron County High School. He graduated from Brown Institute in 1987, specializing in broadcasting and communications. His wife, Cae, attended Cleveland Elementary. Their sons, Caleb and Joshua, attend Lawton schools.

Sharum came to Lawton in 1987 where he forged a 20-year career in broadcasting at KKRX-FM, KSWO-TV and KLAW-FM. His voice has been a familiar one to high school football fans in Lawton for the past 15 years, first as the play-by-play announcer for Lawton High games, and now doing play-by-play for the MacArthur Highlanders on KLAW.

Sharum currently serves as minister for the University Church of Christ. He is entering his third year of volunteering coaching duties at MacArthur Middle School, and he is a member of the Lawton Parks and Recreation Commission.

Dr. George Schutz

Dr. George Schutz is a local physician and medical director of diagnostic imaging at Comanche County Memorial Hospital. He currently serves as president of the Lawton Board of Education.

Schutz was educated in the Lawton Public Schools and graduated from Lawton High School in 1980. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine. Schutz completed his residency at the University of Florida, where he went on to serve as an assistant professor of radiology. He and his wife, Simone, have three children. Erik and Alexis are graduates of Eisenhower High School, and Christina currently attends EHS.

Schutz was elected to the Lawton Board of Education in February 2009. The area he represents covers the following elementary school districts in western Lawton: Almor West, Hugh Bish, Brockland, Crosby Park, Edison and Woodland Hills.

Kent Jester

Kent Jester took his seat on the Lawton Board of Education in February 2010. He currently serves as the board's vice president. Area 5 serves the Adams, Whittier, Wilson, Washington and Lincoln elementary school districts, along with the northern portion of Cleveland Elementary districts.

A longtime Lawton resident, Jester graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1974. He and his wife, Joan, a Lawton High grad, have four children who are products of the Lawton Public Schools.

Jester has been active in PTSA and booster clubs, and has coached baseball, basketball and soccer. He is also involved in many civic, business, community and church organizations, including the Great Plains AMBUCS, in which he served as president and district governor.

As president and CEO of Arrow Sign Company, Jester is a past president of the Oklahoma Sign Association and was inducted into the Oklahoma Sign Association Hall of Fame. He has served on past City Charter Review and City Sign Code committees and is a member of the City Redistricting Committee.

Col. Paul S. Hossenlopp

Following graduation from the Artillery Officer Basic Course, Colonel Paul Hossenlopp's initial assignment was as a battery fire direction officer at Fort Sill, where he deployed to Southwest Asia as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Later assignments took him to Fort Richardson, Alaska; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Fort Hood, Texas; and Washington, D.C. In June 2007, he served as the Deputy Commander, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In the summer of 2009, Hossenlopp attended the United States Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. From June 2010 to May 2011, he commanded the Fort Hood Warrior Transition Brigade, then took command of the Fort Sill garrison in June 2011

Hossenlopp's decorations include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Expeditionary Medal and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He has a bachelor's degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati, master's degrees from Central Michigan University and the United States Army War College.

The colonel and his wife, Shelley, have been married for 22 years and have two children.