District wraps up closure meetings

Distrustful parents and others who live in northeast Oklahoma City railed Monday night against a plan to improve the state’s largest school district by closing or repurposing an undisclosed number of schools.

Their target was Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel and a proposal to “take care of our kids at a higher level.”

About 150 people attended the threehour meeting at Douglass Mid-High School to learn more about the district’s Pathway to Greatness project, which McDaniel said will provide “access to opportunity for all students.”

The district is operating at about 60 percent of capacity and faces $11 million in cuts to state aid over the next two years based on projected enrollment declines.

“At the end of this process we will be closing some schools,” he said. “We don’t know which ones. We also know we will have to redraw some district boundary lines.”

That didn’t sit well several speakers Monday who said their schools have been targeted for closure in the past.

“We want to know if we can trust you, because we haven’t seen any accountability,” said Ebony Muhammad, a parent who attended district schools.

Community member Andrew James, a longtime volunteer at Martin Luther King Elementary School, said past projects to improve academic outcomes for students have brought little change.

“I don’t know how much to trust you,” he told McDaniel. “What are we going to see different? Nothing has changed.”

McDaniel, as he has done at four previous community meetings, said it’s more important to serve students equitably by aligning facilities and resources with

instructional needs than it is to continue maintaining under-enrolled buildings.

Money saved from school closures and consolidations will be reinvested into schools to pay for teachers, counselors and other needs, including art and music programs erased by budget cuts, he said.

Not everyone believed McDaniel when he said he doesn’t have a list of schools targeted for closure or consolidation.

“We need you to understand that Ward 7 is off limits for closure,” said Tia Cookson, whose niece attends nearby F.D. Moon Academy. “We are tired of bring sold a golden ring and all we’re getting is a pile of brass.”

Two hours into the meeting, McDaniel, who has been the superintendent for about four months, acknowledged his detractors.

“I understand the skepticism, the doubt, and the mistrust,” he said. “Our desire is to reinvest in our schools and bring back their appeal.”

Over the next several weeks, teams of educators and community leaders will study data from building assessments and a demographic study and make recommendations related to facilities, bonds and educational offerings.

Additional community meetings to present the three best options will take place in January.

In February, McDaniel will recommend the best option to the school board, which is expected to vote on it in March.