Community discussions provide valuable information for LRFPC

from Supt. Gary Quinn's Chalkboard column in the February 15, 2012 issue of The Bruin

Over the past few weeks, the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee (LRFPC) has received valuable feedback and recommendations from those that attended the two community discussions that took place on February 5 and February 12.

I would like to thank all community members who participated in our recent discussion events and encourage the Bartlesville community to continue providing the LRFPC and the Bartlesville Public School District with valuable recommendations. As was discussed at the events, community involvement is vital in the facilities planning process.

Within the next few weeks, we will be posting a survey on our website. This survey will have questions regarding the future of BPSD facilities. We take the information from these surveys very seriously and we will use your responses to cultivate our facilities plan. We will notify the public as soon as the survey becomes available.

While we currently are examining all of our options in terms of facilities, two possible facilities plans were talked about at the discussions. The first includes maintaining the current BPSD configuration and the second would see grades 9-12 at the high school. In option two, a freshman academy would be built onto BHS to keep freshman separate from grades 10-12 for core classes.

If we elect to keep current configuration, Madison Middle School and Central Middle School would receive much needed renovations. Bartlesville Mid-High School and Bartlesville High School would also receive updates. The tentative budget for this option ranges anywhere between $24 and 30 million.

The second proposal which calls for a 9-12 high school would see an addition to BHS, including a freshman academy, to accommodate the increased student population. Renovations would take place at Central and Madison would be demolished. Madison students would be moved to what is now the Mid-High in this plan. The tentative budget for this option ranges between $28 and 34 million. Additionally, this plan would generate at least $250,000 in annual savings.

I want to stress that both plans discussed are extremely preliminary. Continued research and planning must still be done. Most importantly, we need more feedback from the Bartlesville community to identify the favored plan.

Moving forward, we will continue working hard to come up with a facilities plan that best suits the needs of our district and our community. At the present time, we have no specific timeline for bringing forward a bond proposal. During this planning

process, it is important that we exercise due diligence and take all necessary steps to ensure that we put forth a carefully crafted plan that our community can support.

If you would like to view the PowerPoint presentation used at both community discussions please visit www.bruinbond.com. The website will also provide updates during the facilities planning process.