Well said Bomber

As I understand it, they have plans to sell Traub to Rose State with the stipulation that they can lease it back from them until they (RS) can afford to have it torn down for their future plans. I have no idea what the plans are for Sooner Rose.

Well stated and explained bombermwc! You should have been doing PR for Mid-Del before the bond vote. Mid-Del didn't get the word out as they should have

I don't understand why enrollment is on the decline. Have people gone sterile?! :-(

I don't understand why enrollment is on the decline. Have people gone sterile?! :-(

No, they've rented moving vans!

No, they've rented moving vans!

Are they having children in them?

Are they having children in them?

No, making them---if this Uhauls rocking don't bother knocking.

Thunder - that's sort of the way things go with any school. Enrollment has to do with the population with children. if you don't move away when your children graduate, then you get old...magic. So that means someone with children can buy your house and feed in. Mid-Del has had a very strong elderly population for 20 years...many of the people that built their homes in the original mile are still there. They are slowly passing away and others are moving in, but they don't neccessarily have children...and the same is happening in Del City.

More to the point though, Del City hasn't been an super attractor of new residents either. The population of the city itself isn't growing, thus there's a decline in population and that equates to fewer students. It's full and there's not much that can be done. Contrast that with the Carl Albert district that is larger than the MCHS and DCHS areas combined...but the density is so much smaller. I predict that if Carl Albert is in danger of becoming a 6A and we see DC in 5A...we'll see a re-drawing of the district lines.

FYI - the district is putting the bond issue out again in September.

So, back on this topic................doing some reasearch on the subject and it appears that MID DEL has current bond indebtness of$39.million dating back to 2005.
They dont plant to retire that amount any time soon yet they want to saddle us with an additional 191 million for lease pruchase of new building.
And one of their talking points was this bond issue would not have raised our property tax....................let me see $39 vs 191.........even new math doesnt equal that one out.
I do hear that citizen groups are forming to fight this proposed issue now. ORganized to include former school bord members and both retired and active teachers.

Now aint that a kick in the arse.............

We'll see what happens in the fall with the new superintendent. Maybe the new person will have a different plan and alter the bond issue before the september vote. Or maybe the board will continue to act as they see fit and make it go forward as is.....

was anyone aware that the States Attorney General is currently investigating this lease purchase law the school system is proposing and believes it to be unconstitutional .
Further that the school board has already reached its statutorily approved millage cap and by state law cant go any higher..................unless they utilize another government entity trust authority to do this?

I thought not

Wouldn't be the first time the "Hospital Authority" has been used to further needs of MWC. Didn't know the cap had been reached, though - thanks for info!

On the one hand - some of the practices in the past in MWC have pushed the envelope to questionable areas; however, as a MWC resident - I rather like the benefits we've reaped.

But dont you smell collusion? If in fact the school board used the taxing authority of the hospital trust to try and fund their ponzi scheme, and within the existing law, thats the only way they doled do this, and then they allowed the Hospital trust to actually bid on the school sale, even though not meeting the lease back requirement, that stinks of bad government.

And don't forget, if the school system is at their legal millage cap (and they are) and the structure of the proposed bond issue places the 191 million on the property tax owners, than that would mean that for the next 30 years the property tax will never go down and you the property owner will be saddled with a caped millage against your assessed net value until you die. ( I do hope you are around longer than a mere 30 years)

My point is we have been misled.

First, it's unfortunate that the voters in MWC decided that funding their own public education wasn't important. That, however, doesn't make the school board right for pursuing a plan B via a public trust whose stated purpose is not building schools. It doesn't sound like you've been misled though, it just sounds like some politicians got overly creative in doing back room deals. That said, I hope the voters send these guys a clear message at the polls.

Redskin - I see your point and you are correct - we have been mislead. The whole eminent domain issue with Town Center reeked at the time, but I've selfishly been enjoying the ability to get to the stores easily. I'm still a wee bit too young to benefit from the capped property taxes, and yes, my taxes have gone up every year as have my property values.

