Edmond schools’ enrollment is up again

Having already anticipated Edmond schools’ continued enrollment growth, the school board was not surprised by the superintendent’s report this week.

A portion of the school district’s state funding formula relies on enrollment figures on Oct. 1. During his report at the Edmond School Board meeting, Superintendent Bret Towne said student enrollment was 24,878. That is up 475 from last year’s enrollment of 24,403. “In the past 10 years, we’ve added about 5,000 students to the district,” Towne said.

That growing enrollment has led to the district planning new schools and even buying property for additional expansion.

Towne sees growth on the horizon jump started with even more residential and apartment construction planned for southwest Edmond.

The district is paying Templeton Demographics of Texas $12,000 to try to predict where the district will surge in the near future. Results of that study, coupled with already steady growth in Edmond, likely will dictate the needs the district will take to voters in a future bond issue. Traditionally, Edmond schedules bond issues once every two years. The most recent bond issue was in February and passed with more than 80 percent of the vote.

In other action

In other district news, the Edmond School Board voted to fire transportation worker Qusay Sahky last week. The schools’ chief human resources officer Randy Decker said it was the first time in his 12 years as an administrator a support staff employee took his case to the school board.

Decker said Sahky was dismissed for failure to follow directions of his supervisor and using bad language on the job.

In the Edmond school district, support staff employees under contract have the right to appeal a dismissal to the school board if that employee works more than 20 hours a week and has been with the district for more than a year.

“This is the second time someone has taken their dismissal to the board,” Decker said. “The first one failed to appear before the board.”

Sahky presented his case to the board, but board members voted to terminate his employment, 4-0. Member Lee Ann Kuhlman was absent.