Douglass set to open

Good news for MAPS for Kids.



Putting together the new Douglass High

By Michael Bratcher
The Oklahoman

THE first new Oklahoma City high school built in more than 50 years opens this week, featuring more than 50 classrooms, a mock courtroom and a spacious courtyard.

Educators will welcome students Wednesday to the new $27.8 million Douglass High School, which was built with MAPS for Kids money, a nearly $700 million plan passed by voters in 2001 to improve schools.

The start of the spring semester at the northeast Oklahoma City school was delayed by about two weeks because of ongoing construction.

Students and parents toured the school at 900 N Martin Luther King Ave. on Thursday, as construction crews moved in desks and installed the school crest near the main entrance.

"A parent told me this will bring the pride back to the east side," Principal Vallene Cooks said as she toured the school.

That pride stretches back to 1898, when the first Douglass opened on California Street between Robinson and Harvey avenues. It was first known as the "Colored School," but students selected "Frederick A. Douglass" to honor the escaped slave who became a leader of the abolitionist movement and it received school board approval.

After a fire and two relocations, a new high school was built on the current site in 1952. That building soon will be demolished to make room for the Douglass sports stadium.

Walking around the new Douglass last week, senior Julius McKaufman admired the spacious hallways and tall ceilings.

"It's pretty roomy; it isn't crowded," he said while touring with his aunt. "It makes you feel more mature like you're in college. It brings your sense of pride up a level."

McKaufman hopes the new building will attract new students, particularly those who have left the northeast side to attend schools elsewhere in the district and surrounding school systems. The 1,200-student capacity building is expected to open with fewer than 800 students.

Finishing the project
Construction workers will be on-site for the coming months, finishing the auditorium and a few fine arts classrooms.

In the meantime, band students will meet in the old school's wrestling room, choir will be in a health classroom and drama students will use an ROTC classroom.

The last Oklahoma City high school to be built was U.S. Grant High School in 1953. A new Grant is being built under MAPS for Kids and should open next year. Star Spencer High School opened in 1956 but was not then part of the school district.

Features at the new Douglass include a lighting system on sensors that activate overhead lights when a person walks into a room and the mock courtroom -- the principal's favorite feature.

The courtroom is a first for an Oklahoma City high school. Its primary use will be for business and law courses offered by adjunct professors from Oklahoma City University.

"When I found out we had a mock courtroom, I said we need to be inspired to get this program going," Cooks said. "It's just a beautiful room, and very few high schools have a room like that."

The little additions
The new sports stadium will include a competition football field, eight-lane track and seating for about 6,000 people. Completion is expected next year.

A 1,800-seat competition gym and a practice gym are inside the main building, adjacent to a commons area where students can eat lunch and socialize.

The competition gym's bleachers are motorized and within seconds can be retracted for more floor space. A seal on the court dedicates it to former coach Lawrence Cudjoe.

A library media center catches the eye of district administrator Linda Toure. The room features classrooms filled with computers, tall ceilings and plenty of natural lighting.

"The open atmosphere welcomes you into the building and honestly into a new era," Toure said. "There's no doubt in my mind it will bring pride." Cooks said Wednesday's opening, though in the middle of the school year, will seem like the first day of school. Staff will spend the day making sure students can find their classrooms.

Yeah, bet it won't take long for the east side low life to tear it up.