Midtowner - sadly, the bulk of the regular voters in MWC are retired folks who did not raise their children here or if they did, they don't care about the schools now. The very same people crying about closing Traub and Sooner-Rose now probably stayed home on election day or worse - didn't stop to think what their "no" vote meant. Maybe this will finally prod the registered voters to actually exercise their right and fulfill their responsibility.

Just some info, the school board voted against the Authority Backed buyer. That plan didn't include the lease option while they work out this whole building plan to correct the overcrowding they are creating. So for now, the students are still going to the same schools. Rose bought up the Traub site for their technical center, which I'm glad it went to them instead of waiting for it to buy up later. I wonder if they'll use it "as-is" for a while...it's already a school...lol.

It smells....right on it smells. They didn't get the plan they wanted and are trying to make it happen by other means. I, for one, would have voted for the bond issue in the first place (except i don't live in the mid-del district now). Even though it would have closed Jarman, having gone there I know what condition it's in. I don't agree with pushing everyone to Monroney, but I'm not going to stand in the way of progress because of it. But this plan just really smells. We'll see whether the community agrees with it when elections come around again. And remember, there will be a new superintendent next year as well since Scoggins is retiring.

I am going to vote no and encourage everyone I know to vote no. This notion that a person voting no is somehow a vote against education is ridiculous. This $120 million dollar bond issue would be outrageous in Oklahoma City. The Mid-Del area is not a high end area and cannot afford to be taxed to death over a whim to build and tear down schools. Simply throwing money at something is not always the fix. The neighborhood is just full of section 8 homes with drug users and dealers. Most of the kids in that neighborhood are walking the streets at 3:00 AM. I have two sons that went to Del City High within the last two years. I can tell you that if you ever went to a Mid-Del school recently you would know that money is not the issue. My sons went to Epperly Heights, Del Crest, and Del City High and it was a horrible experience starting at about fifth grade. Our problems were not the schools being inadequate but rather the neighborhood. I sold my house of 12 years near Epperly Heights last July because I could not take it anymore.

That neighborhood had way more influence over my kids that his mother or I. My son started smoking pot at 11 years old, fifth grade. He was arrested several times and so were his friends. The moment we would walk out the door and go to work, he would be gone. He attempted to run away nine times and succeeded six of those times. One time he was gone for six months before the police brought him home after he was in a car accident. He is eighteen years old now and I noticed that he did not come home last night. After calling and calling around, I could find no information where he was. Since we pay for his cell phone bill, I was able to log into the web site and look at his most recent calls. I found where he had dialed 911 at 3:00 PM yesterday. Later I found out that he tried to commit suicide and was in Midwest Regional Hospital. I am not asking for sympathy but I can tell you that it has been our experience that Mid-Del schools are dealing with kids that have no interest in learning.

I can't remember how many times I was called to Del Crest to pick up my son just to see another two or three kids being taken away in police cars. I cannot name a single friend of theirs that actually stayed until graduation. Both of my sons dropped out in high school and then went to Mid-Del Technology center to study for their GED. The last one got his GED at Oklahoma City Community College at 18 years old in December. When our youngest was 13 years old, my wife would go to Del Crest to "shadow" him in all of his classes three days a week. She was shocked to see the disruptions in the classroom with kids talking to each other and on the cell phones while the teachers were teaching. There was never any effort to stop them from talking in the class. My wife left there with a whole new perspective on things. She said that she could barely concentrate on what the teacher was saying because no one was even paying attention to them and was talking.

In my opinion, if you want to fix Mid-Del schools, then you need to get rid of these crack house section 8 houses. I have noticed that the vast majority of government subsidized housing near where we lived were filled with parties day and night. They did not work but they could buy beer and marijuana. The house next door to us, 3725 SE 23rd Street was a huge trouble house. The police were over there at least twice a week. All I can say is that I never looked in the rear view mirror when I left that neighborhood. Since most of the homes in that neighborhood are owned by a business and occupied by section 8 crack heads, that $120 million dollar school bond issue would really put an unfair burden on those people that actually care about their homes. If they cut this bond issue in half it would still be too large. You can count on an enthusiastic no vote from me and my friends.

