OKCPS admin building crumbling
An abandoned pool at 900 N Klein has likely been out of use since the building was converted from a school in 1955. Photo courtesy OKCPS.
James Burkey, the chief operating officer for Oklahoma City Public Schools, described the district’s headquarters at 900 N Klein as “way past the point of no return.”
At Monday’s school board meeting, Burkey showed photos of buckling exterior bricks, crumbling interior walls, an empty pool atrium and abandoned locker rooms “jammed full of records.”
The very last of the projects under the capital improvement sales tax and bond issue known as MAPS for Kids is for the district to remodel or relocate its headquarters.
Voters in 2001 approved the MAPS for Kids projects including $3.31 million for the renovation or new construction of an 81,000 square foot building.
The district’s current building is 102,000 square feet.
“I continue to have concerns about there not being enough money to fund the project fully,” Board Member Phil Horning said.
Horning and Superintendent Karl Springer both mentioned the possibility of merging the administration building project with the construction of a downtown elementary school to save money and pool resources.
900 N Klein is in a serious state of disrepair. A meeting last month was interrupted with flying sparks from an light outlet and Board Member Gail Vines bemoaned the fact that the “roof caved in” on her.
However, there might be some aspects of the building worth salvaging.
Burkey said the now hidden balcony above the school board auditorium has “dynamite crown molding … that people would probably die for.”
Duct work and electric lines now fill the hidden balcony at the district's current headquarters. Photo courtesy OKCPS.
OKCPS improvement plans for 3 schools
Here are the improvement plans for US Grant High School, Douglass Middle School and F.D. Moon Academy. These plans, which include a variety of interventions from replacing half of the schools teachers to adding 60 minutes of instruction each day, will be implemented this summer.
The Oklahoma City School District received $12.1 million in federal grants on Wednesday to help turn around these three struggling schools.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, serious intervention would have been required at two of the schools this summer.
Both US Grant High School and F.D. Moon Academy have failed to meed Adequate Yearly Progress for enough years in a row that they were required to “restructure for the 2010-2011 school year.
That process looked differently this year than any other year since the historic legislation passed in 2001 as the U.S. Department of Education made the restructuring process a competitive grant process that promised millions to the nation’s lowest performing schools.
Both Grant and Moon made that list, but so did Douglass Middle School, which had been on track to require restructuring before Principal Brian Staples took over the school in February 2008. That school year and the next, test scores rose and the school was removed from the needs improvement list.
However, the school was still eligible for the federal School Improvement Grants.
Do you think the plans will improve the schools?
Candidates file for state superintendent
Four candidates have filed so far this week for the Oklahoma State Superintendent, a position that has been held by Superintendent Sandy Garrett for two decades.
Candidate Janet Barresi, 58, is the lone republican in the race with one day left of filing.
Democratic candidate Jerry Combrink, 69, retired as superintendent of Boswell School in 2003.
Also filing as a Democrat was state Sen. Susan Paddack, 57, of Ada.
A fourth candidate filed as an independent – Richard E. Cooper, 51, of Ada.
There is still one day remaining in the filing process for state elections as the last forms are accepted at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
OK’s Race to the Top turns some heads
Last time Oklahoma applied for millions in federal funds for the Race to the Top competition, no one outside the state said much about the application. After all, the state was one of 41 applicants vying for education reform funding.
Perhaps no one was surprised then when Oklahoma finished in 34th place in the first round of applications.
This time around, however, Oklahoma’s sweeping education reform legislation – that is aligns well with the Race to the Top standards, is receiving some national attention.
Today Education Week mentioned Oklahoma’s reforms and even quoted Kathy Taylor who headed the application process for the governor’s office.
Education Week reported:
“A disappointing 34th place finish for Oklahoma, however, didn’t prompt retreat. The state came back with a series of legislative changes that align with Obama administration positions: It raised the cap on charter schools, gave districts more power to fix low-performing schools, tied teacher evaluations to student performance, and made it possible to dismiss a teacher rated as “ineffective” two years in a row. And the state won statewide union support, too.”
Two key reforms for Race to the Top pass Senate
Reforms that are considered key to Oklahoma’s application for $175 million in Race to the Top grant money passed the Senate Tuesday.
Senate Bill 2033 is ostensibly a Race to the Top reform package that creates a system for teacher incentive pay, modifying teacher and administration evaluations, and creating a Race to the Top commission.
The 45 page bill passed the Senate 37-10 with an emergency clause that would have the bill take effect the moment the governor signs it. The bill now heads to the House for consideration.
A key change to the teacher evaluation system is a proposed Oklahoma Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Evaluation System that will score teachers on five levels: superior, highly effective, effective, needs improvement and ineffective.
