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Ted Wright -- last update 12/9/2003 (SchBrdDec08.html) www.cvilleok.com
Copyright 2003

Dec. 8, 2003 School Board Meeting / partial results:

The board voted to hold an election Feb. 24, 2004, to let voters decide on issuing $4.1 million in general obligation bonds. The funds would be used for a whole list of school needs over the next few years. Major construction at the middle school block and a six classroom expansion at the high school are two of the major components of the planned improvements. The board also approved having the Stephen L. Smith Corporation handle all phases of the process of getting the bonds approved and issued for a fee of approximately 1%. Smith had handled several other bonds for the school in the past few years. Smith indicated the planned bonds will not cause any change in the current school taxes.

Assistant Superintendent Craig Cheech explained the details of the planned construction if voter approve the bonds above. The most significant would be construction of a building on the north portion of the middle school block. It would replace the existing cafeteria and Media Center. It would provide more classrooms, an enlarged library and a commons area. The new building would connect to the existing main building. The annex building (formerly Central Grade School) next to Spring Street would eventually be demolished and portions of the arches would be used on the new building to preserve a sense of the history of this block which has served the Collinsville Schools since at least 1909.

This undated photo of the north side of Central Grade School shows the original arches before they were covered in 1974. The building was built as a WPA project in 1933 with bricks from South Ward (Highland Park) School built on Smelter Hill in 1912.

Mr. Creech indicated one of the challanges they were still working was how to deal with tearing down the old cafeteria before the new one could be built. The cafeteria serves both the middle school and Herald Elementary campuses. The existing band room (on the same block) would be unaffected by all the above changes.

Another unresolved challenge facing the school district (reported by Superintendent Pat Herald) is how to handle reimbursement (or taxing) for occasional personal use of transportation, cell phones or meals which the school provides primarily for school use. Mr. Herald indicated the IRS and State School Laws are in direct conflict on how these issues can/should be handled. The Collinsville School District is apparently the first in Oklahoma to be contacted by the IRS on this topic. Mr. Herald has turned to several state school organizations for guidance and they have yet to decide on an appropriate policy to meet both sets of laws.

In other business, the board accepted the resignations of Missy Tillman (bus driver) and Bud Upkey (middle school custodian). The board then approved the hiring of their replacements: Olen Schultz (bus driver) and Sherry Warnock (custodian). The board also approved the outright purchase of the new ice cream machine at the high school instead of the previously approved trial period / lease option.

The board went into executive session to discuss the purchase of land.

-- Ted Wright -- Dec. 9, 2003 (1:45am)