The whole time we lived in that neighborhood there was always some criminal activity going on. Our home was broken into, vandalized, neighbors blasting their stereos all night.

Oh horsehockey! Both of my daughters (and others on this board) went through Mid-Del Schools and grew up to be fine, contributing members of society. I know hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of people who graduated from M-D schools and have college degrees and lucrative careers. It seems presumptive to tarnish the entire Midwest City-Del City area because of your former neighborhood.

Teachers can only do so much. Schools are not supposed to take the place of good parenting. Sometimes a little tough love is what it takes - separate the child from the bad influence for a while. And if your neighbors are selling crack and having wild parties, call the authorities - over and over again.

If you moved from the neighborhood, how can you vote? If you're still in the Mid-Del area, why don't you move?

I agree with bombermwc - the current machinations of the School Board don't pass the smell test. But if we don't get rid of the schools that drain the resources so we can attract more teachers and improve the better facilities, we will never attract the young families with children we need to revitalize the two cities.

I voted yes before and I will again.

I am going to vote no and encourage everyone I know to vote no. This notion that a person voting no is somehow a vote against education is ridiculous. This $120 million dollar bond issue would be outrageous in Oklahoma City. The Mid-Del area is not a high end area and cannot afford to be taxed to death over a whim to build and tear down schools. Simply throwing money at something is not always the fix. The neighborhood is just full of section 8 homes with drug users and dealers. Most of the kids in that neighborhood are walking the streets at 3:00 AM. I have two sons that went to Del City High within the last two years. I can tell you that if you ever went to a Mid-Del school recently you would know that money is not the issue. My sons went to Epperly Heights, Del Crest, and Del City High and it was a horrible experience starting at about fifth grade. Our problems were not the schools being inadequate but rather the neighborhood. I sold my house of 12 years near Epperly Heights last July because I could not take it anymore.

That neighborhood had way more influence over my kids that his mother or I. My son started smoking pot at 11 years old, fifth grade. He was arrested several times and so were his friends. The moment we would walk out the door and go to work, he would be gone. He attempted to run away nine times and succeeded six of those times. One time he was gone for six months before the police brought him home after he was in a car accident. He is eighteen years old now and I noticed that he did not come home last night. After calling and calling around, I could find no information where he was. Since we pay for his cell phone bill, I was able to log into the web site and look at his most recent calls. I found where he had dialed 911 at 3:00 PM yesterday. Later I found out that he tried to commit suicide and was in Midwest Regional Hospital. I am not asking for sympathy but I can tell you that it has been our experience that Mid-Del schools are dealing with kids that have no interest in learning.

I can't remember how many times I was called to Del Crest to pick up my son just to see another two or three kids being taken away in police cars. I cannot name a single friend of theirs that actually stayed until graduation. Both of my sons dropped out in high school and then went to Mid-Del Technology center to study for their GED. The last one got his GED at Oklahoma City Community College at 18 years old in December. When our youngest was 13 years old, my wife would go to Del Crest to "shadow" him in all of his classes three days a week. She was shocked to see the disruptions in the classroom with kids talking to each other and on the cell phones while the teachers were teaching. There was never any effort to stop them from talking in the class. My wife left there with a whole new perspective on things. She said that she could barely concentrate on what the teacher was saying because no one was even paying attention to them and was talking.

In my opinion, if you want to fix Mid-Del schools, then you need to get rid of these crack house section 8 houses. I have noticed that the vast majority of government subsidized housing near where we lived were filled with parties day and night. They did not work but they could buy beer and marijuana. The house next door to us, 3725 SE 23rd Street was a huge trouble house. The police were over there at least twice a week. All I can say is that I never looked in the rear view mirror when I left that neighborhood. Since most of the homes in that neighborhood are owned by a business and occupied by section 8 crack heads, that $120 million dollar school bond issue would really put an unfair burden on those people that actually care about their homes. If they cut this bond issue in half it would still be too large. You can count on an enthusiastic no vote from me and my friends.

