Data on closing schools is ready
Oklahoma City Public Schools on Monday will begin releasing data the district will use to decide whether some schools will be closed or repurposed in the coming year, officials told The Oklahoman.
The information will be posted on the district's website in advance of a community meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. at Star Spencer High School in Spencer to discuss the Pathway to Greatness project.
"There will be school closures, we just don't know which ones and how many," Superintendent Sean McDaniel said Friday." And there will be redrawing of district boundary lines, we just don’t know what it looks like yet. But I think those are givens."
McDaniel said hard decisions will have to be made if the district is going to provide equitable learning opportunities for all students by aligning resources with needs.
Four other public meetings will follow, including 7 p.m. Tuesday at Northwest Classen High School.
The district, which is operating at about 60 percent of capacity, is facing $11 million in cuts to state aid over the next two years based on projected enrollment declines.
Data collected by ADG, the firm hired by the district to provide an assessment of schools and a demographic study, includes actual and projected enrollment trends, student achievement trends, building condition and educational offerings.
Other criteria being studied include enrollment trends versus school capacity, a school's proximity to other schools, a school's neighborhood role, and estimated financial outcomes.
McDaniel said the data will be posted online as it becomes available.
"Everything that we see, we're going
There will be school closures, we just don’t know which ones and how many,” Superintendent Sean McDaniel said Friday.” Superintendent Sean McDaniel
to be 100 percent transparent and release it back out to the community," he said.
McDaniel said he will lead the meetings, which continue at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at U.S. Grant High School, and 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at Douglass Mid-High School.
He said the meetings will focus on the process and not the end result, adding that no decisions have been made about which schools to close or consolidate.
"The only decisions we've made are things like 'we want to be transparent, we want to provide the opportunity for input,'" he said. "We want to establish a process and execute the process and follow it through."
McDaniel, with guidance from two committees, will recommend whether to close buildings or repurpose them. The groups are charged with studying the data, evaluating relevant research and
providing recommendations related to facilities, bonds and educational offerings.
Additional community meetings — those to present the data — will take place in January, according to a project timeline. In February, McDaniel will present the best option to the school board, and community hearings on potential changes are scheduled.
The board is scheduled to take action on McDaniel's recommendation in March.