The assessment will be based 35 percent on student academic growth as measured by standardized test data, 15 percent on “other” academic measurements, and 50 percent on “rigorous and fair qualitative assessment components.”
Also approved Tuesday, was an amendment to the state’s charter school law, which if approved by the House and signed into law will remove the cap of how many charter schools can open in a year for metropolitan areas with a population of more than 500,000.
Changes to the charter school law, contained in Senate Bill 1862, passed the Senate 33-14, and is considered a key step in proving to the US Department of Education that Oklahoma is serious about education reforms promised in its Race to the Top application.
MAPS for Kids breaks ground at three schools
In a flurry of May MAPS for Kids projects, three Oklahoma City elementary schools are celebrating the start of renovations and expansions.
Hillcrest Elementary School, 6421 S Miller Blvd, is kicking off a $3.2 million expansion on Tuesday, while Linewood and Fillmore elementary schools have already turned over dirt to symbolize a summer of frenzied construction.
Hillcrest’s expansion will bring renovations and an additional 14,800 square feet of space.
Fillmore will almost double in size with a new 34,000 square foot wing growing to accommodate 853 students from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade. The project has a budget of $5.7 million.
Linwood, 3416 NW 17th Street, is getting a 16,000 square foot wing in addition to an expansion of the existing facilities. That project has a budget of $3.4 million.
The projects are funded by a voter-approved sales tax and bond issue known as MAPS for Kids.
Schools notified this morning of additional cuts
Oklahoma school districts were notified this morning of additional cuts coming down in this fiscal year, adding another level of budget stress as the schools look to FY 2010.
“We have just been given notices that our budgets have been cut by an additional 10 percent this month,” said Joe Siano, superintendent of Norman Public Schools. “That’s an additional $300,000.”
For Putnam City Public Schools the additional 10 percent cut announced this morning is $438,931, district spokesman Steve Lindley said.
“The concern for any district at this point would be there is really no time to absorb this,” Lindley said.
Districts throughout the state had already cut the fiscal year 2009-2010 budget by around 5 percent this year, and districts are preparing for as much as a 10 percent budget cut next year as the state Legislature nears a budget agreement.
We were notified today that we are down an additional $300,000 for this month,” Joe Siano said. “
Pioneer of early childhood education honored
Kids at Educare center in southern Oklahoma City planted a “Survivor Tree” Thursday in honor of the victims of the federal building bombing.
The tree will eventually be planted in the median in front of the Educare on Grand Boulevard, but for now, the tree will remain inside.
Also on Thursday, a room in the Educare facility was dedicated to John Rex, who worked at American Fidelity Assurance for 35 years, and was a proponent of early childhood education, according to a media release sent out by the agency.
“John’s mission in life was to prepare all children, especially those from low-income families, for learning,” Bob Ross, president of the Inasmuch Foundation said.
Third Educare in Tulsa planned: Second for OKC?
The Tulsa World reported today that a third Educare is planned in Tulsa to provide low-income children education from birth to age four.
Oklahoma City’s Educare facility has been up and running since July thanks to donations from the Inasmuch Foundation and also the George Kaiser Foundation, which has heavily supported the first two Tulsa centers. The third center will be funded through a voter approved bond.
But Bob Ross, president of the Inasmuch Foundation said dreams for a second Educare center in Oklahoma City are still several years away.
“I’d like for us to first accomplish 100 percent all-day pre-kindergarten in Oklahoma City Public Schools and Putnam City,” Ross said. “We can focus on that then from there I think we can maybe build some centers that are high quality for 3 and 4 year-olds together.”
Educare centers are expensive endeavors – in Oklahoma City it took $9.3 million for the building at 500 Grand Blvd. – and Ross said he’d like to see several less expensive but still high quality facilities put into place.
”I’d love to see a second one,” Ross said. “The first priority is getting all of our kids attending pre-kindergarten.”
Obama launches “Promise Neighborhood” grants
Only a few days after the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone visited Oklahoma City, President Barack Obama announced a $10 million competitive grant to replicate the zone’s success.
The Harlem Children’s Zone is a non-profit organization in Harlem that serves 10,000 children and approximately 7,000 parents in a 97-block area of Harlem.
The privately funded $75 million-a-year operation has produced academic results from some of the area’s poorest children that have astonished long-time educators.
Obama’s grant will provide up to $500,000 for 20 organizations across the nation to create “promise neighborhoods” modeled after Canada’s.
Geoffrey Canada spoke to local educators Wednesday at the Petroleum Club about the need for action to end the education crisis in America.
Read tomorrow’s Oklahoman for information about what local agencies will be applying for this grant due in June.