The whole time we lived in that neighborhood there was always some criminal activity going on. Our home was broken into, vandalized, neighbors blasting their stereos all night.

People should not take this as general fact. Its isolated. Not all of Del City or everyone is like this.

If all my kids started smoking weed in 5th grade and I felt it was the neighborhood, I dont think I would have waited another 10 yrs to get my family out of that place. I dont care what it would have taken, I would have been gone long before it got to my other kids, if that was truly the issue.

I'm totally 100% against just about everything plm said. And I'd agree with corndog. Parental involvement seems to be what I would point at for that situation. You can't expect a child to ignore all temptations, it's your responsibility to guide your child through it by being involved. Even the most deprived area can still have a good student....happens all the time. I guess you missed the accomplishments of the kids at DCHS....FYI - they post accomplishments on the school's website as well as the district's. You can also check the board meeting minutes from where they aknowledge those things.

Plus, it's a bond issue, your taxes don't go up so that argument is absolutely and positively wrong on every front. If the millage is maxed out, the only way they can adjust it is to have THE PEOPLE vote to increase it. They have done that before, but it's been a long time since they did that. In fact, I believe it was the early 90's from the last one I remember. I'd say it's actually due to increase it...mind you it's not like it's going to add 10K in property taxes. They always tell you exactlly what an impact it will have. The nice thing about a millage is, it's a very small increase so it doesn't affect the individual person that much, but because it's spread over such a large tax base, it adds up.

Perhaps some education on the matter is due. But just for the record, I'm not going to give them a blank check just because it's education. Any district has to convince me that they need/should do what they are working for. Mid-Del's situation is one of declining enrollment and population shifts. Not to mention the high cost of maintaining old buildings. It's pretty similar to why Maps for Kids came about. They're spending so much on infrastructure just to maintain a building, that funding is continually eaten up by things like stupid flat-roofs. Consolidation of a few schools allows the benefits of that very thing (fewer parcels of land to pay for, fewer office staff, less utility cost, etc). Building the new school is EXACTLLY like Maps. With the newer facility, instaed of retrofitting the building one clasroom at a time over the span of 20 years (yes this has been the plan since the early 00's now and they still aren't anywhere near done), you can doze something like East Side and build a totally new school with plenty existing land to support the new school. And you don't have to pay for sooooo many things every year. They still have window AC's in most clasrooms in mid-del. The plaster walls in the elementary's peel in huge chunks. The roofs leak even though they get fixed it seems like every few years. Countless doors have to get replaced all the time. The heaters in most clasrooms still require a janitor to light the pilot light manually. A number of schools have a port-a-building mobile home yard out back because they haven't been able to build to adjust for the population shift. The list goes on and on.

I should also note that the average age of buildings in Mid-Del is approaching 60 years now. 60! You find me another district in town like that...including OKCPS now.

This message is too short so I am putting in this whole sentence.

This message is too short so I am putting in this whole sentence.

Education in this state is a racket. How many times have we been given the sob story that we have the lowest paid teachers in America? How many elections have we had that were for education that passed? The vast majority of them pass and no one questions it. We raise taxes all the time in the name of education and somehow the teachers remain the lowest in America. That sob story has played out and is the quickest way to get me to vote against it. If it is for education, I am voting NO period. We keep raising taxes and what does the state do? They buy up every hospital downtown and put the OU logo on the buildings and then call it education. The whole time I went to OU they raised tuition every semester! EVERY SEMESTER! With every increase I received a sob story from David Boren about the hardship of the school. That was always followed up by a claim that OU is still the cheapest school in the Big 12. David Boren is just like every other Democrat in a leadership position in that they never met a tax they didn't like.

Even those that would ordinarily vote yes for an education initiative vote no for this one because it is over the top outrageous. $100+ million from the Mid-Del are is completely outrageous. You can bet that this one will go down worse than it did last time. It is a quest for me to vote against it. I love OKCTalk.com but you must admit that there are the most lofty left wingers you will ever run into. Go ahead and belittle me all you want but you people need to come back down to earth.

