MAPS for Kids update

I'm glad to hear MAPS for Kids is doing well! Our kids deserve it.

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"MAPS for Kids projects begin to show results


By Michael Bratcher
The Oklahoman

Three years after voters passed a nearly $700 million plan to improve schools, residents are beginning to see finished results. MAPS for Kids
Voters in November 2001 passed the $692 million plan to improve area schools. The plan includes:

A $512 million, seven-year city sales tax and an $180 million bond issue.

Twenty-three suburban school districts also will share the money. Thirty percent of the $512 million will be distributed throughout the metro area, based on the number of students they serve who live in Oklahoma City.

The school construction program includes more than 100 projects. It is expected to cost about $470 million.

It will take 10 years to complete the new buildings and renovations scheduled for 72 Oklahoma City public schools.

About $52 million has been earmarked for technology projects and $9 million for bus fleet replacement.

This year, a renovated Star Spencer High School and Wheeler Community Learning Center reopened. New school buses for the Oklahoma City School District are on the streets and teachers started receiving laptop computers.

"It has been an incredible experience to watch MAPS for Kids materialize," Superintendent Bob Moore said. "We have several construction projects under way, 80 new buses and 80 more on the way, and ground will soon be broken on all three new high schools."

Voters passed the plan in November 2001 to renovate schools and add new buses and technology. Officials said it would take 10 years to complete all the new buildings and renovations scheduled for 72 schools.

But there's more to the plan than physical improvements.

"For those of us who are professional educators, nothing has been as rewarding as seeing evidence in the form of increased test scores of how hard our students and teachers have been working in the classroom," Moore said. "Improved instruction and increased achievement are truly the most important components of the MAPS for Kids program."

Several Oklahoma City schools showed large gains on state-mandated math and reading tests taken in the spring.

Two schools renovated
Officials said physical highlights included the opening of the two renovated schools and start of construction on others.

Star Spencer received new flooring, paint and high-speed Internet access. The $3 million project also included improvements to parking lots and physical education areas.

Now under construction are a new Douglass High School and a new U.S. Grant High School. Renovations continue at Wheeler, Ridgeview and Telstar elementary schools.

In May, students, alumni and teachers from Douglass celebrated the start of construction on the $30 million high school.

The school will include more than 50 classrooms, eight science labs, an auditorium and two gymnasiums. It is expected to open in late 2005.

In September, U.S. Grant officials and students celebrated the start of construction on their school. The $24.97 million building is expected to open by fall 2006.

The roughly 222,000-square-foot school will include a competition gym, practice gym and safe room.

School board Chairman Cliff Hudson said the project is a "fantastic development for Oklahoma City Public Schools."

Also in 2005, 16 other schools will undergo construction and 14 will undergo design work, according to the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation.

By the end of the school year, almost every school bus will be less than two years old. The board this year approved seeking bids for 80 new buses. About $9 million has been earmarked to buy about 160 new buses.

District officials said the last major bus purchase was in 1982. The district expects to save more than $200,000 a year in maintenance by updating its bus fleet.

Ralph Konefes, district transportation director, said the school system likely will keep up to 20 of the older buses to have on standby. The others will be sold. About a half dozen will be mixed in with the new buses used for daily routes, he said.

Adjoining districts benefit
Although the plan primarily focuses on schools in the Oklahoma City School District, adjoining districts will benefit from about $150 million in MAPS for Kids funds.

Districts can address a variety of needs, including computer technology and hardware, fire and security systems, and new buses, cafeterias and athletic buildings.

Several districts are in the process of renovation projects, including Choctaw, Deer Creek, Edmond, Moore and Yukon.

The schools foundation reports that in the Crooked Oak School District, technology upgrades have been made. Millwood officials refurbished their cafeteria, and Putnam City schools have received security and fire suppression systems. "

[metro]

Billy Madison: Back to school! Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool! I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight! Ohhhh, back to school! Back to school! Back to school! Well, here goes nothing!