HONDA SSA

HONDA is a Shared Service Arrangement and is comprised of five districts: Hale Center, Olton, New Deal, Abernathy and Shallowater.

HONDA is an acronym for Hale Center, Olton, New Deal and Abernathy.  Shallowater joined the COOP years later, and they decided to keep the name as it was.

HONDA's offices are located at Shallowater ISD Central Office in Shallowater, Texas.

Olton is located 20 miles Northeast of Littlefield and about 25 miles West of Plainview.  The population of Olton is approximately 2300.

Olton was the first town in Lamb County and as such became the first county seat when the county was organized in 1908.  The community was named after W. Olton Powell, son of the postmaster.

Olton produces cotton, sunflowers, and is an intensive farming community.

Olton ISD consists of three public schools: Webb Elementary, Olton Jr. High, and Olton High School.  They currently have 730  students enrolled in their school system.  Bub McIver is the superintendent for Olton ISD.

Shallowater is located approximately 8 miles northwest of Lubbock on the South Plains of West Texas.  Established in 1913 around the new railroad line being extended through the South Plains,Shallowater’s economy originally revolved around ranching and farming.

Today, Shallowater is home to more than 2,500 people and is one of the fastest growing communities on the South Plains.  Its convenient location near Lubbock offers access to one of the largest medical hubs in the Southwest.

Shallowater ISD consists of five schools: Shallowater Elementary, Shallowater Intermediate, Shallowater Middle School, Shallowater High School, and Woodward Academy.  They serve approximately 1450 students.  Phil Warren is the superintendent for Shallowater ISD.

Hale Center is located about 35 miles north of Lubbock and 13 miles south of Plainview.  Hale Center is the CENTER of Hale County.

This quaint city resulted from a compromise of two rival villages, Hale City and Epworth that united in 1893.  Both of these towns moved and formed the new town site, Hale Center.  This area originally consisted of large ranches and became a center of intensive farming as irrigation developed in the 20th Century.

Today in this county, more than 400,000 irrigated acres produce: cotton, grain sorghum, wheat, sunflowers, sugar beets and table vegetables.

Hale Center ISD consists of three public schools: Akin Elementary, Carr Middle School and Hale Center High School.  They currently have a little over 600 students in their school system. Rick Teran is the superintendent for Hale Center ISD.

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New Deal is located six miles north of Lubbock. New Deal was originally known as Monroe, named for Monroe Abernathy, a local landowner.

The town was originally developed for a train station loading site. People began to settle there and that is why the town was built alongside the railroad tracks and highway. The train identification name for the township still reads Monroe alongside the railroad tracks. Some time afterwards the town wanted a post office and requested the permit for the Monroe Postal Station.

Because there was already a town in Texas with the name Monroe City, the U.S. postal department changed the name of the town to New Deal to go along with the consolidated school system's name.

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Abernathy is located 15 miles North of Lubbock, Texas.  Abernathy is a city that straddles both Hale and Lubbock counties.  Its population is approximately 2700.

The city was named for M. G. Abernathy, one of the developers of this community.  With a variety of businesses offering goods and services, the town has remained an agribusiness and trading center since that time.

Through the years, Abernathy has had a flour mill, a cheese factory and currently is in the process of going "green" with windmills.

Abernathy consists of three schools: Abernathy Elementary, Abernathy Jr. High and Abernathy High School.  The district serves approximately 770 students. Herb Youngblood is the superintendent for Abernathy ISD.