Surprised Midtowner hasn't started calling you all the same names he called me when I said this.

Glad to see that there's at least one other person out there who can grasp the idea that the school district isn't always benevolent and all-knowing.

Thunder, you must live on the East side of Sunnylane if you think this is an isolated case. You must have your head deep in the sand, have your eyes closed. Corndog, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The whole time we lived there we were in debt with medical bills and did not make enough money to move. This is so typical of liberals to sit their drinking their Starbucks while telling the world about the underprivileged. It wasn't until a year and a half ago that I got a decent enough job to get above the debt enough to get out of there. My wife got a second job waitressing so that we could eat using her tips. Also you have no idea what it is like to have a troubled child that is so stubborn that he is willing to go to jail to prove you wrong. My son would never stand up to me or his mother but the moment we would walk out the door to go to work, he would run away.

Every time I would put my foot down, I would come home from work or get a call from Del Crest telling me that he did not show up from school. I would go home and find a mean letter on the kitchen table. We would not see him for days. When I found out where he was, I told a Del City Police that I was going to pick him up and he told me that if I force him to come home against his will that I would be arrested. When he was 13 he finally admitted that he was taking drugs. We searched and found a place in Norman that would take him into drug rehab. We all took off work on that sad day and spend the whole day down there just to be told that they will not take him and that DHS has been called on me because he told them that he was scared of me.

So corndog, don't take it personally when I completely disregard your statements as total ignorance. If any of you have had a kid that will run away at will in Del City, you will know what I am talking about. Also I learned a painful lesson about the wonderful Del City parents. On numerous occasions I would have parents tell me they never saw him just to find him arrested at their home. Their answer to the question of why they would harbor a runaway would be that he told them that I would beat him up. I would always tell them that if they suspect that I am abusing him then they have an obligation to report me to the police. It was a tough five years. Well now he lived with his girlfriend until Sunday when she kicked him out. Now he is in the psychiatric ward at Midwest City hospital for attempted suicide.

Spare me your self righteous B.S. Corndog and Thunder because you have no clue what you are talking about. Del City is full of crime whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Pull your head out of the sand and get a police scanner and then tell me that it is an isolated incident. It is clear that neither of you have come out of your house on a Friday night between Sunnylane, Bryant, 15th and 29th. Send me a private message and I will drive you over there and point out my son's drug suppliers. Some of you may remember the story in this Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LvjD80EKI

This was my son and his friends. Just another event in the miserable five year period that we lived through in that hell hole. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Moderator, forgive my anger in this post but I am sick to my stomach with these lofty minded people that have no clue about the world. If you wish to ban me then by all means, do it.

Thunder, you must live on the East side of Sunnylane if you think this is an isolated case. You must have your head deep in the sand, have your eyes closed. Corndog, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The whole time we lived there we were in debt with medical bills and did not make enough money to move. This is so typical of liberals to sit their drinking their Starbucks while telling the world about the underprivileged. It wasn't until a year and a half ago that I got a decent enough job to get above the debt enough to get out of there. My wife got a second job waitressing so that we could eat using her tips. Also you have no idea what it is like to have a troubled child that is so stubborn that he is willing to go to jail to prove you wrong. My son would never stand up to me or his mother but the moment we would walk out the door to go to work, he would run away.

Every time I would put my foot down, I would come home from work or get a call from Del Crest telling me that he did not show up from school. I would go home and find a mean letter on the kitchen table. We would not see him for days. When I found out where he was, I told a Del City Police that I was going to pick him up and he told me that if I force him to come home against his will that I would be arrested. When he was 13 he finally admitted that he was taking drugs. We searched and found a place in Norman that would take him into drug rehab. We all took off work on that sad day and spend the whole day down there just to be told that they will not take him and that DHS has been called on me because he told them that he was scared of me.

So corndog, don't take it personally when I completely disregard your statements as total ignorance. If any of you have had a kid that will run away at will in Del City, you will know what I am talking about. Also I learned a painful lesson about the wonderful Del City parents. On numerous occasions I would have parents tell me they never saw him just to find him arrested at their home. Their answer to the question of why they would harbor a runaway would be that he told them that I would beat him up. I would always tell them that if they suspect that I am abusing him then they have an obligation to report me to the police. It was a tough five years. Well now he lived with his girlfriend until Sunday when she kicked him out. Now he is in the psychiatric ward at Midwest City hospital for attempted suicide.

Spare me your self righteous B.S. Corndog and Thunder because you have no clue what you are talking about. Del City is full of crime whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Pull your head out of the sand and get a police scanner and then tell me that it is an isolated incident. It is clear that neither of you have come out of your house on a Friday night between Sunnylane, Bryant, 15th and 29th. Send me a private message and I will drive you over there and point out my son's drug suppliers. Some of you may remember the story in this Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LvjD80EKI

This was my son and his friends. Just another event in the miserable five year period that we lived through in that hell hole. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Moderator, forgive my anger in this post but I am sick to my stomach with these lofty minded people that have no clue about the world. If you wish to ban me then by all means, do it.

I live on the west side of Sunnylane in the neighborhood behind MTM. I have been in Del City since I was about 5 years old and I am 26. You obviously consider your issues to be widespread, when it is actually not. Like I said, isolated incidents. Del City is not the only place to have crimes... Just look at OKC, Midwest City, Choctaw, Edmond, Moore, Norman, and so on. Just about every town in the state has crime. Accept it.

As for the DC Police threatening to arrest you for forcing your son to come home... They are in the wrong. You are his parent and he is underage, so you have rights over your son.

Don't blame Del City for what your son has done. He made the choices.

Yes, I do live between Sunnylane / Bryant and 15th / 29th.

Once again, you are in the wrong for attacking me. I'm not going to judge Del City based on some people here and there.

Sorry plm, as much as it pains me to say so, I'm with Thunder on this. The more you tell us about your story, the more I'm not going to blame the city or the schools...i'm going to blame parental involvement. I know people in far worse situations that still maintain a safe and secure lifestyle for their children. If the neighborhood sucks, it's your job as a parent to counter that. I'm not going to say it's not hard work, but it HAS to be done.

You can't blame the city. The city isn't raising your child. You are. My experience working with high schoolers has shown me something....parents LOVE LOVE LOVE to blame anyone but themselves for their precious little darling's issues. So many parents think their kid "couldn't possibly have done that". Quite often, those are the kids that instigate the issues. I've seen several kids that have such a bad home life that they run away simply to be able to make it and the parents are what hold them back. You know what, those kids are actually some of the best behaved kids because at school, they have someone that believes in and supports them.

You might call it a high horse, i call it reality. Your kid does drugs...you have to accept part of the fault in that situation. The kids isn't fault free, but you aren't either. Don't try and blame the city for lack of supervision.

The members of the Mid-Del School Board need to lose their arrogant attitude and remember the citizens that voted them in office will have the opportunity vote them out. Their reasons for selling the schools has all been a smoke screen. Property owners in Mid-Del school district are already 40 million dollars in debt in support of the mid-del school system. The school board wanted us parents to approve and additiional 193 million dollar bond issue so they could sell the schools and build some others and we said no because it was too much at once. So now the school board chose not to honor the decision made by the voters and the board snubbed their noses at us by showing us they could sell the schools anyway without our vote so they could get their hands on some fast cash. Now there is no approved financing in place to have a classroom for the students of Sooner Rose or Traub. Talk about putting your cart before the horse! The school board needs to come back to reality and seriously scale their plans back to something reasonable. Until then, I say One Hundred Ninety Three million times No.

PLMCDJ...............you wanna gripe about DC going Ghetto, and for that matter MWC also, go right ahead.........just start your own thread............hell I will even chime in as I got some strong thoughts on why it happened, MID DeL sports program allowing out of district gladiator transfer, cheap housing to g section 8, over whelmed Police depts by the black gangs............But this thread aint it..............this thread is about the Mid Del School board wanting to tax us another $191 million dollars on top of their current $40 million dollars for the next thirty years and without a comprehensive and common sense approx=ch towards it.

I swear , if I didn't know better I would believe they were all on the Potomac acting this stupid..................

To blindly say we must vote this back breaking debt on ourselves simple because the mantra is for the children is ludicrous.

All 4 of my children went through the Mid Del system and all four are doing very well in life..............so lets get this topic back on track about school board waste, extravagance, and arrogance and nothing more

Surprised Midtowner hasn't started calling you all the same names he called me when I said this.

Glad to see that there's at least one other person out there who can grasp the idea that the school district isn't always benevolent and all-knowing.

I won't disappoint then. You lack basic comprehension of the issues. This bond is about more efficiently configuring the district to accommodate population shifts. It's about replacing old structures, which are expensive to maintain, and energy inefficient, with modern facilities. It is not about salaries, this has nothing to do with salaries, this has nothing to do with salaries, this has nothing to do with salaries.

As for plm's post, OU? The higher ed tuition discussion is a totally different issue. If you want to bring in some other totally irrelevant things, let's discuss the efficacy and cost of using Tomahawk missiles in Libya. That's a pretty big waste of money too, and just as relevant to the MWC bond issue.

This is the trouble with MWC. You have a bunch of curmudgeons who think they have an opinion, but they don't even understand at a very basic level what they are voting for or against. This same sector of the population is why groups like OKC Momentum sent out mailers showing the most neo-conservative/Christian fundamentalist nutjob on the Council (Brian Walters) being in league with President Obama, and the dummies in his district just lapped it up.

Education is not a racket. Being able to think for oneself (which some of the above posts which are just totally wrong on the facts and ability to exclude irrelevant issues display a lack of that ability) is essential to our style of government working. And if these sorts of opinions are typical of those found in MWC, our system isn't working very well at all.

Now thats the nicest name calling I have ever endured.............But a crummudgon.............well I hope not

In case you guys missed it, the majority did APPROVE the bond issue. For whatever reason, schools have to have a super majority in order for bonds to pass. No one else has that requirement, and I don't think schools should either.

The bond failed by less than 100 votes. In fact, i think it was something like 32...maybe 60 or something small like that. So don't for one second try and tell folks that "the district told the board no", because really it didn't. In fact,quite the opposite...the majority approved it. FYI - the bond is going to re-voted on in the fall. So we'll get to see them whether or not it can pass fully or not. My money is on the side that it will pass with flying colors this time. Remember, it's really just a continuation of bonding. You'r taxes don't go up so whatever moron tells you that is just stupid. That's a millage election issue.

Note to the east side - pull your head out of your rear and get facts before you vote with the beer in your hand. All you are doind by not voting yes right now is giving your kids a chance to have even crappier resources than they already have (and they are already at the bottom of the pile in their class). I'm a product of Mid-Del and went on to OCU and still use my brain to this day. I went to East Side (which would be torn down and replaced with a new school), Jarman, which would be totally closed, and MCHS (which isn't affected at all). And I'm still in favor of the plan...without any of the tired "oh i went there and my grandpappy went there" nonsensical crap.

Thank you Midtowner and bombermwc for voicing so eloquently the sentiments I expressed! Nicely done!:congrats:

Thunder, you must live on the East side of Sunnylane if you think this is an isolated case. You must have your head deep in the sand, have your eyes closed. Corndog, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The whole time we lived there we were in debt with medical bills and did not make enough money to move. This is so typical of liberals to sit their drinking their Starbucks while telling the world about the underprivileged. It wasn't until a year and a half ago that I got a decent enough job to get above the debt enough to get out of there. My wife got a second job waitressing so that we could eat using her tips. Also you have no idea what it is like to have a troubled child that is so stubborn that he is willing to go to jail to prove you wrong. My son would never stand up to me or his mother but the moment we would walk out the door to go to work, he would run away.

Every time I would put my foot down, I would come home from work or get a call from Del Crest telling me that he did not show up from school. I would go home and find a mean letter on the kitchen table. We would not see him for days. When I found out where he was, I told a Del City Police that I was going to pick him up and he told me that if I force him to come home against his will that I would be arrested. When he was 13 he finally admitted that he was taking drugs. We searched and found a place in Norman that would take him into drug rehab. We all took off work on that sad day and spend the whole day down there just to be told that they will not take him and that DHS has been called on me because he told them that he was scared of me.

So corndog, don't take it personally when I completely disregard your statements as total ignorance. If any of you have had a kid that will run away at will in Del City, you will know what I am talking about. Also I learned a painful lesson about the wonderful Del City parents. On numerous occasions I would have parents tell me they never saw him just to find him arrested at their home. Their answer to the question of why they would harbor a runaway would be that he told them that I would beat him up. I would always tell them that if they suspect that I am abusing him then they have an obligation to report me to the police. It was a tough five years. Well now he lived with his girlfriend until Sunday when she kicked him out. Now he is in the psychiatric ward at Midwest City hospital for attempted suicide.

Spare me your self righteous B.S. Corndog and Thunder because you have no clue what you are talking about. Del City is full of crime whether you want to acknowledge it or not. Pull your head out of the sand and get a police scanner and then tell me that it is an isolated incident. It is clear that neither of you have come out of your house on a Friday night between Sunnylane, Bryant, 15th and 29th. Send me a private message and I will drive you over there and point out my son's drug suppliers. Some of you may remember the story in this Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LvjD80EKI

This was my son and his friends. Just another event in the miserable five year period that we lived through in that hell hole. Again, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Moderator, forgive my anger in this post but I am sick to my stomach with these lofty minded people that have no clue about the world. If you wish to ban me then by all means, do it.

Please clarify...... your son and his friends are the one's who desecrated American flags and you are blaming the city and Del Crest?

Lets talk about Del City crime for a minute. The comment was made before that the crime happens west of Sunnylane. If the school board gets its way, Highland Park school will close, and those kids will go to Townsend. Highland Park currently serves a neighborhood that might be about the crappiest in Oklahoma City. At least Del City is trying to clean up its areas west of Sunnylane --- OKC doesnt have the resources to care about that area, so the houses get crappier and the gangs run wild (in fact, a lot of apartments served by that school are owned by that same california jerk as the crime ridden burned out messes that Del City had to bulldoze) -- I'm sure he just moved the tenants to those places. With grade school kids it might not be that big a deal. What happens when the middle schools start mixing. Established gang lines get moved, kids wearing different colors suddenly are in the same place all day......hope there is money in that bond issue for metal detectors and kevlar vests for the teachers.

my comprehension skills are very good thank you. I understand very well the school board wants to shut down the schools that are the oldest because they are the greatest drain on the system. I understand its not about saleries, and I understand its about $191 million dollars on top of the 40 million currently in place so ..............and I uderstand thats a lot of money to be asking for all at once.
My kids went to Kerr and frankly they nor I have a real problem with removal of that school so the emotional issue is resolved.

Ithink they (the school board) have grandly and arrogantly over stepped their authority and it is they who are the morans.

Explain why you think disliking an extra $191 million dollar debt, on top of $40 million in current is a bad thing.?

Why? Because that's how schools operate. And you aren't going to be responsible for paying any more than you do today. The 6 months that will go between the bond votes will also mean more of the previous bond is paid off. A district is only able to have X dollars bonded out at one time. So if you think they are doing something illegal or whatever, they call the state auditors office. But in case you missed it, Superintendent Scoggins disclosed the figures in person, on a video online, in flyers, etc. It's not as though some big conspiracy is going on here.

Plus a $40 million debt isn't that great. Did you know that the disctrict operates annually on about twice that amount? And that the 40 million is paid off over many years? And that the bond debt is paid for by property taxes you vote on in millage elections? So as they pay for their bond debt, it only comes out of that tax money, not normaly operating budgets? Or that a large bond issue isn't even sold until the previous one is paid? That's why a project like this is set to start AFTER the previous bond expires. So I'd like to know what your source of information is, because it seems as though you might have been fed false information.